Adventure in Northern Maine

This morning, Saturday, July 26th, my wife and I drove our younger son, his girlfriend and three friends along with Faith the Dog to Gulf Hagas, Maine, as they prepared to walk 75 miles in 7 days, as they walk the Appalachian Trail to Millinocket.

I had never been to Brownville, and Katahdin Iron Works, and it's beautiful! Once we got to the check-in station at Katahdin Iron Works, we needed to drive about 10 - 15 miles on a graded road, and I knew we were off the grid, when we were no longer registering being on the road on the GPS.

No sooner had we been on the freshly graded road, we saw a moose in the lake

And no sooner had we started on this incredibly, bumpy, rocky road, that my wife said to me, "I sure wouldn't want to get a flat tire up here."  And this my friends is when, if this were a movie, the ominous foreboding music would build to a crescendo!

We dropped the kids off, and they said, "Oh, there's a 6 mile loop and you can see waterfalls, why don't you do it?" Well, let's see, I wasn't planning on it, I had sandals on, no bug spray, and I needed to get back to Bangor, but it was the thought that counts. :) So we took their picture, wished them good luck and turned around to start back to Bangor.

Except when I drove less than a tenth of a mile, I noticed that the low tire pressure light was lit. I pulled over to the side of the "road" and looked at the front tire, that was F-L-A-T! Not low pressure,,, More like no pressure! I thought we were screwed! No cell phone coverage, and I haven't changed a flat in over 20 years!

Luckily, Oscar from Sweden and Mrs. Van Kirk from Veazie drove by us after we had just gotten the spare down. Oscar was a life saver, as he was able to jack up our Escape, using two jacks, and change the tire for us. Oscar grew up on a farm, and was a pro, and let me tell you, saved us at least two hours! So thanks Oscar and Mrs. Van Kirk, for going out of your way and helping us!

I told my wife, that she should say "Wouldn't it be terrible if we won the Megabucks and Powerball Drawings", and that if the ominous music played, we would be all set :)

Luckily, Darling's was able to fix the flat this afternoon, and we heard from the kid's that they had traveled 13 miles today, and were getting ready to set up camp at around 6:30 Saturday night. Here's hoping they have a great time, and that they don't have a negative experience like our flat tire during their trip!