BACK IN THE GOOD OL' USA!

About noon today we crossed out of New Brunswick into Maine. We spent 6 weeks traveling in Canada's Maritime Provinces and paying up to $4.30 for a gallon of gas. Oh, they advertise it as $1.15 a litre but it really means "gottcha!" The $2.85 we paid this afternoon seemed like a steal. We also will not miss paying the 15% tax on everything, clothing and food included. But we will miss the friendly people and the incredible scenery.

So as a final tribute to Canada, for dinner tonight we had: cod purchased from a fisherman in Cow Head, New Foundland, romaine lettuce and green peppers from a farm stand in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and tomatoes, cukes, and potatoes from a farm stand in New Brunswick.

As we were driving this afternoon we watched the clouds roll in and the temperature drop from 91 to 65 in just a short time. The wind blew and it rained a bit, but then the sun came out and the temps went right back up. After we got settled into this campground, more clouds darkened the sky, and soon that sky opened up and dumped. We are parked right below a small hill and there were little rivers rushing down the red dirt hillside, creating a dirty looking lake right outside our RV. This time the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed, and the wind blew the green leaves off the trees and unto the side of the RV. It rained quite hard for a good 45 minutes, then let up. But it's raining again now, and I believe we are in for an all night soaker. We may be more of a houseboat than an RV by morning.

We have a wireless connection here, so I have been checking out all the details on the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. That is what I really missed while we were in Canada, timely news from the US, and especially from Minnesota. I was excited to see familiar newscasters on the network news shows, and I'm now watching FOX News.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Baxter State Park and Mt. Kahtadin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. I'll never be able to hike the trail, but I can see the mountain at the end of the trail, at least. Then I can pretend I hiked all two thousand and something miles of the trail! We plan to spend sometime here in the Northern East Coast states before heading home to Minnesota in September.