Friday greeted us with great weather, and I met up McCarthy and Micheal out on 95. McCarthy had commented previously about stopping at the state liquor store, so we did, then hit the roads again. We made decent time (barring one of the longest backups in Wiscasset I've ever seen), and were soon in Rockland making some supply runs.
A very interesting thing happened; a guy drove up with a trailer, started some small talk, then asked if we could give him a hand. The whole time he was talking to us, I couldn't help but think he looked familiar for some reason.
Anyway, it turned out that he creates horse statues out of driftwood and there was a bit of a gallery/showing/event going on in downtown Rockland and he needed to bring one of his creations to it. We said sure, and off we went (it was just down the road a little).
He had quite a herd of these things, and man...something about them looked familiar, just as he did. I couldn't put my finger on it but then he said something and it all clicked. He said he had another location where he did the same thing (driftwood horses) out in California. California! That was it! I asked him if his other location was up in the Napa Valley and he said yes. Bingo. Patty and I had met this guy, 7 years ago when we were out there! And here he was, on the opposite side of the country, and we happened to bump into him. Unreal. (I texted Patty to tell her about it and she, too, thought it was pretty amazing.)
We got him loaded up and then made our way to the Time Out Pub for some grub. We started out with beers, but Jr switched to mixed drinks so I followed suit and opted for an Angry Balls (Angry Orchard + Fireball whiskey). The bar had one of those cooling machines like the ones you see with Jagermeister, but this one had Fireball. She flipped the tap on it and - I'm not kidding - did a full 10-count before closing the tap. Man, what a drink! (Jr switched to Angry Balls as well, once he saw that!)
From there we headed off to the Clearing and got set up for the weekend; tents, cooking area, canopies, etc. Coolers were stocked, friends were arriving, and we settled in for a great night of laughter and revelry.
Saturday also greeted us with great weather and we did a bit of riding. Tim had thought ahead and looked up some sightseeing things for us to choose from. Marchall Point Lighthouse was only about a half hour away so we did a nice scenic cruise to check it out.
It was very nice - the light itself was a small stone tower out on the rocks, and the house was back up on land. Inside the house was a mini museum, displaying lots of granite quarrying tools and implements, as well as buoys and other artifacts from the region's history. One item which grabbed my attention was an old spinning wheel which had a picture on it of the woman who'd owned it. Her maiden name was Arey!
I asked the curator if he'd known Russel, but he didn't (nor his children). However, after describing Russell to the curator, he did say that a number of years ago, some fellows had arrived on motorcycles and come in to the museum. They'd also seen the picture and had gotten to talking about family lineages, and one of the guys realized that this woman was his great grandmother! It's fun to think that maybe this was Russell, arriving with the Olean crew. I didn't think to ask King about it, but I did include that question in my letter I sent to Jerry today.
From there we headed back to the Clearing and settled in for food, campfire, and more laughter. We played quite a number of one-card games, and I actually managed to win two games in a row. Wa-Hoo!
The weather was calling for rain on Sunday, and sure enough; overcast and chilly was what we were greeted with when we roused ourselves that morning. We made the best of things by keeping the campfire going, as well as prepping for the big feast.
Fortunately, the cooks did a fantastic job and had everything done, dished out, and cleanup done before the rain started (the forecast had said noon - Dave Leary predicted 3pm...it started precisely at 3:05, so Dave won that round).
The rain was pretty steady for the rest of the night and it brought everyone under the canopies for the afternoon, as well as for the ceremony that night. We had some great stories shared about Russell, as well as the event itself, before toasting ourselves, and the whole forest around us, with The Toast.
The party went long into the evening, as it's wont to do. It got to be almost midnight when it dawned on me that I was going to be up very early for the ride home, so I bid my good nights and headed in to the tent.
The next thing I knew, I was woken by my alarm. What the hell....I'm on vacation, I should have shut my alarm off! Wait...I set this last night, on purpose, to make sure I was out on the road in decent time. And with that, I got my stuff packed up, checked if Jr was riding home with me (he said no), and I was off.
Thankfully the rain had basically moved out and it was just damp and overcast for most of the morning. I made great time and was home by about 10:30, plenty of time to get laundry done, do some food shopping, and get a nap in. All in all; not a terrible day, even though it signaled the end of this year's Maine Event.
Pics!!
Packed up and ready, a quick stop at the ATM and then it was off to catch the McCarthy's on the highway.
The requested stop at the state liquor store. This was the first pass through the aisles. :-)
Horse sculptures!
Marshall Point Lighthouse...
The rocks had some really interesting patterns and composition.
These first two pics, the rocks seemed to have disintegrated in spots.
Wild striations through some of the rocks closer to the light tower...
An old anchor...
A memorial to sailors lost at sea...
Front side of the memorial...
Back side...
Memorial bench, there were three of these in the bushes around the memorial.
Storage building for the oil used in the lamp, back in the day.
On our way back from the lighthouse, we saw this old parade float...
It's a whale, jumping up on to the trailer!
The tail was pretty slick; it was a separate section, attached via a hinge and a bunch of springs so that as this thing was rolling down the road, the tail would have bounced up and down, giving the impression of the whale being alive. Slick!!
A quick stop for food on our way back to the Clearing. This was a small place on the side of the road, but they offered a full compliment of German food, as well as a quick language lesson on the menus.
My boots! They have survived yet another year!
Yep, this about says it all. One at a time, Michael! (Ok, not really).
That's all, Folks. It was another really fun year, with awesome people. Looking forward to doing it again next year!!
Ride Hard, Take Chances
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