We got out of Bangor just in time!!! There is another, BIGGER, snowfall due Monday. We departed Bangor Airport  at 7:45am Sunday morning, arrived St, Louis at 2pm. After lunch and nice visit with Brent we were in the car at 4:15pm and on the road. Thanks to Mary for storing some of our winter clothes until we get back in town.

By Monday night, with the help of Paul Simon, Paul McCarthy, Tony Bennett, Lada Gaga, Jerry Garcia, Ray Charles, and Frank Sinatra, we traveled nearly 600 miles to Shamrock, Texas.

We passed the Big EGG (?) three times on the Hyway and then the egg driver truck happened to stop for the night where we did. He said he was not allowed to tell us what he was carting but it was traveling from NY to LA and we’ll see it on National TV soon.  Let us know if you figure out this mysterious package or if you see it on television.

We had a great steak dinner at an authentic Texas steak house– BIG VERN’S

Long drive today from Shamrock, Texas  to Flagstaff, Arizona. We had one interesting stop in Winslow, Arizona. Have you ever hear of the Harvey Girls? We stopped by to see La Posada, the last Great Railroad Hotel built by Fred Harvey. Never heard of Fred Harvey? Neither did we. Apparently, Fred Harvey was quite the entrepreneur in the 1930-40’s. He built luxury hotels along the railroad routes. Teddy Roosevelt, Jimmy Stewart and Gary Cooper were among the many celebrity guests at the La Posada.

The drive from Kingman, Arizona to Las Vegas through the Kaibab National Forest was awesome. We stopped briefly at the Hoover Dam. It is an amazing building accomplishment but not worth the stop, in my opinion, because of the tourist traffic is horrific.

We spent two nights in Las Vegas and took advantage of the O”Rourke’s new swimming pool and hot tub. The picture, taken by Nettie, is of my lifelong friend Terry and his wife Jo, Sandy and me. Terry and I have been friends since kindergarten. He and Jo, their dog Stella and Jo’s mom Nettie live in a beautiful Mountain View home. Jo had prepared our bedroom and bath like it was a high-end hotel. We enjoyed prime rib dinner at the South Point Casino and then we played a few games of chance at the Silverton Casino. I lost $35 and Sandy won $6 at the penny machine. We left the O’Rourke’s hospitality and friendship Friday morning for the drive to San Diego. The six hour trip through  the Mohave Desert, Death Valley, was highlighted by a lunch stop at Peggy Sue’s Diner located off Ghost Town Road in Yermo, California.    

Nancy Dunn, my sister-in-law, gave us a really nice practical gift. It’s a National Geographic Book- Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways. The book lists “the best 275 drives in the U.S.” Most of these byways are off the beaten track. They are literally the roads less traveled. And, although Sandy and I have been to all 50 States I could not count more than 40 of these “best” scenic drives that we have traveled.

Yesterday and today were special days. We left the main roads and traveled bumpy, pot-holed backroads of Maine to discover heaven. Monday we drove up through Ellsworth to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor to find the road to the top of Cadillac Mountain and the Jordan Pond were closed for winter. In fact, most of the restaurants and shops are closed too. So, we skipped the downtown walk along the beach for a scenic drive to Schoodic Point. Schoodic Point is a 2,266 acre reserve with a six mile drive along the windswept granite shores of the Schoodic Peninsula.  Awesome drive and amazing scenery—the pictures will not do it justice.

Tuesday was an equally fun day of driving and stopping for photo opps. We made the Deer Isle Drive. Departing Blue Hill on Hyway 15 we headed straight for Stonington which is a very small old fishing harbor town. There was little to see and not many stores open but luckily the main café was open. Crab soup, coffee and water is all we needed to sustain ourselves until dinner.

For the next few hours we rambled around the Penobscot Bay, Deer Isle area finding one quaint town after the next. The best find for sure was the Tinder Hearth Bakery located somewhere near Brooksville. We bought a round loaf of Maine whole wheat bread and a cookie for my afternoon pick-me-upper. This place must survive on the tourist season because it offers pizza only on Tuesday night if you call ahead to place an order and then come in to pick it up. There is no seating area for the Bakery….you walk in the door and there is the fired up hearth and all of the goodies for purchase. No one takes your money. You pay cash in a tin box and take change if you need it.

Oh, another highlight, we had a huge bald eagle circle in front of us at the tips of the trees as we started our drive south. This a clear sign from heaven that today is going to be a good day. And, it was!!!

I’m writing this from the Blue Hill Library. This afternoon Bangor is supposed to get hit with 10-18 inches of snow. We are looking forward to our first nor’easter since our days in Boston. Flights all up and down the coast are cancelled including our March flight connecting in Philadelphia. We feel like little kids. This will be FUN!

We got 15 inches. Snowed in. Our flights – 4 of them on March 8, were  cancelled. We can’t get out of Bangor until Sunday, March 11. So, we get more beautiful drives and more beautiful photo’s opportunities in Blue Hill, Bar Harbor, and Ellsworth. Today, we took advantage of this inconvenience by traveling to North Harbor, Maine which is located on Mountain Desert Island. We are now back to the Blue Hill Library because it is the most convenient place to get WiFi and have an opportunity to get all of our messages.