Monday, August 18, 2008

August 3, Sunday – Acadian National Park




We hit the road early to be able to travel four hours through so of the most scenic coastline that the US has to offer and to also see Acadian National Park. As we approached the Mt. Desert Island area we heard the Emergency Radio Broadcast System tone on the RV radio. “This is the National Weather Service: Warning! Sever storm warnings are posted for the following areas…” We didn’t need a radio to know we were going to get hit with some totally nasty weather. When the rain started, I pulled off into a hardware store parking lot to wait it out. Lightning and rain. Rain and lightning. We had though the worst had past so we pulled out back onto Coastal Highway #1. The highway became a river. Vehicles were pulling off the road onto the shoulders with their four way flashers on. Because of the cab over unit on the Winnebago and the height off the highway, we kept plowing along even though water was dripping from the windshield seam onto the dashboard.
I’ve been around lightning but when a bolt struck three hundred feet off to my left, it made me jump out of my seat. Flash/Boom.
We dumped the RV on the mainline and headed to the park on the island. This has been such a satisfying system of traveling: parking the RV and taking the land dinghy into to towns or extended day trips. I would have not done it any other way in spite of the reduced mileage caused by towing the VW.
As soon as we reached Bar Harbor we did a small walking tour of the town then hopped aboard the Sand Beach bus to the southern rocky coast. Since I had just spent a week at the park, I was well acquainted with the region so I took Melanie to the places with “high value views”.
After we left the island, we stopped at one of the many lobster (lobstah) restaurants on the mainland. First you went into the front and selected the live lobster that you wanted; they put the lobster into a net with your personal number on it and dropped it into one of the four boiling vats of water for the prescribed cooking time and then hauled it out and sent you your critter on a plate with potatoes and salad to the dining area out back.
We finally crashed at 9:30 in a small RV park on the side of the highway. This was the first of a series of long days.

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