Well, we end the trip as we started with Ed fixing the brakes, this time on the truck. When we loaded the truck up with everything from the boat, using our dinghy to transport the goods by water, the back truckwheels touched the salt water. Ed had to make a panic stop the next day and voila – leaking brake fluid from somewhere. Although we tried to get it fixed in town everyone was too busy. Ed bought all the stuff today and he is under the truck takine off the wheels as I write this sitting in the truck.

I have a little time on my hands so here is the afterward of our trip.

Friday morning, August 13th, Diane Baker from aqua fit, picked us up and we went to her home in New Hampshire. Our truck and trailer were stored for the summer in her sister’s backyard. For a thank you we took then for a wonderful meal at a restaurant on the Newfound Lake near her house. Next morning up and early back to Kittery with the truck and trailer to unload the boat and prepare for the road trip. That done by early Sunday afternoon it was back to Diane’s for some more partying.

Diane is quite a good cook and we had pork chops ala sous vide – which I will buy when I return home. It is a process of cooking meat in water slowly in a cooking bag. You then pop it on the grill for grill marks and it is a healthy fun meal. With corn on the cob and salad who could ask for more. Ed told so many fun stories and we had a great time remembering the rat of Seville and other great hits of the past.

The next day, Monday, was a wonderful reunion of Ed and his very, very good friend John who recently had a stroke. John was in a bad way about nine months ago but has made a great recovery to Ed’s delight. Ed spent several months worrying about John’s health.. It was such fun to see these old friends remember their college days. Alice, John’s wife, was also a college friend. She made us baked ziti and we rolled out of the house around 4 PM.

We were off to Wolfeboro New Hampshire to see Pat Anderson, a friend from sailing the Med is 1984. We spent several Thanksgivings with Pat and Andy. Andy passed away nine years ago from alzheimers and we haven’t been to Pat’s house for twelve years. She made us another great meal, shrimp alfredo and more New Hampshire corn on the cob. My diet has gone out the window. I must work on this during the trip home.

Tuesday we left for the boat but stopped in Ogunquit Maine for some tourist time. We discovered we are not tourists. The number of people and cars was overwhelming. We stayed a few hours and did visit the Ogunquit Playhouse where Ed spent many summer evenings playing shows. That has not changed a bit. but the theater cannot have indoor shows beause of Covid so they have set up an outdoor pavillion – works but not charming.

Tuesday night we were back on the boat for our last night in the water. We had some take out chinese with leftovers for the next day. Wednesday AM the boat was hauled. It was a long long process to get the boat out of the river. Very much like our time in Napa when we got the copper bottom paint. The crew got the boat on the trailer in record time and Ed started the process of getting ready for the road.

Back in the olden days – as in forty years ago- we could get the boat ready in two hours. Now it takes about five but he can still do it. By 5 PM we were comfy in the Days Inn. We ate our left over chinese, had popcorn beer and wine while watching Netflix with their internet. All in all it was quite nice to be comfy.

The next day promised the arrival of Tropical Storm Fred and flooding. We were at the boat early to do the final preparations for the trip home. We did book another night at the Days Inn as we knew we couldn’t travel until Friday because of the predicted heavy rains and we were right. At 10 AM as we were finishing up the last of the preparation it started to rain. We stopped at a local convenience store and loaded up with supplies for the day. Back in our room we had sub sandwiches and watched “Coming to America “one of my favorite movies. As we watched Eddie Murphy looking for his queen in Queens, the rain came down strong. “Lucky Enough” it stopped at 6 PM so we could go to the local Brewery and get a burger.

That leaves us to today where poor Ed is once again working on brakes and getting bit by sandflies. He started with the left one which he was sure was the problem but saw nothing – changed the seals and now he is on the right brake. As he worked on the right brake he found the problem. So I sit in the truck writing these notes to remember our time in Maine. He is not going to be happy tonight. We need to find some good itch cream. He is happy to have good brakes.