BACK TO OUR LAND.
TRAVEL DAY
From: Wolfe’s Neck Oceanfront Camping, Freeport, ME.
To: Our Land, Downeast Maine.
Day 3 – It was 38 degrees and cloudy this morning when we got up. We departed Wolfe’s Neck at 9:10 a.m. The girls were not as resistant to going on another drive in the RV. They are adapting quickly, thank goodness.
It has been more than a year and a half since we’ve been to our land, the longest we’ve gone without visiting, even during the worst of the COVID outbreak in 2020. We like to visit yearly to check on the land; the Winter can bring destructive storms, so we want to keep our eyes on any damage that occurs. We had heard from a neighbor that many people with cottages on the road had trees come down last winter, and that she had seen trees down on our land with a couple of them leaning on electrical wires.
Before we left the land last in 2021, Rob had put up gates at both ends of the driveway to discourage uninvited visitors during our absence. Earlier in 2021 a neighbor had spotted people on our land down near the water. They had driven down a long dirt road, turned off on our driveway, and driven further on a narrow dirt road, stopped and parked a camper vehicle and another vehicle. The neighbor didn’t know if they were camping on our land, but we had installed a well, electricity, and a septic field. We had not given anyone permission to stay on our land. Therefore, we put up gates and posted “Private Land” signs at the entrance to the property.
We were interested, and a bit worried, about what we’d find this year when we arrived. Luckily, traffic was very light, not at all like it is during the summer months. We made good progress, stopping only for gas in the RV and at Martha’s Diner in Ellsworth for lunch to go – their fantastic Crab Quiche is something we never miss when we come this way. We arrived at our land at 2:10 p.m. It was 50 degrees with hazy sun.
We stopped at our driveway and Rob got out to unlock the gates. He tried again and again. They would not open. Great! Now what? Never fear, Mr, Fix-It is here.
While Rob was working on the locks, I parked the Honda at the second entrance and took pictures from the locked gates of the trees leaning on the electrical wires. It didn’t take too long before Rob was able to cut the locks open. Nice to know that our locked gates could be so ineffective, LOL.
Because of the two trees blocking the driveway and leaning on the power line, we could not drive to the end of the driveway and set up camp overlooking the water. Up near the entrances to the driveway, but still hidden from the road, early on we’d cleared some land so we could have the well dug and we call this spot the upper trailer pad. Luckily, we can park the RV and car there without proceeding down the driveway to the water. We’ll be camping there until we can get the trees cleared out. The upper trailer pad has water, electrical, and dumping hook-ups. We knew this could come in quite handy some day!
We took a walk throughout the property to see the damage that awaited us. There were other trees down, some small enough that we can handle them ourselves, others probably not. We took pictures. Rob called a local man who does work for the residents in the area; no answer, he left a message. We won’t be able to reach the power company until after the weekend. We are at a standstill for the time being.
Meanwhile, the girls were wondering what on earth was going on since we’d turned off the highway long ago. It was past time to let them out of their traveling space. They appeared to recognize where they were and they seemed very happy to be here. Too bad they can’t cut down trees. Earn their keep. Anyway, we finally unpacked and settled in. Rob was glad that, at least, the water and electricity worked fine without problems. It had been a long time since they’d been used. It’s so quiet here. We’d forgotten how peaceful it is. Whether we are able to get it cleaned up so that we can camp at the lower trailer pad this visit, or not………..we are happy to be here in our woods.