Northeast Trip - Bar Harbor Maine

We drove from Kennebunkport following our friends Tom and Cathy.

During our time in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, I took hundreds of pictures.  I posted a lot of them on Facebook.

We arrived about mid day and had no trouble getting to our campsite at Hadley's Point Campground outside of Bar Harbor.  What a nice place!  And the price was right at $22.15/night.  We stayed 8 days and only had to pay for 7.  The free wifi was great and we enjoyed many nights around the campfire.

It is a busy campground but this is the busy season in Maine. We met some seasonal folks who are regulars here and they were very friendly and helpful.

The first thing we took advantage of was the free bus ride into Acadia National Park.  L.L.Bean underwrites the bus system through the campgrounds and into Bar Harbor and around Acadia National Park.  Pretty awesome.

Hop on and get off downtown Bar Harbor or anywhere along the route in Acadia.  Or ride the complete loop around the Mt Desert Island.

Here are some things to in Acadia National Park:

1. Visit the Hulls Cove Visitor Center.  Nice orientation on the park and plenty of great information and ideas.

2. Have a picnic at Sand Beach.  Or dip your toe into the cooold 50 degree water!

3. Hike to Thunder Hole.

4. Have afternoon tea and pop overs at Jordan Pond.

There are more pictures and times to share with you on our time in Acadia and Bar Harbor.  Stay tuned!

Thanks for joining us on this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Roadrunner Financials - June 2012

Roadrunner Recap
June was a particularly fun month because our travels took us to the eastern shores of Maine.  We joined up with fellow Full-timers Tom and Cathy in Boston (Hanscom FamCamp) and journeyed north along the eastern seaboard and to Bar Harbor Maine.  We had a fabulous time together. It was really a 'summer' we will remember fondly!

• Andrews FamCamp, Joint Base Andrews, MD  
• West Point FMWR Round Pond Campground, West Point NY
• Hanscom FamCamp AFB, Bedford MA
• Silver Springs Campground, Saco ME
• Hadley's Point Campground, Bar Harbor ME

Here's an interactive map of where we camped during the month. Click on the letters (waypoints) to see locations:

Or if you prefer, a static map of travels during the month:

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget
Here's a snapshot of our spending for the month:

We didn't spend any money on RV Maintenance so, we did well in that category.
We also saved a lot of money because of the military campgrounds we stayed in at MD and MA.
We had no 'One Time Costs' this month so that gave us another $200 'to the good' in that category.

Biggest Expenses

Large One Time Cost Item
The area that accounted for most of our over spending during the month was in the area of eating.  We spent a lot of money on lobster and eating out.

Monthly Average
This is the first month of our fourth year on the road.  We began in June 2009 and May - June is our 'fiscal year'.  I track the spending in calendar years but it skews it a bit since we started fulltiming in the middle of the calendar year.

We had another good month coming in almost $300 under budget with no RV or car repairs.  We need more of these months!
I have often said this is more of a tracking tool and an estimate than a budget -- this month's spending proves it.  That's what our spending looked like for the month.  Thanks for taking a peek.  Hopefully they provide help or entertainment of some sort...

If you'd like a free copy of the spreadsheet I use, drop me a note and I will be glad to send it along.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Northeast Trip - Kennebunkport

We arrived at the Silver Springs Campground in Saco, Maine (near Kennebunktport) about 1:30 Monday afternoon.  The drive from the Boston was uneventful and took us a couple of hours.

Along the way we stopped at the Maine Visitors Center/Rest Area for some maps and info.  Don't know why I snapped a photo of Tom and Cathy's rig and not ours -- but here it is.

We decided to grab a quick bite to eat in the Roadrunner before we continued on into Maine.

After we got all set up at the campground, we took it easy, explored the area and ran some errands.  Pam and I ran to Wal-Mart and dropped off some clothes at Goodwill before we returned to our campsite.

We got some firewood and then sat around the campfire with Tom and Cathy and plotted our activities for the next day.  It has been a bit cloudy but we have only had a few rain showers and are enjoying the warm and sometimes cool weather.

The next day, we went drove along the coast.  One place we stopped was Old Orchard Beach.  There were a few determined enthusiasts who were going to get some beach time regardless of the cloudy sky and cool temps.

And the pier with shops.  And then we drove along the coast to see what we could see.

Not surprisingly we saw a lot of boats, seaside homes, tourist cottages and fishing villages.
And one eye doctor...

About lunch time we found a restaurant on the water in Kennebunkport.  It was under going some additions and construction work but we found a table and had a great meal.

Nothing like a bowl of clam chowder with oyster crackers on a cool rainy New England day!

Kennebunkport is a quaint little town that was fun to drive through.  We took the road that went right near former President George H.W. Bush's home and stopped for pictures.

Then we stopped at Bayley's for some fresh lobster.

We got them cooked there and they were still hot when we attacked them back at the campground.  They were excellent!  Even better than our meal a few days ago.

Yum!

We are thoroughly enjoying our Northeast trip to Maine ~ thanks for joining us!

Next stop:  Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park
Until next time...

Northeast Trip - Boston

We drove our car to the metro in Boston, otherwise known as the 'T'.  We rode it down to the Boston Common where we could pick up the Freedom Trail and Faneuil Hall.

One of the best decisions we made was to get a two day pass on the Old Town trolley tour.  It was a great way to get around Boston.  The drivers/guides are very good and have a lot of interesting details.

We started out at Boston Commons and walked some of the Freedom Trail past the Granary Burial Grounds (cemetery) - the resting place of Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams and others.

After walking past the Kings Chapel, Old South Meeting House, the Old State House and Boston Latin School (where Ben Franklin attended), we stopped for lunch at Faneuil Hall.

It wasn't the original Cheers Restaurant, but it was just like the other one in another part of town and we enjoyed our meal.

We also stopped at Bunker Hill and Charlestown Navy Yard, were the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) is berthed.

The next day we took advantage of the 2 day pass and rode into Boston on the T to the Fenway Park stop where we did the entire loop on the Old Town Trolley one more time.

We got off near Fenway in time to walk around the old ball park and take it in.  It is really a memorial experience.

Our seats were way out in center field but we had a terrific time watching a close game.  The Sox won in a close one, beating the Marlins 6-5.

We had a great time in Boston and have to come back.  There is way too much to see in a few days.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Our next post from Kennebunkport, Maine...

Northeast Trip - Plymouth and Cape Cod

Our first excursion with Tom and Cathy was to go south (we were in the Hanscom AFB FamCamp northwest of Boston), drive around the southern side of Boston toward Plymouth and Cape Cod.

We started out at Plymouth Rock and took a picture with William Bradford

and one of the Mayflower II.

Then we stopped for lunch at a lookout point along the way to Cape Cod with a tower built for some prominent locals that had a cool little observation point.

Then it was up the cape to the Visitors Center at the Seashore National Park, Cape Code.  From there we saw a video that explained the glacier impact on the area a long time ago.

It also referenced some stopping points along Cape Cod including the Marconi Wireless Station.  It was from here Marconi built the first transatlantic wireless communication station in 1902.  Large towers were built but gave way over the years to erosion and was relocated to Chatham.

Further up the way, we found a beach that was a bit cool but some folks were sunbathing and taking advantage of the sunny June weather.

We continued on our way to Provincetown ("C" on the map) above.  There we parked the car and walked around town.

It was the busiest town on Cape Cod and a tourist destination for vacationers and folks like us.

We picked up some post cards, got a sweatshirt, walked around some more and headed out of town.  We decided it was still a little early for dinner so we drove back out of the cape toward Falmouth.  We went along the side roads and it was a lot more scenic.

We were looking for some lobster and found it at the Lobster Claw Restaurant in Orleans on Cape Cod.  We were not disappointed!

After dinner, we took a nice drive through Falmouth and back up to our campground at Hanscom AFB near Bedford, MA.

It was a great day and a fun trip!

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Next -- our time in Boston on the Freedom Trail and at Fenway Park.

Northeast Trip - Lexington/Concord

It was a 250 mile trip from West Point to Hanscom AFB FamCamp which is outside of Boston.   The drive was uneventful and we arrived about noon.

We got set up with water and electric and had to wait two days to move over to full hookups.  But that was no problem.
The campground is near the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway which was built on an inactive railroad.  We road down to a Starbucks and then on to the Lexington Green for a look around at some of the historical sites.

Minuteman Statue on the Lexington Green

We were in time to hear George, one of the local historians/docents give a tour of the Lexington Battle Green.  

It was here that the opening shots of the American Revolution was fired on April 19, 1775.   The skirmish left seven Americans dead when 700 British engaged with 79 militia.  The British continued to Concord on a mission to capture and dispose of known colonists munitions stored there.

Paul Revere and William Dawes were sent from Boston to warn the colonialists the British were coming!  They came right through Lexington. Neither made it, but another who joined them (Samuel Prescott) did.

Near Lexington and Concord, the National Park maintains a very well done series of displays and historic sites at the Minute Man National Park.  The park is along "Battle Road" and includes the site where Paul Revere was captured during his midnight ride and the North Bridge where 'the shot heard around the world was fired'.

The Old North Bridge was the first site during the Revolutionary War where colonials gave the order to fire upon the British.  It was never determined who fired the first shot but it was also the first victory for the American militia and ended with the British retreating.

Concord is also known as the birthplace of Henry David Thoreau and the beginnings of the transcendentalist movement of the 1830's and 1840's.  Thoreau spent two years living in the small house on Walden Pond writing his classic "Walden; or Life in the Woods".

In addition to Thoreau, the area was a familiar place for thinkers of the day including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson Alcott (father of Louisa May Alcott - author of 'Little Women'), Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller.

Emerson lived in The Old Manse which also served as a meeting house for many of them.

One of our last stops in Concord was the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery which is the final resting place of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

We were glad to have spent a couple of days in Lexington and Concord seeing these places.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Next time -- in to Boston!