We had  a surprise at the campsite last night when Martha showed up at the campground.

Martha is Denise’s friend and co-worker who also visited us with three other co-workers back in MI. She is out visiting her sister Marie and will be giving Denise a ride home at the end of the trip.

Martha and Marie along with Bobby, Rebecca and Bob. VERY nice family and we had a lot of fun.

. . . they brought us lots of goodies to eat on the road the next day. Dawn, a reporter for the Brunswick Times, showed up too do so a story on our ride.

It was  late night and the last thing to do before we turn in  is to cover the breakfast and the lunch food with the tarp to keep the critters away from it.

Soon were on the road for the day and passed across one of the last swing bridges on the US. The bridge pivots on its axis to allow boat traffic to pass on either side . . .

. . . and there was also an old lock system. Once the locks are full, the gates are opened by hand!!!!

. . . very fun. Would have been great to have seen the whole works in operation.

. . . not too far down the road today we came to another roadside general store. They seem to have EVERYTHING. Unfortunately this one specialized in discount cigarettes!!!!

. . but  right across the street were Rebecca, Martha and Marie, waiting to say good bye to all of us. They were going to visit us at the campground but there were no visitors allowed until 9:00am!!!

. . . we have started seeing a number of stone fences along the way. Lots of work to build one of these . . .

. . . what intrigued me about this place was the slab wood that had been debarked and was being used for siding. Interesting  look!!!

. . . Maine does spend some money on roads and today we rode on several new slabs. NICE . . . smooth as the bottom on a new born baby!!!

. . . .typical scene around many rural road turns in ME . . . only thing missing is a family of moose standing out in the marsh!!!

. . . hey did I make a wrong turn or what!!!!  . . . and they are open for business!!!!

. . . several examples of quirky Maine humor along the way . . . .

. . . including this 12 foot high system of mail boxes . . .

. . . puppy.

There was rain in the forecast for this afternoon and by the time we reached our campsite it was raining.

Mark and I had kitchen duties tonight and we caught a ride into town to get groceries for breakfast and lunch. It was wet and cold so we made the decision dinner would be in town tonight. Ally lined up taxi shuttle and away the 15 of us went to downtown New Brunswick. Great choice of international cuisine (it is a college town) and most of us finished the evening off with gelato!!!!   . . .

It was still raining hard when we returned to camp!!!