2 If By Sea

September has continued to march on. More and more leaves have started their annual color-fest, the daylight hours are getting noticeably shorter, and the evening temperatures are getting a bit chilly. We even had to turn the furnace on in the mornings a few days last week!

Before I get started ... I must provide a big Thank You to my sister Marcie who provided a couple of beautiful quilts to help make WTT home. Pretty snazzy dontcha think!?

September is also another birthday month for us. Miss Taylor turned Five a few weeks ago 

and Miss Peggy had another birthday yesterday herself. She probably won't like me to advertise her age, although I don't know why ... she is the best looking Sexty Six a girl could ever ask for. Since I've known her since before she was 16 I am uniquely qualified to judge that the last 50 have been a great 50! Happy Birthday Darlin'.

We took a few days off from our busy schedule and headed down to Massachusetts to get in a little revolutionary war touristing, wander around an "vintage" motorcycle swap meet, and generally goof off while testing WTT some more.

We drove down to Littleton, MA on Friday the 9th and settled in at the Minuteman RV Resort. For as close as Minuteman is to Boston it really is a pretty nice RV Park. The sites are pretty large and the roadways were easy enough to navigate. Minuteman is in the middle of a pine grove so satellite TV was out of the question but the shade was nice! I was expecting a somewhat noisy weekend being that close to Boston but the campground was pretty quiet in spite of being pretty full.

We spent several hours on Saturday visiting the nearby Minute Man National Historical Park. The park stretches along about 5 miles of the North Great Road (paralleling Route 2A) between Lexington, MA and Concord, MA -- about 13 miles west of downtown Boston. The Park commemorates and preserves the story of Paul Revere's ride, the British firing on Colonials on Lexington Green, the Colonial stand at the North Bridge over the Concord River, and the bloody retreat of the British back to Boston. All this happened on April 19, 1775 in less than 24 hours.

Why did it happen at all? It seems that the British were sick and tired of the upstart Colonials resisting their authoritarian rule and ever increasing taxes and found out that they were caching weapons and ammunition in and around Concord. Having none of that ... they decided to send 1700 of His Majesty's Regular Army out of Boston on April 19th, across the Charles River by boats ("Two if by sea") and then on foot/horse to Concord to seize/destroy the weapons/ammunition cache.

But the Colonials were ready. Paul Revere and a couple of friends found out about the British plans and took off out of Boston to warn the Colonial Militia (Minute Men) who then gathered up their muskets and decided to greet the British Regulars with their own "show of force." After walking about 10 miles in the early dark hours of the morning the British were greeted by a group of 77 Colonials on Lexington Green in the center of town around dawn. The British fire a volley - 8 colonials die - the remainder scatter - and the British continue on towards Concord. 

Curious George was visiting with us so he could tell Miss Taylor and Miss Sophie all about it!

A few hours later a group of British Regulars arrive at the North Bridge over the Concord River and are confronted by a few hundred Colonial Militia. One thing leads to another -- and then the unthinkable happens -- the Colonials fire back! (the Shot Heard Round The World). It was the British turn to run - and they did for awhile before regrouping for the march back along the road to Boston. The real fighting happened on that march back! The British made it back to Charlestown around sunset that night having lost 73 soldiers with another 174 wounded. The Colonials fared a bit better having lost 49 men with 41 wounded. The war was started ... and we all know the rest of the story. Or do we?

Peggy and I visited the North Bridge, walked a bit on the North Great Road, and checked out the Visitors Centers at both ends of the Park. Another fun day immersed in our nations history.

On Sunday we drove over to the motorcycle swap meet - walked until I couldn't walk any longer - looked at all the treasures - bought nothing - and returned to the rig to relax and watch football. Well I did anyway. Peggy just relaxed.

We spent last week recovering from our short trip, visiting with the Maine Gang, and doing a little work to get WTT ready for a few months storage. 

It is Autumn you know!

Autumn In Maine

Wow - somehow it has become September. And with September comes Autumn in Maine. Our overnight low temperatures are now in the 50s and the daytime highs might make it to 80 on a warm day. Crisp mornings and even a few red leaves on the maples -- my favorite time of year! Since Autumn has arrived in Maine (forget what the calendar says!! In Maine it's Autumn!) - I have started my Fall chores. Time to clean the rain gutters and find the rake.  Those pretty red leaves will be on the ground before you know it!

And of course with September comes the start of the school year. Our "Big" grandkids are off to college, our NJ grandkids are back to middle school / high school, and Miss Taylor had her first day of Kindergarten last Wednesday! 

Miss Sophie won't be far behind ... but for now it's Play Doh!

Yep -- it's Autumn.

After we finished up our stay in Lubec a few weeks ago we stopped for one night near Bar Harbor on our way home. Normally we don't go anywhere near Bar Harbor this time of year due to all the tourists but I had an opportunity to visit with an old high school friend so we figured we would find out just how crazy Bar Harbor could get in the middle of tourist season. Well lemme tell you -- downtown Bar Harbor on a beautiful summer evening in August looks like walking the "strip" in Vegas! People everywhere -- people on the sidewalks, people waiting in line to get in a restaurant, people checking out the Gee Gaws in every shop. Well -- maybe I exaggerated a little -- these people where dressed for the most part so I guess it wasn't really like the "strip" ... but you know what I mean!

After we finished up our short trip to northern Maine I got to work waxing WTT. Waxing that modern clear coated full body paint was easier than the fiberglass finish of our first Winne - but it was still a long way around the coach and took me a full four days. But then again - my work days are shorter than they used to be!

Autumn also means motorcycle show time in New England. Yesterday I attended the annual Vintage Motorcycle Show at the Owl's Head Transportation Museum up near Thomaston, Maine. I took the 1965 Yamaha YA6 and the 1974 Honda CB350F up to the show on a trailer to show off. It was a beautiful day, got to see lots of neat old bikes and visit with some interesting folks ... doesn't get much better than that!

Actually -- it should be even better today! Today looks to also be a beautiful day and it is Miss Taylor's 5th birthday! Cake, ice cream, and visits with the Maine Evringhams/Johansens ... sounds like more fun to me!

Since it's motorcycle show month, and since WTT is pretty much ready to roll, I figure we might as well combine the two. The annual "Rice-O-Rama" show is next Sunday in Spencer, Massachusetts so I think Peggy and I are going to take WTT for a short trip. "Rice-O-Rama" is the politically incorrect title for the annual Japanese Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet. I won't be taking the bikes down - but you never know what treasure might turn up at the swap meet.

We plan on heading down on Friday and staying at the Minuteman Campground near Littleton, MA. Since Littleton is not far from Concord and Lexington, MA -- we hope to get in a little Revolutionary War sightseeing as well.

SO -- just because summer is pretty much over here in Maine it doesn't mean that these Maineiacs won't be in Motion.

And speaking of getting Maineiacs in Motion -- it's time to start planning the 2017 Winter Get-A-Way. Right now we are hoping to leave in mid-January returning around the first of April. Destinations? Yet to be determined. But we never did make it to Florida last year -- so maybe we start with that idea!