Day 14 - Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

You know the phrase “darker than the inside of a wolf”? That applies to Recompense Shores campground! It was so stinkin dark out there last night! Being basically alone out there was a bit unnerving, but I had 3Gs on my phone so I could have “phoned a friend” if I had needed to! J

I woke up for good about 6:30, got up about 7. The office didn’t open until 8 – that was my coffee source for the morning since I was dry camping. I ate breakfast and read my book until about 8 when I got dressed and walked over for coffee and toothpaste! I was totally out of toothpaste, couldn’t even squeeze 4 more uses out of it! I was back at the RV by 8:30 and I wanted to finish my book so I sat and read until 9:30.

I really enjoyed The Maine Woods – it was fun reading about trekking into the Maine Wilderness back in the 1800’s and how they camped and traveled, especially when I was in the Maine Wilderness! Made me very thankful for my RV!

Finally I got myself going! My 1^st task was to back out of the site. It was much easier than I thought it would be! I just went straight back and stopped to check every few feet and before I knew it was out and heading down the road!

I decided that I needed to stop at Hannaford to pick up a few things I had run out of but needed for the last night – I’m pretty impressed with how well the food worked out….I only threw out a few things that I’d over bought!

It was only 2 hours from Freeport to The Lobster Buoy and I had all day so I’d decided I would drive out to Pemaquid Point lighthouse and check that out. It was cloudy and dreary but I headed down the road anyway and I’m glad I did!

1^st of all Pemaquid Point is one of, if not the only, lighthouse that you can go up in! It was very cool to see the view from up there and check out the lens and see how the lighthouse works! 2^nd – Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is what they put on the Maine State Quarter (which they had for sale there…for $5.00!).

While I was there the sun came out and it turned out to be a very nice afternoon! There were rocks in front of the lighthouse that you could walk out onto and get great views of the ocean, the rocky coast, and the lighthouse!

Next door to the park was a kitschy gift shop/restaurant/ice cream stand! It was def “tourist trap” material – they had 2 large fiberglass Indian statues in the front, an extra large fiberglass “lobster-zilla” and a fiberglass Pirate…what an odd combo! The gift shop was the ultimate junk store…you could hardly walk for all the tourist souvenir crap! I did partake of the ice cream stand portion – it was Gifford’s again! I got cookie dough this time and aside from a big chunk of ice I found, it was very good!

I spent about 2 hours out there and now it was time to head into the Lobster Buoy! It wasn’t far and I even took the scenic route! I pulled into the campground about 4:00 and attempted to get parked in my site. I had a different site from before – that site was too wet! This one was a bit harder to get into! I pulled up alongside it but not far enough so when I backed in I narrowly missed 2 campsite signs, a car, the electric plug for my site and the picnic table! I made it in though!

The very frustrating part was that three folks who are staying here all stopped what they were doing to watch me. They saw me back up 2 ft and jump out and look, then re-adjust and look again – I jumped out of the RV about 10 (or more) times to look at where I was going and decide what to do next and not one of them offered assistance! I would have asked, but I figured that if they had wanted to help they would have, since they had watched the whole thing!

Hopefully I can get it out in the morning! It’s supposed to be raining then so that will add to the fun! J

Once I got the slide out and the electric plugged in I started packing and cleaning, I picked up the trash and vacuumed, the other cleaning stuff will have to wait till morning. I got everything except what I needed for tonight packed up.

Feels like I have been on this trip a lot longer than just two weeks! It feels like a lifetime ago when I was here before! This had been a great trip! It was a bit nerve-wracking before I left – going RVing solo for 2 weeks! There’s so much that could happen! But thankfully, everything went smoothly, after the little hiccups the 1^st few days. I had never taken a long trip by myself before and that was kinda scary to think that I’d be on my own for so long – well thanks to my iPhone and having decent coverage most everywhere, I was able to stay connected to my friends through Facebook and Twitter as much as I do when I’m at home! (even South Arm had decent coverage, I just had to drive 6 miles to get it, I knew I could drive out there if I really needed to!)

Even the RV was scary at 1^st – I’d done the RV thing in Alaska, but I was with my parents who do this all the time! It’s hard to drive at times – it’s so big and I was worried I’d get myself in a jam that I couldn’t get out of, but so far that hasn’t happened (I’ll let you know when I get out of this site!), oh I did get into that right spot at South Arm, but it wasn’t a huge big deal! It’s strange sleeping in a new place every night! I really liked the RV thing during the day – I liked being in the campground and having all the comforts of home right there! It was at night that I’d get a little freaked out, especially when the wind was blowing or it was raining – but after a few nights I got more comfortable.

A lot of people I met said I was brave for heading out alone in an RV. Yeah, there were some times that I felt like I was being very brave, but it was more a situation of me wanting to go places and see stuff and I wasn’t waiting my life around until there was someone to go with me. I wanted to go see Acadia and Grafton Notch and I did!

I didn’t really get too lonely, South Arm was hard, I really liked being there and enjoying the lake and the trails and such but I was definitely an outsider. At Acadia folks seemed more willing to make friends and talk with pretty much anyone. But at South Arm I had my TiVo and books and it was all good!

I think another part of why the trip worked was because I spent such a big portion of it at Acadia. Acadia worked because of the bus. I could go everywhere without having to drive the RV – when I went up the mountains having just the RV for transportation was a bit of a problem because I didn’t feel comfortable getting it in and out of the campground more than necessary and I couldn’t just “run out” for an afternoon.

All in all though it was “A-Maine-sing” – I know, bad bad joke! These are things I think of when I’m climbing (or crawling) up a mountain! I’m ready to go home, but I definitely want to the RV thing again! I am considering buying one, but there are so many extra costs that go along with it!

Maine - Day 14 Pemaquid Point Lighthouse