Yesterday we ranged far and wide, or was it many, many miles to the north and then to the south. We got a start on the attractions in this area visiting The Vermont Teddy Bear Company and Lake Champlain Chocolate. We left in the early morning and came back early in the evening.  It was a great day but, unfortunately, it ended with my back acting up to the point that I couldn’t sit for more than five minutes at a time.  Hence, no blog last night.  Since I’m a bit better today, I’ll get back to writing.  In addition, today we have a bit of nasty weather, rain showers off and on giving us further reason to just stay hunkered down.

So yesterday we headed north.  Barbara had put together a day’s itinerary and was willing to drive, so off we went with me relaxing in the navigator’s seat.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day, bright blue and sunny skies, and reasonable temperatures.   Two things we forgot to take into account, it was Friday, and tourist season was now in full force – show you what we meant a bit later.

We first went to Shelburne, Vermont and that special place for children of all ages, The Vermont Teddy Bear Company.

This is a picture of the factory as you drive up.

This is the picture of the entrance sign aside the parking lot with Barbara and Benny smiling for us.

This is the outside walkway leading to the front door.

Then you are bearly in the front door and you are greeted by Mr. Bear

 

There is, of course, the usual gift shop.

These two bears, Ma and Pa, are relaxing after a long drive in the RV. The only thing missing is the afternoon glass of wine!

Regarding the company’s belief this is what they state:  . . . The Vermont Teddy Bear Company believes that showing how much you care simply and directly can make the world a better place . . .

As to where the name teddy bear comes from this sign tells the story.

 

Then the highlight of our visit, the factory tour

Our guide for this tour was a young man by the name of Jamie.

Regarding the history of the company.  In 1981, John Sortino was playing with his son Graham and his collection of teddy bears. Surprised to see that every one of his son’s bears wore a tag identifying it as foreign made, Sortino was inspired to bring this American tradition back to its roots by handcrafting bears right here.  His first bears, Bearcho, Buffy, Bearazar, and Fuzzy Wuzzy, were made in his wife’s sewing room

and sold mostly to friends. By 1983, Sortino began to sell his bears from a peddler’s cart at an open-air market in Burlington, Vermont. It took four days to sell his first bear and a year to sell through 200. Today the company builds 750 bears a day.  No two bears are exactly alike.

Their busiest time of year is as they state

The company’s tremendous growth started with a simple suggestion by an early customer.  A tourist visiting Burlington wanted a bear, but she wanted it mailed to her home. That gave Sortino the idea to package a teddy bear and add delivery service and other extras to go along with it. The Bear-Gram® concept was born.  Today, the Bear-Gram gift remains constant. Each includes a customized Vermont Teddy Bear dressed to suit a special life event, occasion or holiday, and optional embroidery service. The bear is placed in a colorful gift box complete with air hole and is enclosed with a personalized greeting and candy treat.  The company is the largest seller of teddy bears by mail order and internet

On with the tour.  Our first stop is the cutting room were the pieces are made for the bears.  There is a cutting table were several layers of fur are placed on the table at one

time then a form is placed on the material, and using immense air pressure the pieces are cut. The Teddy Bears’ fur is flame-resistant and machine-washable.

 

There are a total of 20 pieces needed for each individual bear.

Once the pieces are cut they go next to the sewing room.  This is a picture

of the floor itself.  Here are some pictures of those that were working there the day we visited.  The company employs about 170 year-round workers.  Other temporary workers are hired during the busiest times of the year.

Once the pieces are stitched together they move to the stuffing room.

After each bear is stuffed it is weighed to make sure each has the right amount of stuffing. Cut, stitched, and stuffed, the bears are groomed and then prepared for shipping.

Jamie then explained that there is constant development going on to find the next new bear

Each year bears are made and auctioned off for charity.  This bear raised $7000 for their favorite charity, Burlington’s Make a Wish Foundation, last year.

The tour finished it was time to head to other attractions which we will share with you

tomorrow – those being the Champlain Chocolate Company and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.

Now, time to meet another of God’s beautiful people, Todd the barber.  We both were in desperate need of haircuts, Barbara, because of the fuss I used to make in the past swore she would never cut mine again, and, of course, I have no idea how to cut hers.  Trying to find a barber, though, is like trying to find someone in the New England area who knows what a chili dog is!  Barbara, though, is always up to the challenge.  This is who she found on our way home.  Todd has been a barber for 31 years always working for someone else

but just 3 weeks ago decided to start his own barber shop.  We could not have asked for a nicer gentleman nor a better barber.  A side note, we also found out that his wife will be running again for state senate coming this August.  Last time she lost by only one vote

so she has high hopes for a victory this year.

That was in part our day yesterday.  I wanted so bad to do the blog last night but my back was not going to cooperate.  Hence, it had to be put off to today.  Yes, I’m better, but still have a long way to go.  But, though, at times the pain gets to an awful high level but I’m trying not to complain.  This is the first real bump we’ve hit since we began traveling full-time and I’m not about to let it derail us.  In time, we’ll find a permanent answer to this pesky little problem.

By the way, we found an answer to no TV.  Streaming.  We’ve been on the camp WiFi watching the complete series of The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson.  Problem is, we’re hooked and can’t stop now until we come to the end – however long that might be!

Time now to say good night.  The rain continues to fall steadily now and night will soon be upon us.  The day has been a good one.  I’ve allowed myself time to rest and, hopefully, begin to heal. I’m sure the process is going to be a long one but even the longest journey begins with just the first small step.  Till tomorrow a closing thought for each of us to ponder:

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 eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

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

What a wonderful day to wake up to.  A bright blue sky and plenty of sunshine.  Time for that first cup of coffee and then we’ll check and see what is going on in the world today.  However, I must say, I’m not sure I really want to know nor need to know.  In our little corner of the world, all is good right now and we are just enjoying life.

Today is maintenance day so a little later I’ll pull out my two to three page check list and begin working through it.  In this way I hope to keep on top of things and spot anything that might become a problem before it does.  Another added benefit is I just enjoy doing it.

We’re going to share with you several things today.  First, we’ll finish up the Maine Sculpture Trail and share with you the final sculptures that we were able to find.  There were a total of 34 sculptures along a 200 mile route and we were able to ultimately find and take pictures of 24 of them.  Once we got started on this project, it sort of took on a life of its own and we enjoyed the challenge of trying to find them.  Who determined where they would be placed is a mystery but suffice to say some of them were really in obscure locations.

We’re also going to talk about the LIttle Mermaid and The Lee House for Veterans.  And then we’ll finish with a bit of the weird and wacky roadside attractions that we discovered during our stay in Maine.

Let’s get started.  The Maine Sculpture Trail and the end of the road.  The first of the last batch is located in Addison and is titled Spirit of the Marsh.  The artist who created it is Lise Becu from Maine. The artist states:

I created this sculpture to be a peaceful and benevolent presence. It will be placed at the edge of the beautiful marsh that inspired it. I chose the great blue heron as my subject because I like the symbolism: skill and patience, going with the flow. I also like that the Iroquois people considered it an omen of good luck..

The next one is located in Harrington and is titled Time and Tide.  The artist who created it is Roy Patterson from Maine. The artist states:

 

I have always collected pebbles at the seashore. Many are perfect little sculptures–the ocean’s lesson on how to work stone.  On the rocky coast of Downeast Maine, this lesson is presented on a monumental scale. Here, nature creates wonderful contrasts between rough and smooth stones that are often cracked and fitted together. I have tried to capture something of this quality in Time and Tide.

The next one is located in Jonesport and is titled Connection.  The artist who created it is Kyoung Uk Min from South Korea. The artist states in a poem:

 

I would like to sculpt as I am, with sincerity. I would like to love myself in this manner. The origin of life.  I would like to be the naturalness of the beginning.  I would like to recall all these things that I love–my dear ones, my mother nature, and bind them to me.  I would like to return to pure nature.  I would like to join my spontaneous mother.  I would like to rid any thought and any striving towards beauty.  Now, I want nothing. I return to the primordial beauty with instinct alone.  Got that?  Well I don’t!

The next one is located in Machias and is titled The Islands of Maine.  The artist who created it is Jhon Gogaberishvili from The Republic of Georgia.

Using six different types of local stone, Jhon created this sculpture to reflect the variety in Maine’s geology.

The next one is located in Roque Bluffs and is titled Warm Wind.  The artist who created it is Kazumi Hoshino from Maine. The artist states:

My recent work, the series Composition, comes from combining simple forms.  The Circle we can see by observing nature and life.  Its form is soft.  It evokes motherhood with its encircling shape. There is no beginning or end.  There is harmony. With my work, I want to give people of our generation warmth and a quiet peaceful feeling.

The next one is located in Calais and is titled Nexus.  The artist who created it is Miles Chapin from Maine. The artist states:

I started by gathering stone from the woods of Calais where I found unique shapes and colors of granite. The stones I selected to use for Nexus had been drilled and split already. I carved only the interior of the stone, leaving the exterior of the stone in its historically drilled and split shape.  The design came from the form of the stone, working with its shape to create perceived interior motion. The open woven form represents relationships and connections. This sculpture was created to stand as a nexus for the community of Calais.

The final one is located in Eastport and is titled Nature’s Grace.  The artist who created it is Jmes Boyd from Canada. The artist states:

My sculpture consists of two main elements, a leaf and a sail shaped out of Jonesboro granite. The leaf is an image that I have used in the past in some of my sculptures. I see the leaf as a connection to nature and a metaphor for renewal, hope and transformation. A sail on a vessel is not only functional but also a beautiful object that uses the powerful force of nature to fill its graceful shape.  The art that I make is a reflection on life and our fundamental connection with our environment. It is my hope that my sculpture Natures Grace engages the viewer to contemplate our shared existence with all life on this planet not our domination over it.

We’ve now come to the end of the Maine Sculpture Trail.  Honestly, some of them I’ve enjoyed and sort of understood while others have left me with a sense of what were they thinking.  Overall, though, it was an enjoyable chase that led us down some interesting back roads to places we probably would have never gone.

Let’s talk now about The Little Mermaid and The Lee House for Veterans.  First, let’s take a look at what The Little Mermaid  is supposed look like.

The life-size mermaid is a bronze sculpture created as a five-year labor of love by Eastport sculptor Richard Klyver. Klyver’s mermaid sculpture is now in place, perched on a granite seawall overlooking Eastport’s Water Street harbor. When she was unveiled at a well-attended public ceremony on the Eastport waterfront, Klyver said it was his vision to create a mermaid who would be “a purveyor of good will and good feelings. I wanted her to make people feel good about themselves and the world.”  Unfortunately, a number of Eastport Council Members and good citizens were not impressed with her because shall we say The Little Mermaid is anatomical correct from the waist up.   In a narrow council vote the decision was to let her stay.  I’m glad they did.

Just as an aside, regarding Eastport , it is the eastern most city in the United States.  We can, therefore, now say we have been to the eastern most point in the United States, the eastern most campground, and the eastern most city, the eastern most town (Lubec) and the eastern most point where the West Quoddy Lighthouse stands in the country.  But I digress.

When we went to take an actual picture of The Mermaid, we got a bit more than we figured we would.  Who was she?  Why was she sitting there singing?

My curiosity was, of course, on high alert.  What was this all about?  The sign

told the story.  Or at least part of it.  What in the world was the Lee House for Veterans.  Time to do a little sleuthing again.  This is what I discovered about the Lee House.  Their Mission is per their web page:  to create a therapeutic, recreational, and educational retreat for our nation’s U.S. armed forces and their families, using outdoor wilderness activities in Maine and natural habitats to help participants share common challenges related to their service and sacrifice in protecting our nation’s freedom and democratic ideals.

Now on to the weird and the wacky.  Take this guy called The Fisherman, who we also discovered in Eastport.  Marti took one look at him and went crazy barking like mad.

Here’s his story. Back in 2000, Eastport, and neighboring Lubec were chosen as the site for the filming of a Fox television reality miniseries. It was called “Murder in Small Town X” .This 12-foot tall fiberglass cartoonish fisherman (without the pedestal), created by Jeff Poss, was a prop to represent the fictional town.  When the filming ended in 2001, the goofy statue, intended to be temporary, was adopted by the town of Easport. It was refurbished after some deterioration when the town raised a special fund for that purpose. It was put back, its colors restored, for the July 4th festivities in 2005. It continues to adorn the Eastport waterfront to this day.

Just a couple more.  Anyone in need of road side assistance?  Might take a while though if you call this guy for service.

How about a pair of dragons dueling over a vintage unrestored car for sale.

Or how about a truck on the roof of a house.  Must have been interesting getting it there.

Anyone need a Ferris wheel for their lawn or backyard?  A boat on a pole?  A little well?

Ok, that’s it for today.  We absolutely enjoyed our stay in the state of Maine.  A year ago the thought of being here had not even crossed our minds but we are absolutely thrilled we made the trip.  The scenery we saw absolutely took our breath away.  We both agreed it was rugged, clean, pristine and beautiful.  What a world God has created.  Acadia National Park and our trip to Roosevelt Campobello International Park are the highlights of our stay up here.  The campgrounds we stayed at were wonderful each in their own way. The people who God brought into our lives, we also will not soon forget.  So many wonderful memories we’re taking with us. Will we be back?  We would love to come back but there is still so much more of the country for us to see.  Yet, this is a marathon and not a sprint so over the next several years anything is possible.

The bottom line is, traveling like this was once just a dream for us.  But today we are doing it.  It took a good deal of hard work, a lot of patience, and our willingness to work together to make it happen.  Do you have a dream?  Never, ever give up on it.  Keep pushing forward, hang on to that dream, never let it die, and someday it will come to pass.  You just have to believe.

Until tomorrow we will now say goodnight.  It’s been another great day for us, as always traveling along, singing our song, hand in hand.  In closing, a thought for all of us to ponder:

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 eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

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

Our night at the Walmart in Mexico was an interesting one.  It appears it is a common destination for the truckers in the area.  Not to mention, the only place to park put us close to the traffic that was on Route 2.  Bottom line, not the quietest night nor was the parking lot the most level one we’ve stayed at but it was OK for just a night.  I seem to sleep through just about anything but Barbara on the other hand had a restless night.

We were on the road early with only about 3 hours to our new home for the next two weeks.  Route 2 was a different road than we are used to.  It took us through a number of small towns where the speed limit dropped to 25 mph, it took us through several construction zones, and there were sections where you would have thought you were on a roller coaster.  Not a really bad ride, but far different from the interstates that we usually travel.

In due time, we saw the sign for our new home for the next two weeks, Meadowcrest

Campground.  This is a very small park, about 20 sites in total, only 2 for transients and the rest are all seasonal.  We snagged what has to be the sweetest spot of the two that were open.  Here we are backed in, set up, and as the sign says Home is 

Where We Park It so this is home until July 6^th.   It is a hard packed gravel site, perfectly level, with plenty of shade from midday on.  The only downside, if you can call it that, there is absolutely no TV channels.  Oh well, time to dig out all our movies.  Here is a picture of the park in total with us off to the right.

Time to go back now to the end of our time in Maine.  We wanted to get the last stamp in this area that we knew we could get for Barbara’s National Passport Book (that would give us 12 of the 14 available).  Regarding Barbara’s National Passport Book, the only other stamp that we knew we could get was at the Saint Croix International Historic Site

which was south of Calais, Maine along Route 1.  We went to the visitor’s center

to get the stamp.  Then we started out along the path to lookout point

where you can actually see St Croix Island.  Though a visit to the island is not prohibited, it is discouraged.  In addition, you would need your own boat to get there.

Regarding the settlement at St Croix, this is what we learned.

In 1604, Pierre Dugua, sailed from Havre-de-Grace, France bound for North

America.  Samuel Champlain, map maker sailed with him in order to chronicle the expedition.  In June of that year, Dugua and his company sailed into Passamaquoddy Bay, and chose the small island of St Croix for their settlement.  Along the path to lookout

point there are displays and bronze sculptures that depict their arrival, the founding of the settlement, the hardships of the first winter and lessons learned. It begins with Strangers Off Shore.

Next is settling on the island.

Next, building the community.

Next, the harsh reality of the first winter.  Believing that the winter climate would be a mild one the settlers were not worried.  However, they were not aware of the arctic air flow from the north.  Soon the river froze, up heaving cakes of ice too treacherous to cross.  The settlers were trapped with dwindling supplies and no way to replenish them.  By spring nearly half of the men on the island had died.

Finally, an enduring legacy and lessons learned.

Our visit to the historical site finished, we started for home.  Along the way we discovered that we were in a manner of speaking half way to the North Pole

On the way home, we decided we would also stop at Reversing Falls Park which is a municipal park in Pembroke, Maine. It is located at Mahar Point, the northern point of a narrows separating Dennys Bay from Cobscook Bay in far eastern Maine.  To get there

we had to sort of go off roading for a bit.  Unfortunately, when we arrived at the park the tide was slack so we did not get to witness the fury of the falls.  But we did see testament

to just how treacherous these waters can be.  Above is a memorial erected by a mother who lost her son, Joseph Jones and his crew,  in these waters.  We learned later, after a bit of sleuthing, that in October 2009, the fishing vessel Bottom Basher sank with three men on board — boat owner Joseph Jones, 29, of Trescott, Daryl Cline, 41, of Machiasport and Norman Johnson, 57, of Cutler. Searchers found the body of Cline the day after the sinking and recovered the remains of Johnson in December 2009. Jones’ body has not been recovered, nor has his boat, the Bottom Basher.

So that brings our day to an end.  We’ve had a blast traveling along, singing our song, side by side.  We have a fantastic new home.  The camp owners are simply wonderful.  Our neighbors are great as well.  What more could one ask for.  Once again God has blessed us beyond measure and we are so grateful.  We have a number of places to visit and explore while we are here to include a tour of Ben and Jerry’s as well as the Cabot Cheese Factory.  We hope your day was just as great.  In closing, a thought for all of us to ponder:

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 eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

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

It was with a bit of reluctance but also with a good bit of expectation as to what we were going to find around the next corner that we said goodbye to Sunset Point RV Park in Lubec, Maine.  Indeed, it was time to live  out our motto which in part is to boldly go where we have not been before. However, we didn’t see any need to rush since, as always, we never plan to drive more than 3 hours and/or about 200 miles at a time.  Today that changed a bit out of necessity.

As is our normal practice everything was packed away, slides in, jacks up and tanks dumped and we were on the road by 10 am.  The plan was to head to a Walmart in Augusta, Maine.  We would spend the night there and then make our way to Meadowcrest Campground in Vermont.  Each segment of the trip was only supposed to take 3 to 4 hours.  Notice I said supposed to.

First item of business, was getting out of Lubec.  Route 189 in front of the park is a really nice road.  But then you come to Route 1 going south.  Can you say dirt road, two segments each, both about 1 mile long.  Then, after you are through with that, it’s potholes and washboard for about an 1 hour.  Thankfully, it does finally become a decent road.

As to what went wrong.  We got to the Walmart in Augusta in about 4 hours, taking into account stops for fuel and food.  Remember I said that each segment of this trip, meaning from Lubec to Meadowcrest was supposed to take about 3 to 4 hours each?  Once we got settled in at the Walmart, Barbara punched Meadowcrest into the GPS and said something like wow we have a long trip tomorrow, almost 6 hours.  What?

Let’s try Google maps.  OK, about 4 hours.  Let’s tray Waze, OK about 4 hours.  Let’s try our phones, OK 4 hours.  What’s with the GPS?  Long story short we still had a lot of daylight left so we decided to head a few hours further west in order to make tomorrow’s trip the 4 hours it was supposed to be.  That, my friends, is how we ended up in Mexico at another Walmart.  Tomorrow, all the map programs finally agree the trip should take no more than the 4 hours we were expecting.  Sweet.

That was the extent of our day.  We were once again blessed with an absolutely beautiful day for travel.  Clear blue skies, none of the rain nor storms from the day before, and abundant sunshine.   Traffic was light and we only hit two construction zones on Route 2 heading toward Mexico.  The day could not have been better.  We trust your day was just as great.  If not, why not, remember you cannot control what life brings your way, but never forget, how you react and act is your decision.  In closing, a thought for each of us to ponder:

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 eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

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