E Pluribus Unum = Out of many, one

7:49 am - Tuesday - September 11th - Southwest Harbor, ME - 58º F, 99% humidity, wind 15 mph out of the east.......heavy rain since midnight.  Supposed to rain all day until about 6 pm......this is how it looks and sounds right now at 7:49 am..... 

Today is also the 17th anniversary of 9/11.  I remember being awakened by TLE via a phone call about 6 am.  She was working in Cerritos, CA at the time and left home about 4:40-5 am to beat the traffic.  She told me "Turn on the TV!".  I answered "To what channel?".  She replied "ANY channel!".  I did so, and thus began hours, and days of being glued to the TV.  Our nation had been attacked by despicable cowards.....

......as terrible, and horrifying that event was I now long for the days which followed that attack on our country....on the United States of America.  For a few brief months we were one people with a common purpose.  We ceased, for just a little while, to be Republicans and Democrats......for a short while we were just Americans.  Seventeen years later we are a nation deeply divided over what?  Politics?  The political class in Washington D.C. continues to divide us into tribes, pitting one against another.  Whatever happened to the notion of 'E Pluribus Unum'......out of many, one?  How did the motto of our country morph into 'Diversity is our strength?'  How can a nation which obsesses over its differences (diversity) be unified.....be ONE?  These are the thoughts on my mind today as I remember that fateful day.  Would the thousands of people who died that day be proud of what we have become today? I think not.

Monday was a pretty much laid back day.  Our big aspiration for the day was to move the artificial turf into the trailer to keep it dry from the coming rainfall.  Of course, that necessitated me finishing the organizing of the trailer.  It had been very cold the night before, and in order to work outside I had to don a jacket for the first time in weeks, and weeks.  The work went quickly, and by noon time TLE and I were dragging the turf into the trailer.  

I did spend some time putting away the Sea-B-Que, as well as the 5 gallon propane bottle, and the table upon which it sits.  All of that stuff goes in the 'through' bin, so now it is also organized and ready for travel.

The rest of the day we spent watching the final round of the BMW Championship Golf Tournament.  Tiger Woods managed to get within one stroke of the lead when he got to 17 under par.  He never got closer than that, and ultimately he finished three strokes behind the winner, which had to be determined by a one hole playoff.  So, another week of Tiger almost closing the deal, but once again, no cigar.

I spent a little while outside after the golf tournament concluded 'battening down the hatches' for the approaching storm, and I am glad I did.....it is a doozy!

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Stowaways........

8:12 am - Monday - September 10th - Southwest Harbor, ME - 55º F, 77% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the east by northeast with partly cloudy skies with a forecast high today of 62º F.

We both slept in on TLE's birthday Sunday.....that's two days in a row that I have slept in......sleeping in is TLE's norm.  She has no trouble sleeping long after I have left the bedroom.  I just close the door the bedroom and leave her to sleep.....I admire her ability to do so.

I got into the high 40's overnight and was still quite cool when we awakened.  I had to wait until around 10 am to begin working on the artificial turf to finish the work I began the day prior.  Once that was done we needed to turn it over so the grass side was up once again allowing any moisture remaining from the past 24 hours to evaporate thereby allowing us to roll it up and get it ready to pull into the trailer.....

All rolled up and ready to stow

......so, now it was time to begin to focus more attention on the organization of the trailer interior, otherwise we won't get that turf in the trailer before it rains on Tuesday!  I began by taking down the portable table on which I keep my three bags of tools for easy access, plus my drill and impact driver.  Another big part of organizing the trailer is to take the front wheels off the bicycles so they can be stowed in their proper spots.....

 The bikes are stowed

.....now that I've gotten the bikes put away it's time to begin moving the stuff from the back of the trailer forward so we can pull the turf inside...... 

 All the stuff against the back of the trailer now has to be moved to the front of the trailer so the turf and car can be put inside

.......and, finally, I'll have to clear off the workbench and stow the table....that's always the final thing.....

Soon I'll be stowing the workbench table and we'll be ready to roll!

.......why is it the final thing?  Well, it holds my Sirius/XM Radio receiver and I cannot be without music while I am organizing the trailer, right?

Around 4 pm I had gone as far as I wished inside the trailer so I headed inside to take a short rest before it was time to grill another filet mignon for dinner.  We are now down to the short strokes before we begin to roll our wheels once more, and it will soon be time to say our 'until next times' to Tony and Janet, our very gracious hosts for the past 4+ weeks.  We've got a few more things to see before we leave Southwest Harbor, and right at the top of the list is to witness a sunrise at Cadillac Mountain.....it looks like Thursday will be a good day for that with no cloudiness forecast for that day.

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Artificial intelligence........

8:05 am - Sunday - September 9th - Southwest Harbor, ME - 51º F, 71% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the north with a forecast high today of 62º F.  Today is also TLE's birthday.....she is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her 49th birthday.  Happy birthday my love!

I say this often, and I will repeat it once again.....I love spending time with visiting friends and family....I love it.  BUT, it exhausts me!  It didn't used to be that way, but over the last 7 years, or so TLE have spent the majority of our lives with just each other as we travel, and when we do have visitors I can almost feel the energy levels dropping day by day even though I find it also exhilarating at the very same time.  It is a true conundrum.  Nonetheless, I was looking forward to sleeping in Saturday morning, and I made it all the way to 7:30 am......9 hours of sleep with no obligations whatsoever on Saturday.

Ever since the beginning of our 4th season at TVC (Tahoe Valley Campground), which was the second year we had the use of our wonderful artificial turf I have wanted to repair it properly.  The first year we had it we made some cuts in it to allow it to fit around the permanent concrete picnic table in our site.  We had that crumbling concrete picnic table removed at the end of our 3rd season, so when we returned we had to patch the one small section of the turf back together.  I used Gorilla tape to do that and it worked pretty well, but over time it would pull loose.  I repaired that repair a few times over the intervening 12 months, but it was never 100% effective.

In this picture from 2016 you can see how we had to cut around the concrete base of the old, crumbling permanent table.....it was those cuts which needed repairing.

Before we put that turf back inside the trailer for our journey to Campbellsville, KY I wanted to really fix it, and had decided the only way to do so would be to buy some heavy duty, marine grade nylon sail thread to stitch up the few sections we had cut, then cover that stitching with my silicone caulk, then reapply the Gorilla tape.  It is fortuitous that we have access to a West Marine store right here in Southwest Harbor where one could hope to find such thread, which is used in stitching sails.  TLE and I pulled the turf out to a section of the yard where we would open it all the way, and get it all dried out for my repair efforts.  Then we drove over to West Marine to acquire more Gorilla tape, and the heavy duty sail thread.....

Turf laid out upside down and ready to be worked upon

  Sail thread

Gorilla tape

Silicone caulk

....we were in and out of West Marine in about 10 minutes.....it is so easy to find what you need there.......in addition to West Marine we made a quick stop at Sawyer's Market for some salad greens for dinner before heading back to the Newell.  Sawyer's caters to the sail and power boat set, which arrive in Southwest Harbor without surface transportation and are able to walk to the store.  They are a little pricey, and we normally do 95% of our shopping at Southwest Food Mart, but for stuff like salad greens they are comparable, and probably have a little better selection.

We were back home by the time the sun had been beating down on the rubberized backing on the artificial surface for about an hour making it much more malleable, and easier to penetrate with the large needle I would be using to stitch it.

The work went quickly, and smoothly.....the hard part was standing erect once again after sitting on the ground cross legged for an hour at a time......that didn't used to be so difficult!

 The stitch work

 About 1/2 done with one seam

The first section stitched, caulked and taped.....almost as good as new!

I took a break after finishing each seam, then began to caulk over the seam and thread to protect it and make it easier for the Gorilla tape to do its job.  It came out nicely.  I finished about 90% of the work Saturday, and will complete the work on Sunday morning.  Once the caulking is cured, and the tape is applied we will then refold it so it can be inserted in the trailer on Monday.  Why Monday when we are not leaving until Saturday?  Well, there is a 100% chance of precipitation on Tuesday, so it needs to go inside before it gets wet again.....now I have to get the trailer organized enough by Monday to do so!

The temperature began to drop quickly by 4 pm, and by 5:30 it was too cold to be outdoors.  The overnight low was projected to be 47º F, and as you can see by the temp I reported at the beginning of this post it got pretty cold last night.  We both turned on our electric blankets around 4 am.

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Tour Guide - Part 3

8:04 am - Saturday - September 8th - Southwest Harbor, ME - 57º F, humidity 73%, wind 10 mph out of the north....sunny with a forecast high today of 66º F.

Friday was the last day we would play tour guide this summer.  We met Glenn and Laureen at a local restaurant called 'Sips', just around the corner from their hotel, for breakfast around 10:30 am.  I love spending time with Glenn and Laureen, because they, like us, just let the day come to them.  We had no  real specific, definite plans for the day other than to show them some of the highlights of the 'Quiet Side' of Mount Desert Island.....the west side.

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and then retrieved the VW having Glenn and Laureen follow us back to our home to drop off our car, and for me to resume my duties as chauffeur of their rental car.   Our first stop of the day was at the Bass Harbor Head Light, which we last visited on our first, or second day back in mid May.  It was quite stormy, and cloudy then, but on Friday it was quite sunny!

 There is a this little patch of grass by the light house living 

quarters which this sign guards

We spent about 30 minutes there just enjoying the view, talking and being silly.

 What a handsome group!

Our next stop was to continue on around the Highway 102A loop to the Ship Harbor trailhead to take a short hike.  While TLE and Laureen rock hopped down to the water, Glenn and I remained on solid ground talking about cabbages and kings.

 Pink granite composes approximately 75-80% of all the granite in this area......very beautiful

We continued on around Highway 102A to another of our favorite haunts.......the Seawall Picnic area where we found a table in the shade spending about an hour enjoying the view.  Of course TLE and Laureen were immediately out on the rocks looking for sea glass, shells and rocks.  Glenn and I, meanwhile, continued solving the problems of the world.  Before we knew it an hour had passed and it was getting on to 3 pm.  Additionally, the temperature had begun to drop and it was no longer desirable to be sitting in the shade enjoying the now quite cold sea breeze.

Next stop?  Thurston's, of course, for a late lunch.....

 Love the view of Bass Harbor from the deck at Thurston's!

TLE and I split a Lobster BLT, and she added a cup of Lobster Stew, and I a cup of their wonderful potato salad.  We talked away the afternoon, often remarking at what a relaxing, enjoyable day it had been.  

By 4:30 pm we were on our way back to our home where a little single malt Scotch sampling was in order before we retired to the lido deck for an 'until next time' campfire.   What a perfect way to end a very pleasurable two days of sightseeing with Glenn and Laureen!

As I sit here bringing today's missive to a conclusion I cannot help but reflect pleasurably upon our time spent with good friends and relatives over the past 9 days showing them the sights and sounds of a place with which we have come to feel quite at home.  We do not feel like strangers, or interlopers anymore.  We have become somewhat integrated into the community, made good friends and seen just about everything important to us.  As our time here rapidly draws to a conclusion our memory banks become filled to overflowing with time spent with those we love and getting to know Mount Desert Island.  

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