John and Gwen VanderLinde, Hillsborough, NH

I'm composing and will be posting this entry while riding a train from Boston to Lynchburg, VA.

Ain't technology amazing?

One of the first people I met in Salem, VA in February of 1969 - Yes, that's '69 - was Gwen VanderLinde. Mary Ann hadn't even moved south yet. Gwen was very pregnant and her soon to be born son and Jeff were neighbors for a few months in Stonegate Apartments. We bought a house, then they bought a house but we were never more than a mile or two apart until they moved to Ohio. We still visited each other regularly for a few years and then they moved to Hillsborough, NH.

I found a client in Beverly, MA, so we still visited at least once a year, usually at Thanksgiving.

We didn't see each other for a several years except for their son's wedding in NY.

One day last year I got a call. "We're going to a wedding in Northern VA and want to stop on the way and have lunch." When I pointed out that Salem was 5 hrs out of the way - EACH WAY from their shortest route, John said, "Well we talked. And we don't know when we'll be closer. So we're coming." Those, folks, are called true friends. We had a wonderful long lunch and caught up on all kinds of family stuff.

I couldn't come to New England and not see them. Even if I didn't have any transportation. My plan was to rent a car on Monday and go see them for the day while Vince, Lonnie and Jan finished their touring of New England. But Sunday night Vince said they were leaving for Niagara Falls in the morning. So I called John and he drove an hour to pick me up in Haverhill, MA.

I stayed with them until EARLY this morning when John got up at 4:00am to drive me to Manchester, NH. I caught a bus to Boston to catch the train to VA. We had a great restaurant dinner Monday night and an even better lasagna dinner that John and I fixed (I chopped the onions and separated the noodles - HE cooked the noodles and assembled the lasagna with "Made From Scratch" sauce that was out of this world) on Tuesday. Their daughter Cindy and son-in-law Craig joined us. Along with their two dogs, Misty and Hudson.

Tuesday afternoon we went to the local reservoir to let the dogs get in a good run while the weather stayed warm.





John stayed home from work Tuesday and we had a great time catching up on things. Yesterday (Wed) I stayed home with the dogs. They are mixed breed, male and female from the same litter that Gwen and Cindy got from a shelter in NY state. And they are SO smart. There are two sleigh bells hanging on a ribbon at the back door. When they need to "go out" or when they're just bored and want to go out, they ring the bells.

What an incredible Tinkerbell inbetween this entire trip has been. Just like my life, things didn't work out at all as we planned and everything was wonderful anyway. There was only one moment of panic when, after driving several hours to get to Acadia National Park, we saw a sign that said, "Closed for the season." It was referring to one of the Visitor's Centers, and the other one was open. So even that was a short moment of panic.

Ferry to Nova Scotia closed? No problem, we'll tour New England.

We don't speak French and only have a little 3" square map of Quebec City in a Rand McNally Atlas? No problem, we'll know where we are when we get there.

Leaving a day earlier than planned for Niagara Falls? No problem, I'll spend three days with my friends instead of one.

Start the trip with no idea how I'd get home? No problem, take a train.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Plan the trip for three weeks after the leaves should peak. No problem, the leaves will peak three weeks late this year.

Life is GOOD !

Tom va à la ville de Québec

On Sunday Vince decided we should take a tour of Northern Maine along the "Old Canada Road". It starts about an hour North on I-95 from our campsite.

Here's the route.

When we got off the Interstate and asked "How far to the Canadian border?", we were told, "Oh, about 2 1/2 hrs." Well, gee, it's be a shame to be this close and not go to Canada.



Then we saw a sign that said, "160km to Quebec City".

Gee, it's a shame to be this close and not go to Quebec City. Sooooo - on we went.

Here's where we went.

Vince did all the driving - actually Vince did all the driving every day. We all offered but he's a recovering long haul 18 wheeler jock and apparently needs a major mileage fix almost every day.

Thank you Vince for letting me a pure tourist. And while I'm acknowledging things, a BIG thank you to Lonnie and to Jan for taking all the wonderful pictures.





We found a Farmer's Market on the waterfront. Lonnie bought some French Bread and fresh Mozzarella cheese. I mean FRESH - like the lady made it last night. It was wonderful. We met a French Canadian, Quebec City native who struggled to talk with us in very broken English. He kept apologizing for his English and we kept saying, "Please don't apologize. We don't speak your language at all." Here he is sitting with us.



YES ! We're sitting outdoors on a bright sunny 65 degree day. Our friend asked how long we were staying in his city. When we said, "Just today." He said, "Ooooooh, soooo luckeeeee." The typical temperature for this date is 38.

After a long drive back to Freeport, we collapsed for the night.

Tomorrow we part ways and I visit friends in NH.

Tom's in Maine

Lonnie found a beautiful, tree filled campground just outside Freeport, ME. We'll base here and explore Maine in a rent-a-car.

Our first day is VERY foggy. We went to the coast and enjoyed wonderful colors all the way. MAP



Then we found a waterside Lobster stand and enjoyed our first Maine lobster of the trip.



Lonnie found a new friend



On Saturday we went to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. The sun came out, traffic was light and we had an incredible day. Jan's main goal of the trip was to see waves crashing on rocks on the Atlantic Coast.




Been there, done that.

Vince just kept saying, "It's just like the postcards."





North Maine and Canada tomorrow !