Down the Back Roads

Maine doesn’t have a lot of freeways.  In fact, there’s just one, I-95, that runs north and south, so when you travel the state it’s likely to be on the back roads.  Generally, they are two lanes, often narrow and bumpy and  lead to places named Union, Hope, Washington, Windsor, Saco, Damariscotta, Newcastle, Castine, Blue Hill and along the way there are lots of surprises.

Let’s journey down some of the back roads and see what’s there.

Liberty Tool is interesting, worthy of a stop.

Inside is much more than tools, and it might take the better part of a day to browse through it all.

The same is true at Elmer’s.

Hmmm, that message comes across loud and clear so we better leave the dog in the car. Don’t you wonder where all this stuff came from and what possible use it could be to anybody?

Inside are some real treasures though it takes a lot of looking to find them.

And here we are on a pretty empty stretch of road and spot an art gallery.  Glad we didn’t pass it by because there’s some really nice work inside.  Funny that it’s called the Downtown Gallery because there’s not much evidence of a downtown!

Getting a little hungry now?  Not too far down the road we spot Lori’s,

a simple cafe with words of wisdom and warning, friendly service and the best fried clams.

And what’s this, John’s Ice Cream in a most unexpected location.

Who can resist the temptation of real homemade ice cream in all these yummy sounding flavors?

And, while we are out, let’s stop in at the Hope Spinnery where we find beautiful hand dyed wool and knitted creations

and on this day friends gathered to share their music.

Aren’t Maine’s back roads a treat?  What is it that draws folks to these scarcely populated places and prompts them to open a business?  Maybe they know that people like us are going to be out exploring and will stop and take a look.  Or maybe there’s another reason which is worth thinking about another time.

I’m glad you came along for the ride.  Do you have places in your area that are fun adventures?  I’d love to hear about them.

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Tablescape Challenge

Traveling in an RV and setting an attractive table for six are not necessarily compatible.  The table in the van is only for two people so the rest of us had to eat wherever there was a sit down space.  One night, however, we were lucky enough to have a spot in an RV park that had a picnic table right outside the door.

Yahoo, we could all enjoy sitting together!

Before dinner treats were a must to be enjoyed with one of the wonderful wines chosen by the son-in-law driver.  While everything isn’t a perfect match, the tablecloth from Williams Sonoma adds a little color to the table as do the flowers that had traveled with us from Houston.  Nothing like those little touches of home!

Just so we wouldn’t have to eat off paper plates every night, I had brought these colorful melamine dishes picked up at Costco.  Not only are they cheerful but all the pieces mix and match and don’t seem to mind being paired with plastic utensils and paper napkins.

And, thanks to our El Paso Walmart stop we even had real glasses rather than plastic cups.

We also found these great plastic serving pieces at Walmart at the grand cost of $1 each.  They were a perfect match for the dishes and will surely come in handy again.

What fun to make something out of very little, and the best part was having the little girls get into the act.

Do tell me about some of your experiences making do.

Joining Tabletop Tuesday and Tablescape Thursday

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On the Road VI

Rolling, rolling, rolling to Las Vegas, another unplanned stop, but since we are ahead of schedule there’s some time to waste. Let me just say this about that, the best part of the stop was the Las Vegas Motor Resort, a really plush setup with a super overhead shower. Funny how you learn to appreciate the ordinary when you’re RV traveling!

Vegas was packed with people, the prices high and O a disappointment. Maybe that’s the way of things when expectations are high. In any case, the six of us decided Vegas wasn’t our kind of place, so as soon as morning light came it was on to Hoover Dam, high on the hubby’s list of places to visit. There was a moment’s tension when I was two minutes late hooking up with the hubby for the 9:30 AM tour, but we were allowed to catch up with the group so all was well. WHEW!

    

The dam spans the Colorado River from Arizona to Nevada or maybe it’s from Nevada to Arizona.

Astonishingly, the dam is designed and built to last 2,000 years, and when you think about it being constructed in the 1930′s with techniques far less sophisticated than today’s, that fact is amazing. How can you not wonder what this will say about the period to people in years to come?  Seven states–Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, California, Colorado–are served by the dam with the largest single recipient being California, specifically Los Angeles.

Since October 2010, a new bridge, crossing the river and bypassing the dam, has been open.

The bridge’s name represents a person from each of the two states bordering it. Pat Tillman is, perhaps, the most famiiiar of the two men as his name is fresher in memory. He was an NFL player who gave up his career and lucrative contract to serve his country and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. I doubt that is how he wanted to be remembered.

Again, thinking about the how of construction is more than this brain can comprehend.

OK, Hoover Dam is done. We’re on the road again headed straight to the Grand Canyon. Now we are starting to get really pumped!

Three hours later, the girls are anxious for their first glimpse.

Omigosh, AMAZING!

We will try to capture it all!

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On the Road V

Hot dry wind causing nose bleeds and dehydration and blowing so hard we were rocking all over the place.  Our goal today: explore Highway 60, and we were glad to have the opportunity for a few stops, none of which were on the agenda.  Are you beginning to figure out our carefully planned agenda is changing at every turn?

We happened upon the Very Large Array (VLA) Center.

If you saw the movie Contact you will recognize these huge radio telescopes that are spread across this flat, empty land.

All of us were absolutely fascinated,

and the little girls loved throwing their voices via parabolic transmitters.

Further down the road, Magdalena had little of interest but this sign gave a sense of just where it is located.

Pietown was a different story.  Just as we had hoped it had a place to buy pies,

delicious homemade ones in many flavors.

Nobody could decide what flavor so the piemaker suggested a “piepourri”.  When we got back on the bus, I was sneaking a bite of the peanut butter pie when I was caught and everyone had to join in.

 Tonight’s dessert never made it out of the box.  Fortunately, the daughter went back in and bought a just out of the oven pear/ginger pie.  Good thinking!

Next stop was to be the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, but deciding that 40 mph winds blowing sand into our faces was not a good thing, we blew on by (literally) and headed to Holbrook, Arizona, supposedly the night’s stop.  Arriving there, we changed our mind in a hurry.  Another Good Sam Motor Park in a wide open space with sand blowing in every direction held no appeal, especially since none of us had wanted to use the shower at the last Good Sam park.  The son-in-law driver was exhausted, but that park gave him enough motivation to go on down the road to Flagstaff where the RV park was vastly improved.

Tini time and carnitas and we were in a much better mood.  On we go!

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On the Road IV

With Marfa not having taken as much time as anticipated, we hit the road, once again driving through miles and miles of nothingness until we reached El Paso.  Two days on the road and we’re still not out of Texas….did I mention Texas is BIG!

Though driving  this big ole bus in city traffic is a challenge for the driver, we did beg a stop  to pick up a few things we’d forgotten, like real wine glasses.  Fortunately, we spied a WalMart which we’ve discovered has the only parking lot big enough for a vehicle this size.  Thinking this might be a good opportunity to do my version of WalMart shoppers, I entered with camera in hand!

Picture taking opportunity wasn’t so good, but we did find all and more of what we needed.

Planned destination this day White Sands, New Mexico, but being ahead of schedule we blew right on by, not stopping until we reached Truth or Consequences.  Anybody know how that name came into being?

Good Sam RV Park, huhn?  What our big bus got us was the choice spot at the park, so we were told.

What that meant was we were parked on the high spot looking down on the other campers

and out on miles of the desolate landscape we had seen all day!

Once settled in, we had to designate a turd tube guy.  If you’ve ever traveled in an RV, you know the job.  Guess who we chose?  Yep, the hubby who seemed to know more about this job than the rest of us.  We promised to make his job as easy as possible in days to come!

The job completed, we rewarded hubby and son-in-law driver, who has done a great job handling road challenges, with a good bottle of wine and settled down for ribs cooked slow.  We’re beginnning to realize how lucky we are to have brought that since it’s not easy to find places to eat when you’re driving a 40′ RV!

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On the Road III

OK, we made it through the night though we did have some giggles over one of the beds which slept like a water bed without the water.

On the road again to the Ft. Davis Drug Store for what is touted to be the best breakfast in west Texas.  

It sure must satisfy the cowboys because the first person we saw was the real thing, complete with gun on his hip.

Then it was Marfa, here we come, and the second of our departures from the plan.  We learned in a hurry that Marfa has its own schedule….maybe places are open, maybe not.  The Chinati and Judd Foundation tours don’t occur until afternoon, and once the family learned that the collections were very modern they didn’t have much interest in hanging around.  Guess the artist daughter and I will just have to return.

Rather than leave Marfa in the dust, however, we had to have a little adventure.

 Since the little girls and I had been to the top of the Empire State Building, it seemed appropriate to climb to the top of the Presidio County courthouse.  Just like in NYC, we got a birdseye view of the town

and what could have been the last picture show.  Impressed?

Marfa may be a hip kind of town these days, regarded as an important art center, but it has all the feel of an updated Old West, at least on the outside.  Exteriors have been carefully restored to original condition, but the interiors are definitely minimalist in keeping with the art exhibited there.

I may not have seen the art that sparked my interest in Marfa, but it was not a total wash.  

There was an exhibit of Andy Warhol interpretations of The Last Supper which were totally new to me.  Are you familiar with these?

My favorite art may have been this car

with its own special message.  

Yeehaw! Let’s move on down the road. 

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On the Road

For the next two weeks, this will be home to hubby, daughter, son-in-law, 2 grandchildren and me.  Cozy, huhn?

So, how did this happen?  One Sunday night family dinner, the conversation got around to where we’d most like to go.  Everyone had his or her own special place, typically out of the U.S.  My choice was Marfa and the Grand Canyon.

“Sweet,” says the son-in law. “That would make a great road trip with the girls.”

“For you maybe,” says the hubby, “but when I go I’ll be flying.”  And so it ended.

I leave town for a couple of weeks and at the next family dinner, this was on my plate.

How could this have happened?  No doubt the son-in-law and daughter plied the hubby with enough wine to make him think going to the Grand Canyon in a big ole RV was a good idea.

Before you know it, the trip was mapped out, the RV rented and we would travel to Marfa, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Santa Fe and Fredericksburg with whatever stops look interesting thrown in, too.

Hey, I’m in, the RV is packed and we are ready to roll with Willie singing in the background.

             On the road again

Goin’ places that I’ve never been

Seein’ things I may never see again

And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

Who knows how often it will be possible to post during this adventure, but you will hear about all of it.  My camera is ready to capture every detail.  In fact, a video might be a better idea because with this crew, the trip could very easily turn into a reality show!

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