day 2
baxter state park, maine

"I've never cooked on a fire with the aid of a flashlight before." -k.
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Baxter Facts:
Length: 40mi
Width: 12mi
Height: 5267ft

Electricity: None
Phones: None
Cell Service: Nope
Potable Water: Uh-uh
Gas: Not even gas.

Roads: Dirt
Dirt? Yes
All of them? Yes

Claim to Fame: Starting point (or in most cases, ending point) for the Appalachian Trail, the be-all end-all of hikes. The Appalachian Trail runs from the tip of Baxter Peak on Mt. Katahdin all the way to Georgia, 2200 miles. Dude, that's just nuts.

Bumper Sticker of the Day
Grocery List:
- Reese's Peanut Butter
- Lender's Bagels (6)
- Milk
- An Onion
- A Green Pepper
- 1.16lb Ground Chuck
- Cranberry Juice
- Pretzels
Total: $14.16

Unable to find at the Thriftway in Orono, ME
- Wild Rice
- Tortillas
- Corn
Innovation Award:
Using the lid for the tin of matches to stamp out burgers, cookie cutter style.

Bangor? We Hardly Knew Her.
Aug 29 - We woke up this morning thinking, "Boy, golly, heck, I sure can't wait to get to Bangor." Don't ask us why. Is there anything even in Bangor? I mean, besides Stephen King.

Okay, it was Stephen King. Aimee read somewhere that you could walk right up to Stephen King's house, and we had this vision of us showing up and saying, "Hey Stevie," and him saying, "Oh hi, I was just about to eat, won't you come in and join me?" and us saying, "Well, we're not sure, see, we're on a cross country road trip, well, I suppose we could spare a few minutes," and him saying, "A road trip? That sounds intriguing. Come on in, I just made muffins," and us saying, "What kind?" and him saying, "Apple Cinnamon," and us saying, "Oh boy!" and the conversation would go from there.

It was enough to get us up at sunrise. After all, we needed to find something to top Small Town X, and the master of horror might just do the trick. Might.

Mind you, a dollar an hour to rent a canoe was nothing to shake a paddle at. We tootled around South Branch Pond for an hour or so, long enough for the wind to change direction and slow us down both ways across. Then we packed up and left.

The road out of Baxter was about 60 kilometers of dirt. We took a break after 30, to let our eyeballs dejiggle, at Mt. Katahdin. For those of you behind on your Maine trivia, Mt. Katahdin is the highest point in Maine, and also the end point of the Appalachian trail. We thought, "How 'bout a hike? Other people walk here from Georgia, surely we can get to the signpost from the parking lot." We got halfway. That's a tall-ass mountain.

We cleared the South Gate of Baxter State Park at two-ish, and hit the Golden Road to Bangor. We hadn't uploaded the site in about five days, and thought surely our cell would pick up a digital signal as we got to a big city like Bangor. No luck. But we did spot a place that just might have internet access: The University of Maine.

Now, let me tell you a little about the University of Maine. It's in Orono, everyone sounds like Mayor Quimby from The Simpsons, and the tech staff are about as helpful as Verizon Customer Service. The first dude we talked to seemed halfway sensible, and let us know that there are free access computers in the Library. At the Library, the first gentleman seemed like he would have bent over backwards if only he was allowed to leave his chair. See, there were cameras on him, and if the supervisor caught him away from his post... you get the idea.

At the computer cluster was one of those long-faced guys who would have to make a conscious effort if he wanted to cover his top teeth with his upper lip. He just kept shaking his head and saying, "I don't think there's anything we can do for you." After geting sufficiently frustrated, we made one more crack at the first lab we had visited, but shift change occurred while we were gone, and a little dude who would have made a great cartoon rat had taken the other guy's place.

"Enh! Enh! No! But I... I just can't!" snivelled the little man, as he pulled on his face in anguish.

Needless to say, we didn't get to upload. But, we didn't get a ticket for parking on campus without a permit either, so I guess it all balanced out in the end.

At that point, it was getting pretty late, we were feeling frustrated, and felt that we probably wouldn't be good conversationalists in that frame of mind. So we decided to put the muffins on hold and take a rain check from Mr. King. He was probably a little disappointed, but I'm sure he's had let downs before. I mean, look at The Tommyknockers.


happy trails...

Wilderness #1

Wilderness #2

Ooh

Ahh
more photos in the archive...

Current Location
(get out your push pins)

Baxter State Park, ME

Next: Acadia National Park

see the full map...

Today's Weather:
Another Great Day!

Daily Stats
By Car:316.4km
By Canoe:2.5km
By Hike:8.4km

Gas: $22.00
Radio Station: 95.7
Cokes Consumed: 5
Waters: 3

Sleeping Quarters
Acadia National Park

Site D64. Rumoured to be some of the most beautiful parkland in the United States. Couldn't really tell because we got here in the dark, but for the first night since we started, Kev got an excellent night's sleep. A raging thunderstorm kept Aimee up, though.

Cost: $12.00
http://www.nps.gov/acad

Bkfast: 
Baxter SP
At the Campsite
K's Order:Froot Loops, in a pot
A's Order:Muesli, in a pot
Lunch: 
Baxter SP
Entrance to Katahdin Trail
Contents:Leftover pasta from a few nights ago
Coke
Dinner: 
Acadia NP
At the Campsite
Contents:Campfire Bagel Burgers
Al Hobbs Carrots
Cranberry Juice
Coke
Cost:See Grocery List


© 2001. Kevin Beimers and Aimee Lingman. Danny Nawrocki, that title was for you.