Lots of tolls.
Just before reaching Portland on I-495 I realized that the low fuel light had come on. I still had at least 5 miles to go before I could exit. I began to sweat it. I queried my GPS to see where the nearest gas stations were, and found that the nearest one was only about a mile from my exit, at a Sam's Club in South Portland. So I set that as my destination.
Getting more and more apprehensive as the gauge needle crept down toward empty, I found what I thought was the Sam's Club. Wait for light to change. Turn left in to parking lot. Nope, one light too soon. A trip around a parking lot. Back to the stop light. Wait. Turn Left. Wait at the next light (about 75 feet further on.) Turn left. Where's the Sam's? Rechecked the GPS display. Next turn 90 miles. Huh??? Re-searched for the Sam's. Ok, it's ahead on the right. Turn into the parking lot. Drive all the way around the building, stopping to let shoppers and other cars move. No gas station. Back to the GPS for another station. It lists a Citgo 0.1 miles away. I drive to the intersection. I can't see a gas station of any description as I wait for the light. Then I see it diagonally across the intersection as the light turns green. Unfortunately, I'm in the wrong lane and have to turn right. I drive 300 yards down the road and make an illegal "U-ie" to get back to the intersection. I wait again for the light. Pull across the intersection into the lot and drive to the first pump that has an opening on my side. Made it! Oh, No. The pump handle is covered: Out of Service. I pull out and around all the pumps. Only one other one is open. I pull in to it. Out of Service. I pull out and make another trip around the pumps. Finally, somebody else pulls out, and I wheeze into the spot on fumes. My debit card is refused. Why? I dunno, don't care. My stress level is already way high. I whip out another card; the pump accepts it and I start pumping. 18 and a half gallons later I'm topped off ( I thought the tank only held 18!).
I pull out of the station with the GPS set for the address in Rockport for the school. I'm still a good distance away. On the way I pass by all the exits for Freeport. No need to go to L.L.Bean yet, I continue on.
By now, it's almost 2 pm and I am getting hungry. I queried the GPS for a restaurant. All the ones that were not McDonalds, Wendys, Burger Kings, etc., are behind me, but finally, I found one called "Bullwinkles". It was about 10 miles ahead so I chose it.
I stopped at Bullwinkles for lunch and had an excellent Haddock BLT sandwich. The fish was wonderful. I must be in Maine.
Back on the road again after lunch, I see that the turn for the school is less than 10 miles away. As I tore down the road, I passed the Lie Nielsen company on the right. A woodworker can't pass Lie Nielsen without stopping in, so I turned around and did just that. I discovered that, as a student at the Center For Furniture Craftsmanship, I'm entitled to a 10% discount on all of their branded tools. Too bad I didn't know that sooner. I have might waited to buy that Low Angle Jack Plane I dropped a bundle on a couple of weeks ago. Oh well. Hindsight is wonderful, isn't it? Besides, the sales tax would have eaten up the discount, and they gave me free shipping, didn't they? Anyway, I bought a ticket to their open house on 10/11 July. That gets me a seat at the Lobster Bake, and a chance to shake hands with Roy Underhill. Of course, I've already done that a couple of years ago. But, us North Carolina guys need to say hello.
While I was in the store, I talked to three guys who are students at the school. We compared notes on how the dovetails on a box on display could have been constructed. I am really getting excited.
Back on the road again, I went right past the entrance to the school. It was not where the GPS thought it should be. So, I backtracked and drove in to the school. Amazingly, it looks exactly as it does in the photo on their website: a group of red buildings. I drive around and found a building with a door open to a power tool workshop. I parked and went in to the workshop and wandered around until I found some people. One introduced himself as Peter Korn, the school director, and the others were the same guys I met at Lie Nielsen. I'm not sure how they got back to the school before I did since we all left the store at about the same time. Anyway, two of them were sharpening chisels. They told me they are taking the 2-week basic course and that sharpening is a central part of that course. It turns out that the first two weeks of the course I'll be taking are essentially the same thing, so we know what I'll be doing for the next couple of weeks.
One of the students, Mack, who is here from the West Coast, and will be taking the 9 month course beginning in the Fall, took me on a very quick but thorough tour of the building, telling me that the building I'll be in is laid out essentially the same. My excitement rises.
Then I set out to find the place where I'll be staying. I found it pretty quickly. It's no more than a couple of miles away from the school, but I'm glad I didn't stick with my plan to bring my bicycle so I could ride to school every day. Large hills, a busy highway, and narrow lanes would have made it more difficult than I could manage.
Because it was only about 3 pm at that time, I decided to drive around a bit and see what I could see. I picked up Route 1 again and went into Camden. I had forgotten that Camden is very much a tourist town, and the traffic and congestion was terrific. I found a back way out of town and back to Rockport as quickly as I could.
I finally checked in at the apartment. It is in a heavily wooded area, and the apartment itself is a good-sized efficiency over a two-car garage. I wouldn't want to live here forever, but it will be comfortable enough for the summer. The owner's teenage son helped me move all my stuff in. I'm glad he did, because it's quite a walk up stairs. (What, no elevator?)
After moving in, unpacking and putting stuff away, and a nice chat with the owner, I drove to a restaurant several miles away, then to the local supermarket for some breakfast makings. Then back here for the evening.
It's almost 10 pm. Outside it is pitch black and silent. It's even quieter than at home. No distant highway noise at all. I think I will enjoy myself here this summer.
In keeping with the previous two entries in this blog, here's the entire track for today, starting in Connecticut, then through Mass, skirting around Boston, and then more or less up the coast to the Rockport area.
The second plot is the part around the area here. The school is at the two dots next to the lake in the lower left corner, and where I am staying is where it shows my truck and my callsign. You can see the one trip I made all the way up to Camden, and then back on back roads.
Unless I do something different, I won't bother to put any more plots in my blog entries. On a day-to-day basis, they won't even be as much as this one. So, if you really want to see my movements, you will need to figure out how to find me at http://aprs.fi Here's the link for the one below: http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=11&call=a%2FN0SYS-9&timerange=86400&tail=43200
The gas station story sounds like the archetype for everybody's favorite nightmare: It's late, trouble is brewing, I'm trying to get somewhere safe, and things keep happening to keep me from getting there.
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