Woke up at 4:20 am and packed up a wet tent then drove for 2 and a half hours to Machias. It was rough. I am not a morning person and I had to pay close attention while driving back roads halfway across Maine. It was a pretty drive though.
We ate breakfast in Machias and then headed to the fire department where our starting point is. While unloading the car and setting our carts up, the local newspaper reporter came out to interview us. She said that she would help us get news in two different towns that feed the surrounding areas. It should help get the word out a lot. People see us walking then when they read about it in the paper they learn what it’s about and hopefully it will inspire someone to take a positive action in their life.
We were leaving town and ran into a couple of roadside vendors who told us that they live off the grid and they come out here to try to earn a few bucks to help them out. It’s like a weird flea market for homesteaders. I would’ve bought a lot of crap but I had no use for it on the road. I’m glad I didn’t buy anything though.
One of the guys working there was talking to us and then ended up saying how he thinks that people who use drugs deserve to die and that the country shouldn’t help them. We gave a whole world of information to educate him but he appeared to be taking it with a grain of salt. We can only hope that he thought about the things we said afterwards. We marched on.
Kind people stopped for us all day. It was great. The morning was really humid and hot and we were thinking it was going to be a long and miserable day, but the wind picked up around noon and blew the humidity out. It was a good afternoon. As good as we could ask for anyways. It was still hard. We had hills all day and we had a very late start due to the long drive we had to make.
One of the people who stopped was a fire fighter. We thanked us for what we are doing and told us a way to take a backroad around a big hill. It helped so much. We met a male and female couple who stopped and recorded us all talking for a podcast that they have. I forgot the name of it right now but I will come back and edit this when I remember.
We also met a woman who was on a 6 month road trip that is sponsored by RAM. Not Dodge Ram, just Ram. She made sure to tell us that. Apparently they are trying to make it two different things. Anyway, she brought some boiled eggs and water for us and had a long roadside chat. She recorded us talking. She was a character and I liked her for it. She had mismatching rainboots over leggings and a whole lot of spunk. She had good energy and we’re all pretty sure that she had a crush on Jessie. Could’ve just been kindness and compassion but it came across flirty like. It was a great experience to meet her though. We swapped stories and info and hopefully we can reconnect down the road somewhere someday. She was a great listener and had good questions. We could’ve talked to her all day but miles had to be made.
We chugged and chugged along. Jess was kicking ass. Keeping right up with me and Stick. I was hurting so I assumed they both were too. We all fought through with grit and determination and made it to our goal for the day just before the sun went down.
We were pooped. We set up our tents and that was about the end of the day. I had to go through a quick “in case a bear comes to the campsite” tutorial. I hated to scare Jess but I’d rather be prepared and not need it then unprepared and something happen. We should be good but the risk is definitely there. I am well aware of how to handle black bears and actually have some experiences where they have entered my campsite before. I stated what I knew and what to do if you hear or see a bear then headed back to my tent to lay down and type this dang blog. Lol
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