Acadia

LD#114 is a proposed law which essentially would require RVs and Motor Homes/Campers to park in campgrounds. Wal-Mart etc. would be illegal. Wow, has that raised a ruckus here in Maine and all over the country.

Below is my letter to Rep. Perry, the person who has proposed this law, presumably because of health reasons. It seems that the argument is that the RVers are trying to get out of paying a lodging tax and are dumping sewage in parking lots.

Here is my letter………….

Dear Rep Anne Perry,

Below is a copy of a letter you sent to one of the folks who wrote you about LD# 114. Please allow me to respond to your email point by point. I am a Maine resident and am also a Motor Home / RV owner. Let me just say before I respond below - I do not (and I suspect just about all the folks targeted by your proposal do not) consider myself a “camper”. I am a traveler! Instead of driving a GMC SUV I have chosen to drive a 24 foot long Motor Home. This is the way hundreds of thousands of people have chosen to travel because the quality and value of motels is so variable and the need to make reservations is a real restriction to leisurely traveling. In addition we travel with our lovable little dog Goldie. Finding a place to stay that welcomes a pet is getting harder and harder and in many cases cost between $25 & $50 a night extra - sometimes even more. If you haven’t tried it (RVing) you really should. Before our RV we did not even travel within the state of Maine, let alone out of state, if we couldn’t get back home the same day. A few years ago we went to the Moosehead region (before we got turned on to our Motor Home(MH)) and planned to stay several days (a first for us) to help our son to photograph the area. After finding a place with a vacancy (not easy) we walked into our room around 9PM. We turned right around and drove home to Palermo - tired and disappointed we could not wait to get into our clean beds. My point. The lodging was a disgrace. Dark, moldy, a carpet that was past being worn out and it smelled like cigarette smoke. We now have our own toilet, our own bed, and a comfortable vehicle we can used to sleep at a moments notice. No hunting for a clean room, no dog issues, no smelly bathrooms, and no TENTS. We do not camp! We do not want to camp. Our goal is to see as much of this beautiful State and Country as we can before we are no longer able to travel. We want to do it on a schedule that is good for us and not determined by reservations. We want to do it without being forced to stay in a grungy motel (sorry there are a bunch of them here in Maine). We want to do it with our four legged child. We want to do it without “camping” in a dumpy campground (it has happened) with a bunch of grubby kids running around unsupervised (they live there all summer in “camping” trailers with permanent porches and gardens and out buildings).

There is a real lack of understanding of just who us RVers are. We are not Gypsies as some describe us. We are not tax cheats (just look at my excise tax on my RV). We are not campers trying to cheat campgrounds out of $36. We are not dumping our sewage in parking lots - in fact I think you will find RVers picking up trash left behind by regular visitors to the store where we park. We ARE relatively affluent travelers mearly trying to enjoy our elder years seeing all the beauty this country has to offer and we do not want to be legislated out of our ability to park where everyone else parks. We don’t pitch a tend, we don’t start campfires, we don’t litter like a lot of the “regular” folk do. Sure, there may be one hear and there that do not behave properly but I am confident the percentage is much lower than other groups. We take pride in our vehicles, our behavior and our willingness to help other travelers and/or locals who may have a problem we become aware of. We are good people us RVers.

My wife, Goldie and I have been traveling in our MH for a little over 4 years now. From Maine south to the Carolina’s and west to Wisconson and north into Canada. I am sad to say that Maine is the most MH unfriendly state we have traveled in. If it were not for Wal-Mart it would be all but impossible to travel without reservation during July, Aug, Sept and part of Oct. That is the only time of the year a campground is open and they are packed with reservation people - RVers, by-in-large are not reservation people. In the winter it is Wal-Mart or Home Depot and several other smart marketing chains that make travel for MNs/RVs possible here in Maine. And, remember most MH/RV owners are retired and like to travel when the kids are in school - off season, when the campground owners have left the state.

I hate to say it but it seems to me that many if not most campground owners and the state are missing the big picture! You should be proposing a bill that will require the DOT to install dump stations at all the rest areas or at least at all the visitor information centers. That ends your concern about dumping in parking lots - if in fact it is a problem which I doubt it is. That would send the word to all the off season travelers in MHs/RVs that they are welcome in Maine. Require the DOT rest areas build ample parking for truckers, RVers and anyone who is tired and needs a safe well lit place to rest or sleep for the night. It would be money well spent!

If you have been fortunate enough to travel south of the Maine border in the last few years you must have seen the beautiful large parking lots in rest areas, the fantastic Truck Stops with huge, and I mean huge, parking lots. In most southern states we now pull up to a diesel pump right next to the Cadillacs and pick-up trucks and pay at the pump just like regular folks. Seldom do we have to pull up to an old beaut pump out in the back and have to wear hazmat gear to fill up. Yup, that is typical of here in Maine. We are traveling to So. Carolina for several months and have been provided a comprehensive list (3 typed pages long) of dump station. Maps showing just rest areas. Maps showing just campgrounds. Maps showing just welcome centers. The amount of excellent planning information is impressive - we are wanted there. We are excited to be going there.

“Maine, the way life should be”. Maybe it should say, “Maine, the way life used to be”.

Aw heck, I don’t think I need to respond to your comments below - I suspect I have said all I need to say. Rep. Perry, I ask that you withdraw this version of your law, convene a group of interested parties from around the state and develop a law that solves a problem - if in fact there is a real problem - there may be but I cannot see it right now. I do believe passage of your proposed law will end up hurting Maine’s Image as well as its Bottom Line.

I look forward to your response and hope you will put my name on your list of contributors to your new law.

Respectfully and sincerely I am,
Stanley Fleming
Palermo, ME
www.acadiavacations.com
www.markflemingphoto.com
acadiamaine@gmail.com

I often get asked - “Should we take a side/day trip to Nova Scotia?” This idea is typically prompted by the availability of The Cat - the Ferry from Bar Harbor, ME to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The Cat is a high speed Catamaran that offers on board movies and a casino.

Let me offer my personal opinion which is based on several visits to NS and reports from people I consider reliable and unbiased.

I strongly recommend at least one visit to NS. BUT, not as a side trip to Maine or Acadia National Park. At least not unless you have more than a month for your trip to Maine and NS. NS is a beautiful and diverse island that in my opinion warrants a minimum of two weeks to enjoy - actually I prefer you take 3 to 4 weeks or visit in more than once. I really suggest that you plan more than one trip to NS so you can take your time and fully enjoy the several distinct regions of the Province.

One of the first planning decisions is how to get to NS. You can drive through Maine and then New Brunswick Canada, you can also take the Ferry from Portland or Bar Harbor Maine, or you may choose to fly to Halifax. My preference is to drive all the way. Yup, it takes longer. But unless you really have time constraints I feel you will enjoy the time traveling to and from NS. While the Ferry saves time it is costly, you get to see very little, and the ride tends to be rough.

With this as a preface I will be posting my descriptions of various regions of the island. I hope these descriptions will help planning a visit to NS. So come back soon for my series of posts describing NS freom my perspective.

While there are lots of places that sell lobsters I would like to suggest a couple of places to go to find some of the best suppliers of fresh lobsters.

In no order of preference they are:
Augusta Seafood - Rt 3 Augusta
Round Pond Lobsters - Round Pond
Muscongus Bay Lobsters - Round Pond
Young’s Lobster Pound - Belfast

Cool weather, beautiful coastal scenery, rest and relaxation, a plethora of outdoor activities, visit Acadia National Park, see a moose. I suspect some or all of the above apply to you.

I also suspect another reason is to enjoy eating lobster! So, I am going to share with you my advice on how to maximize your pleasure and keep your costs as low as possible. First, this, in my opinion, is NOT the way to eat your lobster while here in Maine. Do not order lobster in a restaurant! Huh, if not in a restaurant then where? Find a lobster pound, most likely on a dock in a fishing harbor, where they will cook the lobster for you. And, here is the real trick, ask for hard shell lobsters that are over 1 and 3/4 pounds. Hard shell lobsters are NOT tougher than soft shell lobsters! Two pound lobsters are NOT tougher than 1 and 1/4 pound lobsters.

Fact is, when cooked properly (they can be over cooked) any size and any type (hard or soft shell) of lobster will taste great and the toughness will not be an issue. Key words here are “cooked properly”.

Why do I like the larger size you ask? Well, unless you get close to a 2 pounds or larger you will not be able to get much if any meat out of the body - and, believe me when I tell you, the meat in the body is the sweetes and most tender meat in the whole lobster.

Want to learn how to eat a lobster? Go to the General Info on my web site http://www.acadiavacations.com/.

Just thought I would mention my acadiavacations.com web site - there you will find lots of info I feel will help you plan a visit to Acadia National Park.

Yes and No. If you are not real fussy and if waterfront/view is not critical to you then I really do not feel reservations are needed. However, if you want a cottage it is a good idea to nail one down - soon! Cottages tend to have a lot of repeats and therefore they do not normally have a lot of available time. It does appear, from talking to several folks I know who rent cottages, that the reservations are coming in slow this year - but I personally believe this trend will change and the season will be a good one and reservations for long term rentals and waterfront/view will be a good idea.

Just a heads up - it is Moose mating season so they are pretty active and not real patient - be careful driving in Moose territory - wet swampy areas - especially at dawn and dusk when they are most active. AND, do not get out of your car to see one up close and personal!!

This year the section of I-295 from Topsham to Augusta (north bound) will be closed most of the Summer while the road is completely resurfaced. Last summer the southbound section was closed for the same reason. It is not clear yet just how traffic will be rerouted. Actually the arrangement they set up for last year worked quite well so I would not be to concerned about it. If you want to hit Freeport on your way north you should be ok - otherwise you may want to use the Maine Turnpike (I-95)to get to Augusta.

I just came back from a short trip on Route 1 South of Belfast and I was amazed at how easy it was to drive this route. For those of you planning a visit to Downeast/Acadia you may want to consider taking the coastal route. I would suggest starting in the Brunswick area not the Kittery area. However, if you have plenty of time then do start in Kittery and enjoy the ride. Plan a couple days to go from Kittery to Mount Desert Island or maybe even several days.

It appears the impact of the fuel prices has reduced the traffic considerably and as a result you might even consider traveling without reservations - stop and secure a lodging around 3 pm and enjoy a quiet evening and a great meal without rushing.

RVers will not find many Wal-Mart parking lots but there are plenty of other places for boondocking - Shaws and Hanniford grocery stores etc. And, there are several very nice campgrounds along the way as well.