TRIP #5, 2014--Crossing Maine-land

Crossing the Maine-land

Beds of black-eyed Susan punctuate the river walk
at the Rest Area in Skowhegan, Maine

When Andy looked out the window at 6:30 a.m., Gorham was blanketed in fog.  A half hour later when he went for coffee, the misty cloud had lifted and the temperature read 36 degrees.  This is cold country!  Wisps of steam rose from cooling ponds, and even a nearby cornfield showed evidence of evaporation as the ground gave up heat and moisture to the chilly air.  We headed north to Maine.
Most of Rumsford, Maine was hidden behind clouds of smoke from the paper mill. "They are good paying jobs, and it pays the bills in a one-industry town," Andy said. Smell is not pollution. What we saw was mostly steam in the air, but it DID smell, even with all the car windows closed.
We followed Route #2 through Mexico, Peru and East Peru. "Drew would feel right at home up here," said Andy. "He could split logs all day."  The trees in this area are just starting to turn, and we spotted three turkeys foraging along the roadside.
We stopped at a Rest Area in Skowhegan, Maine to stretch our legs at 11:15 a.m.  Picnic tables interspersed with beds of black-eyed Susan dotted the bank of the broad Kennebec River.  It was a pleasant place to relax as one young couple bounced their baby boy in the sunshine and an older couple walked their dachshund.  But the air was chilly, and a light breeze ruffled the changing hardwood trees.

A bronze to the honor the Vietnam Veterans is flanked
by an army tank and a mounted helicopter.

This morning we noticed a few interesting things about Maine:  1. Don't mess with the logging trucks.  They get the right of way. They're bigger.  2. Gas is cheaper here. The average seems to be about $3.399 a gallon.  There are fewer people (drivers, that is) to milk.  3. The hamlets are small, and lots of trees grow between them.  4. In spite of numerous one-lane maintenance areas, manned by men and women with stop/slow signs, the roads are immaculate.  Citizens take pride in Maine property.

A mighty builder, Paul Bunyan dominates
the Cross Insurance Complex.

We checked in early at the motel, which gave us freedom to tool around Bangor.  Following the signs, we found the Galen Cole Family Land Transportation Museum.  Even though the museum was private and charged entry fees, the surrounding monuments honored Maine residents who had sacrificed their lives in wars  We walked the grounds, amazed at the numbers of men and women who had died from such a small state.  A World War II jeep commemorated the soldiers from WWII in bronze. Marble and granite stones listed individual names of servicemen and women from World War II and Korea. Andy walked through the Lowell G. Kjenstad Memorial Bridge, a wooden covered bridge.  "They did a nice job here," he said, "but it's too bad it is in such an unfriendly location between highway and airport."
On the opposite side of the parking lot and museum, a bronze statue  honored the Maine Vietnam Veterans, 1961-1975.  Behind the statue, dedicated in 2004, was a Bell-Huey helicopter mounted high above the ground and a monstrous army tank.

The Memorial to the Battleship Maine
remembers the sacrifice of brave
Maine soldiers and sailors.

On the fringe of downtown, we found the statue of Paul Bunyan outside the Cross Insurance entertainment complex and the Hollywood Casino Hotel and Raceway.  "That would be perfect for our front yard," I suggested, "but I wish it didn't say no climbing. I'm so tempted to crawl up into his arms!"    Andy didn't comment.Downtown, Andy took me on a walking tour of Bangor.  We parked at the Congregational Church and walked 10 or 12 blocks of this big city that has the population of our small Connecticut town.  The first stop was the Maine Memorial, commemorating the soldiers and sailors who died in the 1898 Spanish American War.

The Peirce Memorial
honors Paul Bunyan.

Blocks away we saw a bronze to Hannibal Hamlin, a Bangor native who served as Abraham Lincoln's Vice President from 1861 to 1864.  Andy and I had never heard of him.  Guess we missed out on some history. The Lady Victory bronze honored the veterans of all foreign wars in a downtown plaza park.

The Thomas Hill Standpipe holds
Bangor's water supply.

Several blocks away was the Peirce Memorial with a Paul Bunyan bronze statue.High on a hilltop overlooking the city stands the Thomas Hill Standpipe.  "I don't have any idea what it is," said Andy, as we parked nearby."It looks like a giant lighthouse," I added.  The interpretive sign described a giant wedding cake made of steel, pine boards and cedar shingles.  The standpipe is actually a huge steel water tank, built in 1897, holding 175,000 gallons of water and controlling the city's water pressure.  The tank is encased in shingles and is on the list of National Historic Sites.  I guess someone wanted to make it pretty.

Sights and smells along
the Boardwalk pique
the senses.

Orono Bog Boardwalk, a National Natural Landmark, attracted lots and lots of locals who came to walk the boardwalk in the late afternoon.  The path into the Boardwalk took us through rich wetland forests of winterberry, red maple and black ash.  About 1.25 miles long of Maine scenic beauty, the floating boardwalk, made of rough sawn hemlock, crosses a peat bog that is as much as 20 feet thick.

Andy studies the interpretive sign that explains how
low-growing plants dominate in areas where peat is thickest.

It's a land of dwarfed spruce and evergreen shrubs, tufted cottongrass and insect-eating plants.  More than 14 species of Spagnum moss help create the acidic, low-nutrient, water-saturated conditions necessary for peat to form.  The mass of peat and the distinctive environmental conditions of the bog have been 11,000 years in the making. Seven interpretive stations along the trail described the vegetation and animal life.  The natural find was a lovely hour of strolling in the 73-degree sun, a sharp contrast to our hikes at Mount Washington yesterday.
Our day of exploration ended with a drive around the campus of the University of Maine.  We were impressed by the immensity of the school, spread out and spacious with a well-maintained atmosphere.  "And it's always better to go to school where it's cold," said Andy.
He thinks it helps the studying when warm distractions are eliminated.