Anniversary

Sally and Tom celebrated their 10th anniversary on July 20. There was some confusion on where in the "world" to celebrate.

The weekend before, Bethel had its annual parade celebrating "Mollyockett" day. Molly Ockett was a Native American medicine woman who served the western Maine community, including the first vice-president for Lincoln.

We chose to go toYarmouth on the coast of Maine for a day trip for our anniversary. We had a lobster dinner and toured some of the area. We were a day short of the "Clam Day" parade in Yarmouth. Some of the other work campers went to the festival over the weekend.

We had another meal out of the solar cooker. We also "sponsered" a covered dish supper for the workcampers with a favorite teams and sports theme. Football, baseball, hockey and soccer were represented. We made hot dogs (cooked in a beer broth in the solar cooker). Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Until next time, best wishes from the small crew in Bethel Maine.

The Week of July 10th

Friday, July 14th, Tom and I drove down to Loudon, NH, to watch the NASCAR practice and qualifying for the Leno Tools 300. The picture above shows some of the cars lining up to qualify at about 3 pm. We arrived at 8 - early enough to get a seat in the shade of the overhang and right on the start-finish line. Good thing, too. It was about 90! There was a nice breeze though and the humidity wasn't too bad. Don't think we could have handled a whole day in the sun.
Practice lasted all morning, qualifying for the NASCAR event was at 3 and then there was a Busch East race at 5.
It was my first time at a track since I went to the Daytona 500 in high school. The track really looks different on TV - Victory Lane is relatively small. The "pit" is just a road with the crews standing behind a curb! And it's loud - you do need ear plugs.

Saturday was Molly Ockett Day in Bethel. The day started with a 5 mile race, followed by a parade (see picture below of the Bethel Outdoor Adventure float), a festival on the town common (complete with frog jumping contest, fiddle contest, and fireworks). Molly Ockett was an Indian medicine woman in the late 18th and early 19th century. There is a lot of folklore about her in the Western Maine area. She was born nearby in Fryeburg and is "claimed" by many towns in the area. The story we have heard most often: One time Molly needed a place to stay. She went to one community who would not let her in. The story is that she "cursed" them with bad luck and moved on to the Hamlins from up near South Paris. The Hamelins let her stay with them and while there she cured their son of a fever. The son grew up to be Abraham Lincoln's first vice president (Hannibal Hamlin). More information available here: http://www.avcnet.org/ne-do-ba/bio_moly.html

The Solar Cooker

We are taking advantage of the sunny weather (finally!) and have started doing some solar cooking. I made a solar oven out of a shiny car sunscreen (about $5). The directions are on this web-site. http://solarcooking.org/plans.htm (Scroll down to panel cookers).

It works pretty well so far, though the wind does occasionally blow the pot over. All we have done to this point are fully cooked foods, like canned beans and cooked sausages or hot dogs. Pretty good - and as we get more confident, we'll graduate to more sophisticated cooking and maybe even some baking. See our first meal below.

Travelling the "World"

Sally and Tom have been planning to travel the world for many years. Now, it appears, you can travel the most of the civilized world and never leave the state of Maine. This sign is about 15 miles from the campground where we are working. There is another sign with more "exotic" places that we will post in the near future.

We are having a great time. Sally is doing quite a bit of hiking. Tom has a slight injury keeping him from walking as much as Sally, but he is quickly recovering.

There is a preservation society that sponsers an event each Monday night. We have seen a local humorist and an "Old Time Radio Hour" show. The events are held in a chapel on the property of Poland Springs, the bottled water people. We have to drive about 35 miles to this place. To put it in prospective, we used to drive 30 miles one way to play trivia in Atlanta. But he scenery is much better up here.

The work is fun. We get to meet a lot of interesting people from all over the northeast, even some from around the world. Two guys from Denmark came in the week before the 4th. Canadians show pretty regular. But most of the adventurers are from ME, MA and NH.

We miss family and friends, but we are trying to involve ourselves in activities to mask our homesickness. Good health to all. We'll be posting more soon.