Sunday, May 16, 2010

Home Sweet Home! The Final Post!

     Sorry it's taken so long to get the last post done, but we're still not completely used to being back in Southport!  We got home mid-afternoon on May 1st, 10 weeks to the day since we started and 11,451 miles traveled.  For those who are interested, we got 14.7 miles per gallon of diesel on the trip!
     The last day was a long drive.  We left before 8am, and traveled via Canada Route 10 to Sherbrook and then on to Corbin Gore, the western terminus of Maine Highway 27.  For those not familiar, the eastern terminus of Maine Highway 27 is Southport, Maine, so we were on our "home" road the entire trip in Maine.
     The trip across Canada was fairly mundane,though it was interesting seeing some views of the St. Lawrence Seaway.  We saw lots of huge, well kept farms on the road.  Also saw quite a few mountains, and a couple of ski resorts as we approached the US.  It did seem strange that ALL the road signs in "PQ" (Quebec Province) are strictly in French--no English.  They apparently don't consider themselves Canadian!
       We crossed into Maine and met US Customs and Immigration at Corbin Gore, not the busiest port of entry into the US.  In fact, there was our RV and one pickup truck, the only "clients" they had during our 20" or so stop.  Dudley seemed to intimidate the Customs guy (who had a nasty, barking German Sheperd in his truck and Dudley was taking no grief from it!).  We were asked to take the dogs for a walk while they did a "walk through" in the RV, and all was fine.  Nice enough guy.
     Maine is such a gorgeous state!  The ride on Route 27 is just exhilerating in its beauty at this time of year, and we passed through Carrabasset, by Sugarloaf ski resort, and through the beautiful Belgrade Lakes area until we got on our more familiar route from Augusta back home. 
      One of the biggest surprises to us was looking at the temperature--for the first time on our trip, all 10 weeks, we saw a temperature of 78 degrees!  It couldn't have been a nicer day for us to arrive home!  Not only that, but all the bulbs we had purchased in the Netherlands last year and planted in the fall were out in full bloom--the yard looked gorgeous!


Greg was glad to see us, and the dogs were thrilled to be back at "their" house and "their" yard!  I'm sure Dudley had felt resigned to living cramped in the RV forever, though it never seemed to bother Rosie.  In all seriousness, it was great to have the dogs along, they were terrific travelers, and it sure made having the RV worthwhile to have been able to bring them.
       In summary, it was a GREAT trip!  We clearly have the "bug" to see more- a lot more- of North America via RV travel.  This country, and Canada, are so vast and interesting that it is thrilling to finally be able to see so much of the country this way.
       For those who have followed Moosedroppings, thanks for looking in and thanks for the many comments we have been given verbally.  It's been fun, and we'll look forward to doing another! 

                                                 Oh, and Katahdin says thanks, too!!