Homeward Bound

To say we had an easy week would probably be true when compared to what it might be like to live here year round.  It certainly would be true when compared to what life was probably like when Thoreau visited here in the 1800's.  We did little more than a couple hours hard walk on one day, and ferried our asses around in state of the art vehicles the rest of the time, and put down in high tech fabric tents and sleeping bags at night.  We didn't have to eat salt pork from a barrel or catch our food for dinner.  We got our fire from propane tanks, and used power tools to cut our wood. 

But put into context, this was not an easy week by most peoples standards.  We didn't use any electricity (except for Buzzy running his generator to power his boom box and light bulb, and me running my power inverter to recharge my camera batteries).  We cooked on camp stoves, eating dehydrated and canned foods mixed with water.  We ate our sandwiches on unleavened bread and had very little fat.  And needless to say, grape Kool-Aid gets old after a week.  I confess to sleeping on a nice air mattress and having a pillow along.   My sleeping arrangements were so comfortable in fact that I don't think they rate any lower than sleeping at home, except of course that I'd rather share my bedroom with my wife over my Dad any day (no offense, Dad).

And so it was that we arose to the task of tearing down our camp.  A place that we had only five days before never laid eyes upon but had now become "home".  I walked out on the shore of Round Pond and was struck by the dawn beauty of the place, with its crystal clear water, distant loon cries, and the foggy veil that hid the sun from view.

I found some of the guys standing next to a warm fire and flipped on the video camera for another attempt at getting a candid opinion of the trip so far.  No need to turn down the sound or shoo the kids away for this one:

Movie:

JJ, Leo and Buzzy

I took the camera and just wandered around looking for things to record.  There were several mundane things that I knew had blended in with the scenery but would in time be images etched in my memory.  I made images of them so that someday I could remind myself of them, and of course to share them with others.

JJ took some nice pictures too:

And of course the people:

My Dad had only gone out with me in the Jeep a few times.  He told me that the only reason he went was because it was a chance to get together with me and the kids.  Basically, he's not into the whole Jeep thing, and had said from time to time that he though what we did was kind of dumb.  But after that first trip out where we went someplace to wheel, and used the GPS to get there, I think he saw that we go prepared for the worst, and have a healthy respect for the outdoors and our own property.   After that first trip he softened his opinion of the whole Jeep thing quite a bit, though he made it clear that he was kidding when he joked with me on this trip that he was going home to tell Mom that he was buying a Jeep and going to start making mods.  Who know's, maybe he will?  (NAH!)  Here's Leo giving the raspberry to the world from Round Pond, and another shot the way I know him when he's not pissed at me.

Leo (Dad)

Carl was the first to throw in on this junket and stayed rock solid 'til the very end.  I was really disappointed when it looked like he might have to stay behind to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Isabel.  He hung in there and when the power came on, he scrambled to catch up with us and his delay barely made any change in our schedule.  He kept his beard since Kathy said she liked it when he returned home (he did some cleaning up on it though...)

Carl

JJ was the last to sign on.   With only a week left before we departed, he came to me after the OCC meeting and told me he wanted to come.  I have known JJ since my first trip to State Line Trail.  He recently told me that he won't go on that trail again unless it is dry and snow-free.   My sentiments exactly.  I had some strict personal criteria for anyone who came along on this trip and even at the late date that JJ approached me, I had no reservations whatsoever about including him.  We made the trip all the way up from Maryland (and back) together and it was all good!

JJ

Oh Fuck Yeah!  How could I leave Buzzy out?  On the second day of our trip we came back to camp to find Buzzy all set up, and definitely ready for some camping, fishing, hunting, brew pounding, and story telling.  He whipped out his chain saw and broke down the fire wood, provided a shelter next to the campfire, ran his generator and played tunes (Dad really loved Three Doors Down) and of course, set us up with cold brews all week.  We still kind of wonder where he got off to at 3 in the morning but we're glad he came along for the ride!  On Friday, Carl mentioned the "moose" antler that he had found in the bushes.  Turns out it was a Caribou antler that Buzzy had found and hidden in the bushes (see the photos near the top of the page for a picture of Carl "wearing" the antler.)  Carl gave it back.  Here's to you Buzzy!

Buzzy

And me...  Just another Bozo on the bus.  This was all my big idea.  I spent some hours plotting and planning.  I recruited a bunch of crazy guys to come along.  In the end, we got the motley crew you see here.  Everybody worked together and nobody let me get too far ahead of the pack for very long (well except maybe on the day we walked to the trains...).  Everybody put up with my anal crap, and pretty much let me play Colonel for the week.  Thanks everybody for being nice to me, even when I was being a jerk.   Ha!  You knew you had to or I wouldn't take you back home!

Paul

It seemed like a good idea to take a picture of Buzzy's "prototype Z-71" so I did.

And here's a picture of the non-natives (Buzzy is from Maine)

We got packed by 10:30.   I can't speak for everyone but I wasn't in any hurry to leave until I started thinking about the fact that I expected to be sleeping in Massachusetts this night and had a pretty long road trip between me and that bed at Dad's house.  I grabbed a couple more pictures to remember Round Pond by, then got my stuff stowed.

One of the things I tried to do was provision the expedition with foods that came in paper containers that would burn.   I was pretty successful and our trash to carry out was very minimal.  I don't think we ended up with but a few ounces of metal that we had to take out.  When we left the site, it was spotless, and it wasn't that hard owing to everyone's attention to it.

One thing we did lament as we packed was the fact that we had not seen a single moose all week.  We followed their tracks for three days but never caught up.  Finally, we resigned ourselves to the fact that it wasn't in the cards.  But on the way home, we got a brief glimpse of one before it walked away and disappeared into the black growth.  Maybe that was just as well.  The prospect of having one come crashing through the camp or windshield really isn't that appealing.  I have enlarged a section of a couple of these photographs but it was quite far away so these pictures are not that great.

We drove back down Ragmuff Road to The Golden Road, then turned west and followed it to the turn off for Pittston Farm, skipping all the fun and games we had engaged in coming in.

We were now in escape mode with a desire to get to pavement and from there to home following the most direct route possible.  Along the way, JJ discovered that most of the blades on his electric fan had gone missing, causing a terrible vibration.  And at about the same time, Carl took a stone in the windshield and a crack spread across the drivers side.  Most of the carnage occurred in a couple minutes.

JJ decided to disconnect the vibrating fan assembly and drive without the fan.  It turned out to work pretty well as long as we kept on moving.  This served to keep us from stopping along the way out.

Pretty soon we reached the 20 Mile Checkpoint.  We checked out quickly and were soon on our way down the road toward Rockwood.  The road surface kept getting better and better and soon we reached pavement.  After crossing the bridge and turning left, we pulled into the Moose River Country Store.  I saw a nice CJ-7 tanking up and I jokingly asked him "Where the heck have you been?" and quickly told him we'd been around all week and had not seen a single Jeep.  He commented that he just got it last week so... 

We got gas and aired up, and I found some stickers and a toy Jeep in the store to add to my collections.

Back on the road, we soon spied a view to Mount Kineo.  Over Leo's objections, I sent Carl and JJ ahead and stopped to make some images.

While I was doing this, I noticed a Willys stashed on the side of one of the buildings at the house across the street, and a pretty good assembly of newer Jeeps in the driveway.  It looks like there have been Jeeps in the family for some time.

We met up with Carl and JJ back at the Indian Hill Trading Post where we shopped for gifts for our families.  I got a T-Shirt for Maria and some moose key chains for the boys.  I grabbed another moose magnet to match the one I already had.  More stickers...

Later, in the parking lot, I saw a few more Jeeps.  Now that we were done with our trip, all the Jeeps were coming out!

Carl decided to keep moving since he wanted to get back to his Dad's house in Ellsworth for a lobster dinner.  Once back in Greenville, JJ. Leo and I stopped at the Rod 'N Reel Cafe for something to eat.  We had a nice meal and ran into the same guy we had met on our trip to the B-52 site who left JJ a NASCAR collector card.  I managed a couple more pictures before we hit the road for Massachusetts.

We made a stop for gas along the way and I could not resist making a picture of this brand new, temporary tagged Jeep that was getting gas next to us.  I wanted to go over and warn the guy to be careful not to get anything on his Jeep or it would start growing into what he saw next to him, but the guy paid and left before we could properly introduce ourselves.

After that, we did the grind and stayed on the road all the way to Dad's house, where Mom had a spaghetti and meatball supper waiting for us.  I found my Camp Jeep hat, and retrieved a whole bunch of stuff my sister brought over for me to take home for Maria and the kids and me.   After a glass of wine, and a brief recap of the weeks events, we all hit the hay.   What a day!  What a week! 

Tomorrow:  Home!

Waypoints