Machias, Maine

We crossed into Maine yesterday around 1:30pm on a beautiful warm summer day. No problems at the border, and in fact the border guards even seemed like they were in a pretty good mood.

Very happy to be back in the United States. We had purposely let our supplies get low, so we needed to do some shopping. So, being good RV'ers, our first stop was Walmart. Not a superstore, but it did have a small grocery section, and there was a Hannefords grocery store right beside the Walmart.

Shopping was a pleasure after spending three months in Canada. Sales tax in Maine is only 5%, compared to 13% in New Brunswick and 15% in Nova Scotia. And a gallon of milk at $3.65 compared to $7. And eggs at $1.60 a dozen compared to $2.72. And 30 cans of beer for $18 instead of $42. And the list goes on, but you get the idea. Oh, and gas at $3.76 a gallon (about $1.00 per litre), compared to $4.65 a gallon ($1.23 per litre).

Kind of a long driving day for us, but because we needed supplies we wanted to buy them in the U.S. Plus, if we found somewhere decent to boondock for a few days we wanted to be stocked up. Anyhow, we ended up doing 302 kms (187 miles).

New Brunswick is making the highway from Saint John to Calais 4 lanes all the way. I have no idea why, because they already have passing sections and the highway is not very busy. Plus, they spend all these millions of dollars building a new highway when they can't maintain the ones they already have! Ridiculous.

After we got into Maine, I had the directions to a public lands free campsite on a lake. When we got to the turnoff, we parked Sherman by the side of the highway and took the little car in on the dirt road to see if it would have been worthwhile bringing Sherman in there. But it was pretty far in, the dirt road was in poor condition, and there were already quite a few people camped there in tents. Not ideal, so we headed back out. However, we spotted another dirt road and pulled into a spot there that was just off the highway. Nice and peaceful, but the bugs were bad. Never seen so many deer flies. Quite a few mosquitoes as well. Oh well, it was still an okay spot to spend the night. 

And, in the middle of nowhere, Maine, we still had a cell signal and could get on the internet. Have I mentioned how much I love our mi-fi internet??!! But, now that we are in the U.S., we have to be careful with useage which is why I will only post pics here once we get to an unsecured wi-fi connection somewhere.

Sherman and the little car, boondocking in Maine (GPS 44.838206 -67.421497)

It's raining so far this morning, so we're parked at a laundromat in the town of Machias, Maine. Hoping it clears up, because this looks like a nice little town to go for a walk.