NE New England, where the letter ‘r’ is silent. The rainy morning was perfect for doing laundry. One other person was using the machines, so we had a conversation while he was folding and I was transferring clothes. He is a sailor who is now trying the RV life. He and his wife live north of Montreal and sailed in the Bahamas area for years. They even had their kids with them and home-schooled them on their sailboat for one year. They sold that boat and rented a boat to sail around Greece for a time. I had lots of questions which he graciously answered. He started sailing young with a small boat and moved up to bigger boats and lessons to learn all kinds of skills. He said you have to be ready for anything, be able to repair anything, as out in the open ocean help is not coming. He said it’s a lot like living in an RV in terms of food storage (about a week’s worth then back to port), water management (just one waste tank and only used in port or on a lake), charging batteries (the engines can charge them in about an hour), but then there is more with understanding navigation and port rules. RADAR is very important on rainy days where you really can’t see anything. It was the most interesting conversation I’ve ever had while doing laundry!

Bar Harbor is a bustling tourist town with lots of shops, restaurants, hotels, and expensive private homes (for example, beautiful, but ordinary-sized in great location = 1.4 million). We grabbed some food to go and ate at a mostly dry bench overlooking the town beach. We had ice cream for dessert and I loved the wild blueberry soft twist.

An evening stroll down to Hadley’s Point was chilly. We took a picture of a nearby house to serve as a model for the typical colonial house (probably a couple of hundred years old according to our bus driver) that has 5 upper windows, a central door, and two sets of windows beside the door. Now we are noticing this “Five, Four and a Door”style as we observe the area. We learn a lot from the bus drivers!