May 18th, Friday – Time To Let Everyone In On The Surprise

So this morning was not all that bad.  The temperature was in the mid 40’s but with the electric heater on we were nice and warm.  Now tonight is supposed to be another story.  They have already issued frost warnings for Friday into Saturday.  OK, time for extra blankets.

Best news, though, was we had coffee, in the coffee pot.  The other morning when I turned it on, I tuned the news on, like I usually do, and waited for my coffee to perk.  That it did but all over the counter top!  I cleaned up the mess and tried again but no luck.  This time it just filled the strainer and would not run down into the pot.  This morning, the new coffee pot, we purchased yesterday, worked like a charm.  Ah, life is great.

Park is beginning to fill up which is expected.  Still plenty of spots, however, given the weather forecast which is for rain Saturday night into Sunday.  There is one group above us, about five, maybe six or seven trailers that are all part of one group.

So today, was monthly maintenance day.  Pulled up my monthly page of things to do and went at it.  This list keeps getting longer, and longer.  Of course, I don’t move that fast either.  Why rush when there is always tomorrow?  So tomorrow I’ll finish things up and be done until another month goes by.

Time to let everyone in on the secret.  Remember, yesterday Barbara had planned a sightseeing expedition but would not tell me where we were going.  Well, here is where we went, to the Cole Land Transportation Museum.

First some background of the man behind this museum.  At age 19, Galen Cole was a combat infantryman in WWII and lost his entire squad to a German tank gun.  Injured and lying in a ditch he made a promise to God that day:  If I survive this war, I will do my best to leave my community and fellow men better than I found them.

Galen did survive and when he came home he started working in and running a successful trucking company known as Coles Express.  He also became involved in numerous community minded efforts – helping to build a much-needed gym for the local YMCA, establishing a charitable family foundation that would help build public parks, baseball fields for children of all ages, a chapel at the Eastern Maine Medical Center, shelter for woman at risk, a home for boys in need, and the list goes on and on.

Along with everything else he dreamed of building a transportation museum that would be a tribute to the thousands of Maine land transportation pioneers whose dedicated work cleared, reshaped the land, and constructed the rail lines and highways that allowed the states development beyond its seacoast.

That museum is a reality today.  Construction began in 1988 and it opened its doors in 1990.  The whole 40,800 feet of the museum is now filled to capacity.  It is widely regarded as the largest collection of a single state’s transportation vehicles on public display in America.

So let’s get started and we’ll begin on the outside.  Several monuments catch your attention as you enter the parking lot.  The first are these two memorials, one dedicated to the veterans of WWII and another to the veterans of Korea.

The driver behind the wheel is the sculpted likeness of a childhood friend of Galen’s named Charlie Flanagan who was killed during the fighting overseas in 1944.

Then on the other side of the parking lot is this monument dedicated to the veterans of the Vietnam War.

One of the three figures depicted in bronze is that of a Marine name Eric Michael Wardwell, who was killed in Vietnam in 1967.

Moving now to the inside, this is what one sees immediately.  To say the least it is an impressive and overwhelming sight.  And this is just the first two rows of many!

 

This is row number one full of fire engines and snow plowing equipment.

To the right was the fun in the snow exhibit beginning with this

Imagine that, before there were snow plows they first rolled the snow so you could drive over it.  That must have been fun!

Before long, thought, there were snow plows.  Take a look at one of them I was able to take a picture of.  There were so many more I took pictures of but space does not permit but one.

Of course, there was also other equipment that was used when there was snow.

Switching from fun in the snow we move on to the rail lines

And where did one go to catch a train?  There’s even a complete train stain here in the museum.

Well, we have a long way to go but the internet is acting up so we’ll call it a night.  More to come tomorrow so stayed tuned.

So day is done and night is here once again.  The temperature is already falling quickly so we’re heading for the nice comfy, warm blankets.  We had another great day, traveling together, hand in hand, singing our song.  In closing, a thought for all of us taken from a sign on the front of the museum:

So that’s it for now.  As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.  Thanks again for sharing our day with us.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before