TRAVEL DAY: LILY BAY STATE PARK TO OUR LAND.
Day 8 – Lily Bay State Park was great, as usual, especially because we could reserve our favorite campsite, #16M for three nights. None of the campsites at this State Park have hook-ups. We filled up with water when we came in and still had plenty to dump this morning. We got to use the new Lithium Battery system that Rob installed. Without it, we would normally need to use the generator for a few hours daily to keep the batteries charged. As of last night, we’d only used 39% of the new batteries. Pretty good! We would’ve stayed longer, but Memorial Day weekend is approaching and all sites are reserved. We did drive around the campground checking out boat launches, and (NOTE TO US: we wrote down the best non-reservable campsites for the future in case we want to nab a site without advanced reservations. #218U, #32L, and #29L.)
It rained last night and cooled it off. We were up this morning before 6 a.m., wanting to get an early start because the drive to our land can be a long one. We departed at 8:35 a.m. after dumping tanks. It was 57 degrees and partly cloudy. We stopped for gas in Greenville and then headed south. We passed by moose signs and actually saw one not too far out of town, catching a quick, not-great, picture as we drove by. Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We ran into some traffic problems around Orono/Old Town, then proceeded east on Highway 9 (the Airline), stopping at a turnout for lunch and a kitty break. Finally after a slow down due to road work on Route 1, we started seeing signs for The Bold Coast which is the Down East Maine area where we were going. We arrived at our road at 2:35 p.m. It was 75 degrees and humid, but there was a nice breeze. There were no trees down blocking our entrance or driveway. YAAAA, we were finally here, and everything looks good after the winter.
It took us a while to settle in. We’ll be staying here for 9 or 10 days, so unpacking was a little more extensive than the shorter stays. Hooking up to water and electricity here is different than hooking up at a campground. An hour and a half later, we were done. The girls had long since settled down and gone to sleep. As usual, they remembered the land and didn’t take long to get comfortable. We took our beer and wine down to the cliff’s edge and sat in the screened tent. Luna napped on the dashboard. We’d thought it would be sad and bittersweet to be here without proceeding with our cottage-building plans, but it’s fine. No complaints. We’re lucky to be here.
Welcome home!! 🙂