After having our fill of rules, rules, rules we peaced out
of Cape Cod and headed further Northeast. But not to worry, we now have keys
to the houses in Hyannis, so we may return someday! We took a little side trip along the way to tour The Greene School www.tgsri.org where some fine teacher-friends are making a difference in the lives of kids. Then we met a fellow van-lover, Michael and his wife. Our stop for the night was at the home of Eric C. who is a motivation and inspiration to many. Eric and his guide-dog Ryan travel in a VW Vanagon whenever possible. They live on a beautiful edge of Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. We felt so fortunate to meet him and wish we would have had more time to hang out together. Here is a photo of the two vans in the morning sunlight!
As we were reading the info from the “arsenal of apps” used to determine our routes, we came across a few stops that seemed mandatory. So we headed toward Burlington, VT for the tours of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory (yes, the real thing) and a chocolate maker and a cider factory. We found a great campground in the woods and set up for the night. The next day we hit the tours. It was fun and informative. And of course, the free samples were great also!
The next destination we picked was Portland and Freeport. We needed to see the Cryptology Museum and learn about Sasquatch, Nessie and others. Then to the original LLBean store and outlet. As it turned out, both of these were a bit of a disappointment. But we found another great campground and had a beautiful night in the trees of Maine.
Pointing the van toward Canada took us to the most Eastern point of our journey (within the USA borders) at Cobscook Bay State Park. There we met another van-man, Tim W. and spent some time chatting about VW’s and such. He left us with a cool new cribbage board- basic rules anyone?? If you are ever in the area, this is a park you do not want to miss.
The spaces are private and uniquely distributed among the trees and the view of the bay is amazing.
We will go back to this location on our way out of Canada for two reasons. ONE= it is a decently priced campground with nice, hot showers. TWO= we hid three containers of pepper-spray in the woods just outside the park so we would not have to turn them in at the Canadian border! See you again, Pownal, Maine.
Tomorrow………. Canada.
Bringing pepper spray across the border is not that black and white. See paragraph 37(http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d2/d2-2-1-eng.html)
That being said, it was probably a smart move not to get into a discussion about it at the border since at the end of the day it’s up to the discretion of the border agent.
You can purchase bear spray/ pepper spray at many camping/ hunting/ outfitter stores in Canada if you feel you need it.
We are consummate rule-followers.
We did not know that either. That it why it is wrapped in foil, zipped in a baggie and stashed under a log in the forest in Maine! Then someone else suggested traveling with wasp spray instead. No one cares if you have it and it will serve the same purpose with a longer target distance!
My error. It is a state park. I will correct the blog entry!
I tried to locate Cobscook National Park and was only able to find Cobscook Bay State Park. What have I missed?
Didn’t know pepper spray wasn’t allowed over the border. Thanks for that tip.
Thought I taught you, “rules are for some people.”