Never Enough Time
~Wednesday, September 15, 2021~
Day 458 (Travel Day)
A day of breaking down camp in the rain. We don’t get those too often, thank goodness. At least it’s not as bad as breaking down a tent in the rain. I do miss tent camping, but don’t miss the occasions of packing up in a downpour. As we put Bar Harbor in the rearview mirror, we are regretting that we didn’t book a longer stay. Would have loved to do the Sargent Mountain hike and spent more time in the vibrant marina area. Do you see a common theme here?? We seem to say the “wish we were here longer” about most places. But, how is one to know? We didn’t know that there were this many trails to explore, this many shops to visit, this many restaurants to sample. Between downtown Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, one could easily stay 2 weeks. 7 days in one place is just not enough. But we’ve certainly slowed the pace since we began RV’ing over a year ago, where our stays used to be something like 4 days. Moving around that frequently is simply exhausting. But seriously, when you do the math, you need at LEAST a week in one place, when you factor in your travel day...gone, your day to do chores/laundry….gone. And this doesn’t even count project/fix-it days. So then that leaves you with about 3 to 4 days of discovering what brought you to the area in the first place. But here’s the challenge…...blocking out more than a week at any particular site. Those are hard to find in this pandemic world right now, which either forces you to move sites at the same campground, or move campgrounds, or just deal with spending less time in a particular area. We just try the best we can.
As we were driving, we realized that this is the furthest we’ve been from “home”, though we don’t consider California our home anymore. It’s funny, when people ask us where “home” is, we’ve gone from really knowing what that specifically was to questioning what is, a conundrum of sorts. I suppose I should just stick with the general reply of, “everywhere”, because that really is true, isn’t it? “Everywhere” fits us for now, and will know when the time is right for a more specific answer.
Heading initially northwest, and more inland from Bar Harbor, we drove through the former timber hub of Bangor (where novelist Stephen King formerly called home for years). I wonder if those creepy looking gates are still on that property? Today, we’re headed for Cedar Haven Family Campground in Freeport, Maine, about a 3-hour drive south from Bar Harbor. Freeport, located on the Casco Bay, is best known for outlet stores and L.L. Bean. It’s also been voted as the “Best Weekend of Shopping in New England”. But, it is also known as the Birthplace of Maine. And thanks to the Historical Society, many of the 18th/19th century buildings are still standing. In fact, when the fast food chain, McDonald’s, wanted to open their doors in Freeport, it was only allowed to do so if it moved into an original historic building to preserve the unique New England feel. That is dedication to one’s city and its past.
What a welcoming place Cedar Haven is. It is the perfect family spot, with game room, playground/sand area, pond, free kayak use, volleyball, swinging benches, picnic tables, laundry facilities, and camp store for all those necessities. But what makes it even more special is the people. We were greeted by manager Rodney and his wife …….., who are the epitome of model hosts. They’d do anything for you. He and his wife have been managing the place for 10 years, transforming this little family oasis of a place, after it became just too much to handle for the previous owner. The new owner basically said he’d buy the place if Rodney and his family managed it. After all those years of endless projects, they’re finally enjoying a little more free time as of a year ago. As he led us to our site with his adorable dog in tow, we knew we were staying at one special place. Our site is perfect (full hookups-haven’t had those in a while). And the way they’ve graded the sites makes it so that you’re not on top of eachother. We’re all on different levels in a true forest setting. As Rodney left us with, “Let me know if you need anything”, we began setting up. Met some lovely neighbors behind us, Kelly and Guy, who needed their dog fix (theirs are at home). Once again, Sadie was the conversation starter. This will definitely be a nice place to call “home” for the next 7 days.