2012 Big Truck Across the Northeast, Day 6

Day 6 marks the halfway point of our trip already.  It has flown by, and although we've seen some amazing scenery and done some cool stuff, we have lots more on the way.  We figured instead of the normal immediate playground fix, we'd mix in a hike and do some advanced scouting of Bar Harbor and our potential campground.

Camden State Park (our current residence) is split in half by US-1, the coastal 'highway' up here that is actually just a 2 lane road, similar to M22 back home.  Our half is where the campground is, the half across the highway is the coastline.  It is not your traditional beach, as you will see in a moment.  This is the shoreline trail, which is still about 150' above sea level. 

Here you start to get an idea that the ocean is close, but no real idea what is in store quite yet.



Just to the right of the bench there are a series of rock steps through the brush that start building the sense of anticipation, and you can start to hear some waves crashing as you come around the corner.  This is the payoff.

Since we hadn't gotten a family photo yet (I blame iPhones - no good way to balance them from any sort of distance), we waited until some other unsuspecting tourist piled out onto the rocks and asked her to take this.

She claimed she was a professional photographer and even handed us a business card, but if she were really a professional she would have found a way to hide my buck teeth and overall gingery-ness.  Sorry ma'am, you still need to hone your craft.



One thing we did notice in some of the pics is a mystery ship that seemed to be stalking us. I half expected to see these two walking up out of the water, but they must be busy filming Pirates of the Caribbean 6, co-starring Steve Guttenberg.



Of course, once we left the coastline and worked our way back toward the Jeep, someone found a way to sniff out the most awkwardly placed swingset possible.  From where I took this photo, there is another 300' of lawn behind me.  Rather than locate the swingset where you could see mist-shrouded mountains across the bay over the treeline, the parks & rec dept thought it would be better suited 15' from the woods.  See for yourself.

Anywho, Jordan burned a good half hour on the swingset, only to find something to balance on (I'll be amazed if she doesn't become a gymnast or Parkour player?  enthusiast?  what do you call a Parkour-ist? anyway, she likes to balance on stuff), like this log. A few more years of this and she could pull down at least $100 a year (yes $100, not $100k) in the Stihl Timbersports series, although we'd have to change her name to Dakota or Sienna.  And did you know there is such a thing as a Lumberjill?  I digress....

We got back to the Jeep and realized that we pretty much had the park to ourselves.  This was a welcome sight after all the traffic we had experienced on the way up here.  We also snagged another rock in our quest to expand our collection from across the US while decreasing our MPG accordingly.

The other big part of today's plan was to do some recon on Bar Harbor Campground, since it offers camping 3 minutes from Acadia National Park, is on the island, and has pretty reasonable rates.  The downside?  It offers no ability to reserve sites, is cash only, and is first come first serve.  We figured we might as well cruise up there and see what we could find.  On the way, we saw so many incredible bays, bridges, harbors, vistas, you name it.  The one that really stuck out, however, was this bridge.

We spoke with the nice lady (again, a likely Kennedy relative - and is long hair against the law in New England?) at the campground, and she informed us that we could drive through and claim a site, but we'd have to leave a 'personal artifact' at the site to ensure that it would be obvious to others that it was taken.  We didn't have much in the Jeep, so rather than take a chance or ask if excrement counted as a personal artifact, this is what we came up with. (I know you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but does it matter when the sentence is about excrement?)



On our way back to Camden, we stopped for a quick lunch at Atlantic Brewing Company, which we were surprised to learn was only 5 minutes away.  It was a very cool place, and we learned that they've been in business over 22 years, and have brewing license #197 out of over 3,000 microbreweries in the U.S.  Here are a few shots of the place, it had a very laid back feeling.  In fact, this blog is brought to you tonight by their Sea Smoke Smoked Barleywine Ale.

As we finished up lunch, we decided to hightail it across the bay to go pick up the Big Truck and head over to our new Ocean View campsite (more on that in a minute.)  Fast forward to Camden State Park - we arrived at just after 4:30 in the Jeep, and kicked into full pit stop mode to get the Big Truck packed up and hook up the Jeep tow rig.  In the meantime, Jordan had to go find Viola and Eloise, tell them about the new campground & the fact that its playground had a bridge (I am not kidding, she listed this in her talking points on our way back), and say her goodbyes. 

I was not there for the actual goodbye, but from Kimberly's description, I imagined it went something like this.

                                      

Within a scant 45 minutes, we were packed, hooked up, checked out, Randy Quaid-ed, and on the road.  Kimberly had her window open, and within a few minutes, she got drilled in the forehead by a bee (the impact killed it, not her), then picked it off her lap and chucked it out the window.  Oh, the zany things that happen on a road tri... BAM!!!!!

Here is where I must interject to set the scene.  We are cruising along at a very responsible 55mph in a 55 zone, coming over a hill with over 15,000lbs of vehicle, as we approach a Mexican restaurant on the right.  We were about to do some fairly high speed, nearly destructive testing of our tow rig and braking system.

There are many theories that could explain what happened next.  Either the elderly gentleman was driving a cleverly disguised 600hp Rat motor-equipped or F18A jet powered Hyundai Santa Fe, or he had just finished the buy-4-Margaritas-get-the-5th-one-free special. Either way, he was about to test the laws of physics if he believed he could make it. He waited for us to get within 30' of the parking lot exit, then pulled out at roughly 5 mph directly into our path.

At this point a few things happened, and I'm not sure about the exact sequence.  Jordan very nearly learned some new words, but instead I believe I morphed into the dad from A Christmas Story, maybe even working in a Bumpus hound reference.  I do know that I planted both feet squarely on the brake pedal, with enough force that I may have Fred Flintstoned right through to the road beneath.  I heard a faint screeching of rubber from the rear driver's side, and envisioned the Jeep pole vaulting over the Big Truck.

As I just missed the elderly gentleman (while noticing his Florida plates from roughly 6' away), I saw the Ranger behind me veer onto the shoulder and just miss plowing into the Jeep. At this point, elderly gentleman realized that something may be amiss, and started to pick up some speed.  From there, I believe I may have blacked out from the potential calculations of how many ways that could have ruined our vacation, but somehow did not.

Long story short, we finally arrived at the campground, our sweet reservation system of a beer case and old hiking boots paid off, and this was the reward - the view from our campsite.

As an added bonus, the campground Kennedy had left this on the picnic table on our site, which I will now require Kimberly to wear anytime she leaves the house without me.

More to come tomorrow, hopefully a full report on Acadia.