Cobscook Bay State Park – Dennysville, ME

Here we are – in a Cobscook Bay State Park along the coast of northern Maine. The campground is amazing! Lots of sites, most of them well separated from each other, offering lots of privacy, and most of them very roomy. It’s a heavily wooded park – white pine, hemlock, fir, and birch, grow thick here, offering plenty of shelter for wildlife. While the TLs slept, I heard a fox barking nearby – perhaps a mother suggesting to her teenaged young they might want to pay closer attention to her lessons….

And to give you a little sense of the scenery take a gander at this:

We are not far from Campobello which we visited several years ago. This time however, we ventured north to the coastal village of Eastport, Maine. Walking along the waterfront, one sees both working boats, as well as the pleasure boats of summer residents, and a few larger vessels for whale watching tours.

Yes, the historic district is becoming a little bit gentrified, but crowds are absent here. This town has a laid back, funky vibe – a place we’d definitely come back to.

Here too, is a grand statue originally built as part of a reality show that was filmed here some years ago. Later, one of the residents, a fireman, who had a part in that show, was killed in the Twin Tower tragedies of 9-11. The statue has since been refurbished, and is dedicated to him.

After a fine lunch, off we went to explore Shackford Head State Park. It is named after a sea captain, John Shackford, who was born in 1753 and served in the revolutionary war. He settled here, as one of town’s earliest settlers. He died in 1840 – at the rather unusual age of 87! Not bad for a fellow of that era, dontcha think!

While Shackford isn’t a large park: nearly 90 acres or so. It has series of trails that provide fine overlooks of Cobscook Bay and Broad Cove. From the various outcroppings you can look across to Lubec, Maine as well as Campobello and Grand Manan Island. And like so much of the coastline here – small islands and rock ledges dominate the water, with towering woods hovering over the shoreline. Here though, is a sight we don’t typically see: a formidable salmon farm! Huge round cages covered with netting (to keep out the seagulls?) sit in the water – a good dozen or more clustered together.

Dinner anyone?

Yes, I think I’ll have to bring the TwoLeggs back – there’s a great mustard museum in Eastport we didn’t get to visit, and a few more places (including a brew pub) I think they should try.

Back at Cobscook, we also discovered a previously unvisited camping loop – complete with another few grand primo sites for future consideration.

Oh, and did I mention? We’ve had grand weather – warm sunny days and cool nights. Perfect for camping without shore power.

Tomorrow: CANADA!!!

Woodford State Park – Bennington, VT

OH MY! We saw sunshine! And BLUE sky! Two things we haven’t seen since our travels began! What a pleasant surprise it was, traveling through Pennsylvania, New York, and into Vermont – we could see farms and fields, forests, distant mountains, creeks, rivers – ah the visual delight of it all! We do hope to have more days like this ahead…

Yes, the greens of summer are intense, following a wet spring and early summer. Crops are lush, forests dense – here where seasons are short, plants must spend their energy in manic growth – outpace their neighbor for sunlight, develop seed and flower to ensure future generations…. it’s a tangle of vine, limb, fruit, and leaf – a grand exuberance of summer.

Here in at Woodford, we are again surprised at how few campers there are. Usually, the summer season is packed. Where are the shouting kids on their bikes, making new friends, new alliances as they circle round and round and round and round the campground? Where is the loud music of the TL Yayhoo wanting to introduce the rest of the world to his favorite songs? And where are the party boys and girls, yucking it up over who knows what? Not here. It’s most unusual. And just a little bit eerie.

We take a walk around the loops. Enjoy a beer. Dinner is quick, simple. Enter the evening and the call of a barred owl nearby, as he readies for his evening hunt. Now it’s the songs of the evening creatures, near and far, greeting the darkening skies as they too begin a search for food and to teach their young the ways of the night. Darkness prevails, and the TL voices have quieted.

Pleasant dreams, all.

Locust Lake SP – Barnesville, PA

We made it through yet another day of what Minkie called abysmal rain, and Carlos referred to as a toad strangler of a rain (that’s my Carlos: ever politically incorrect, and rather offensive in this case to yours truly)! Anyway, I found it all quite refreshing, in spite of TL’s aversion to a little sprinkle…

We are here at Locust Lake, where there has been some flooding – several sites, down by the lake are flooded, and the roads, which were never in great repair, washed out along the sides in many spots. Similarly, water has created quite a few ditches across site entries; indeed, there are few folks here at all.

This is not a campground for the big rigs, and watched one intrepid soul backing his 35-40 foot motor home into one of the few spots that can accommodate that size. He made it, with no room to spare, though it took quite a few very slowly executed backing maneuvers. More guts than even the RT has!

In addition to rutted road ways, and lots of closely packed uneven sites (unrelated to the washout issues), this campground is in desperate need of a face lift. It’s poor tired restrooms/showers are clean, but in pretty poor shape. Still, it makes for an OK overnight stay. We have left Toad Holler hitched, to make for a little quicker departure tomorrow.

Bathhouse at Locust Lake

Enough of the park info though. I thought it perhaps a good time to reflect on one or two of the finer things in life:

Smuchi – reflecting on his fine life. And his handsomeness.

You gotta admit, I’m one good lookin’ fella! That poor ol’ Kermit fella ain’t got nuttin’ on me!

Until tomorrow – CHEERS!

Shenandoah River State Park – Bentonville, VA

After saying goodbye to North Carolina, off we headed off to Grindstone, our favorite campground in southern Virginia. We’ll be back at the end of the trip for a longer stay, so I’ll tell you more about it then. Yet again, we had a travel day of rain that didn’t cease upon arrival at our destination. And to keep the evening interesting we discovered a leaking rear window. Luckily, it’s not too bad, but we haven’t yet figured out exactly where the problem lies. A short while later, looking under the table for a dropped pen, Minkie saw a lonely, very small little screw. This is not a good thing to find. Eventually we discovered that it appeared to have come from the handle that operates the leaking window…. Hmmmmmm. Except, that after spending a few frustrating minutes trying to get the blasted little thing back in, Carlos discovered it just didn’t ant to stay in its home. Puzzling over this, he compared it to its kin. No match. Hmmmmmmm again. We’ll be looking for a hardware store as we make our way north.

We’re now at Shenandoah River State Park – a lovely park that provides a great place to stay. If weather were better we would have been hiking, but that just isn’t to be part of the journey yet. You guessed it – more rain. It hasn’t slowed down our little furry rabbit neighbor, who visits morning and evening. Should you travel this way, this is a great park to stay a few days. There are plenty of trails, some that travel along the river, others into the hills, through forest and fields, with wildlife abundant. It also has nice facilities – hot showers, even a laundromat!

We’ll be off again tomorrow, this being the part of our trip where we are hoppin’ quickly to Canada.

Van Hook Glade Campground – Highlands, NC

Day two. Our drive took us through the Georgia piedmont, where farms are fewer and the hills are sharper. Forests abound, and of course there are more small towns along these less traveled roads. We stopped for lunch at little Mexican restaurant, figuring all the cars in the parking lot were probably a good sign. Plus, it was within walking distant of a large parking lot where Toad Holler could park and rest its tires. The food was good, service decent, and the portions generous. Well sated, we made our way into South Carolina, and finally into the mountains of North Carolina.

Van Hook Glade is a small National Forest Service campground 4 miles outside of Highlands, NC. Like most of their campgrounds there are no hook ups, though they do have clean, well-maintained showers and flush toilets. Best of all, we’re at an altitude where temperatures have dropped a good 10-20 degrees from our last stop – a good thing, since we’ll be sleeping with open windows. It’s a quiet little place, and with the sun setting, traffic from the road nearby has slowed to near non-existence. Oh, and we have no neighbors – always a plus in my opinion!

Maintaining good campsite hygiene is strongly recommended – according to the host, bears have been visiting regularly. Lucky for the TwoLeggs, there are no biting insects. Lucky for me, there’s still plenty of others for me to snack on. Most of our stay was spent with friends – visiting old friends, and making new ones. As seems so often to be the case – good food, good drink, and lively conversations are made all the more precious against a backdrop of a natural setting. In this case it was the forest, a creek splashing merrily down the mountain, fireflies, the chorus of my fellow amphibians singing counterpoint to the crickets, and the distant call of nightbirds. Yes, a great beginning to adventures yet to come!

Toad Holler in Van Hook Glade, just after the rain

Oh: I had to takers, both with correct answers on the Dopp kit question. One came in first, so that TL wins the prize. Which is a visit with the Road Toad, of course! What more could a TL ask for?

And they’re off! First stop: Millen, GA

Yes friends and fellow toads, we are finally off to the races. Well, race. And it was something of an inauspicious beginning that went a bit like this:

TwoLegg A (who shall remain nameless, to protect the innocent) to Minkie, as we pulled in to Hardees for a quick lunch (please, no groans – we have to stop places where there is room to maneuver the Toad Holler): I think I forgot my Dopp kit.

Two Legg B: well it could be worse. At least it wasn’t your wallet. We can stop at WallyMart and pick up the essentials.

Two Legg A: But there’s STUFF in it!

Minkie (showing no sympathy): Oh well. You have your wallet.

Two Legg A: BUT – my STUFF!!!

Minkie: What do you want to eat? I’ll have the 3 piece chicken special for $5 – it comes with a cookie.

TLA: But my STUFF!!

Me: How about a burger with mushrooms for me? And extra flies – uh, FRIES!

TLA (A few minutes later, as food begins to replace the worry over lost STUFF): Can I have your extra sauce?

And so it went. We made the requisite stop and replenished most of the STUFF, and eventually found our way to Magnolia Springs State Park. This is a small park, just north of Millen, GA. Yes, it was raining when we arrived, and we’ve been graced with a light sprinkle for most of the evening. We’ve been here before, stopping the first time to take a peek at the spring and commune with the resident gators. I was not amused, but gators just aren’t my thing.

Oh, and I should mention the ride up. Traveling on the back roads through South Georgia (the Land of Minkie’s Peeps) we passed many a field of cotton, peanuts, corn, and few fields of soybeans. Here and there a herd of beef cattle, and lots of chicken barns. It’s rolling topography, where small towns struggle to hold on to their existence. Soon those hills will hide ghost towns, I’m afraid. Oh yes, and there’s plenty of managed forests here too – and at least one very sizeable lumberyard.

Here at the park we lucked into a primo site, that overlooks a small lake/pond – now with a little more water in it than we’ve seen on previous visits. Because this is an overnight stop, we won’t have a chance to look around again in the morning. As for the amenities, park staff maintain clean facilities – showers (free, no timers and lots of hot water), and even laundry facilities. No complaints here!

Tomorrow we head to North Carolina to visit friends in the mountains. Until, then you can sleep well: TLA found his Dopp kit. Now everyone is happy. PS: Anyone know the origin of the term “Dopp” kit?