It rained all night but most stayed fairly dry, except for Corvin. His tent flooded and he needed to mop it out. He set up next to an electric outlet located on one of the support posts and the water running off the roof hit his tent, square on the top!!!

. . . we were in a sandy area and the water didn’t pool, soaking into the ground quickly. First night on the trip we have had weather like this!!!!

. . . Mark had the best view, as he had set up right on the pond bank . . .

. . . a big issue when it rains, or when there is a heavy dew, is to let the tents dry before you pack them up. Prevents mold forming and a ‘stuffy smell’ when you set them up again. Out west, the tents dried in 15-20 minutes because  the humidity was so low.  East of the Mississippi . . . it’s a different story!!!

. . . a clothesline comes in handy . . .

. . . Wade has come up with the best idea though . . . just hang the whole tent up to dry!!!

On the road, along the lake, was this restaurant, bathroom stop or bar. We never did find out what it was . . . funny!

. . .  and most drivers were courteous !!!

. . . nice riding this morning. The weather had cleared and it was going to be a nice day. The storm was the tail end of Hurricane Harvey that had come up north through the country. Wonder what Irma will bring???

. . . oh there is logging in Maine. Luckily because of it being Labor Day Weekend the logging trucks were off the road. They have a driving reputation that rivals their western counterparts in Oregon.

Soon we arrived in Bath, Maine, home of one of General Dynamics shipyards . . .

. . . where a typical destroyer was having a facelift . . .

. . . and one of the new ‘stealthy’ variety was being constructed.

. . . not sure what this behemoth was going to be  . . . looks like it will have lots of windows . . . maybe a military cruise ship????

. . . along the way was a small used car lot with a Mazda RX7 for sale. I owned one of these, same year and color, years ago . . . it was a FUNNNNNNNN ride!!!

Shop owners REALLY overuse this Maine-ly technique of describing their business . . . it gets sort of irritating after a while!!!!

. . .as we passed through Wissicatte, we came to the famous ‘Red’s Eats’ lobster roll shack. There were probably 50-75 people already lined up and it was only 11:30am. We heard the line can be two hour long at times. Those who know me, know what I think of lines. And after all, how much different can one lobster roll be from another . . .

. . . not much. I went across the street to Sprague’s  . . .

. . . and walked right up to the order window!!!!

. . . this is what it is all about. A 1- 1 1/4 pound lobster, steamed, chunked and loaded onto a piece of white bread. No mayo, seasoning celery or anything else . . . it needed salt!!!

. . . cute puppy ready for some attention. Sadie was a full grown English Golden Retriever. They only get to about 45 pounds. CUTTTTTTTE!!!

. . . as I passed this church, I wondered if the sinners needed to attend services in the little ‘purgatory chapel’ on the right????

. . . oh boy, it’s Labor Day Weekend and time to celebrate!!!

Great art at this outside sculpture garden. Got me wondering how the artist formed such a perfect sphere?

. . . today we would hit the coast of Maine and I planned to dip my front tire in Rockport, where we would have our first view of the ocean. I could see it ahead on my GPS. Pascal Ave is the main drag through town and I could count down the miles as I rolled east. A melancholy mood swept over me like a wave as I neared the shore and knew the ride would be ending for me . . .

. . . a BEAUTIFUL little village, and as far as I am concerned, this is where the ride should have ended. But . . . we have two more days of riding up the coast to Bar Harbor.

. . . oh, you can see the open ocean!!!!!

David, Good Mike and I hauled our bikes down to the water for our tire dunking at 3:50pm after riding for 86 days and 4,174 miles. It was quite a moment for us but I couldn’t dwell too long. Since I had kitchen duty last night, I was late out of camp and my tent was packed up wet . . . needed to dry it out. It’s always the housekeeping chores!!!!!

. . . a pleasant ride through Rockport into Camden, our home for the night. VERYYYYY large and expensive looking homes along the way, right on the ocean.

I saw these Belted Galloway beef cattle out in a field and stopped to take a photo. They are sort of funny looking and didn’t pay much attention to me. I heard someone yelling down the way and several of them started trotting toward the voice. A woman was calling them for dinner,  I guess. Soon the whole group broke into a stampede . . .

. . . I switched to movie mode and got the rear ends of them as they galloped away . . . funny. Click photo above to see the video!!!!

We are staying at Camden Hills State Park tonight and  . . . IT IS OUR LAST NIGHT OF CAMPING . ..YIPPEEE! Jim bought beer and it was lobster and crab rolls for dinner . . .

. . . and time for a campfire. We have only had a couple of them along the way. Tonight was special!!!!

. . . this is what the little hacienda I have been living out of for three months looks like on the inside. My tent is tall enough to sit up in and get all my gear inside. Many others have lighter tents but are much smaller and all their gear can’t fit inside. I prefer to haul the extra weight and have more room.

. . . we shared some great trip highlights and memories tonight . . .

. . . and Jim, our resident pyromaniac, did a fine job of tending the fire. It was Labor Day Monday and we had the whole group camp loop to ourselves . . .