As many of you might have guessed, I have fallen way behind in blogging our year on the road. We have been in Maine for almost six weeks, and on the blog we have yet to leave Nebraska. Lots of interesting things happened in that time, and rather than try to compress them into a few short blogs, I’ve decided to begin blogging in real time and pick up on those as we go along.
We are in Old Orchard Beach at the moment, a town along the southern coast of Maine with a 7-mile beach that is completely overrun with tourists during the summer months. After Labor Day, the people disappear and the prices are cut close to 60 percent. Next Thursday we’re heading across the state and through New Hampshire on our way to Vermont.
We came from Moosehead Lake, in northern Maine, where we stayed for 9 days on the Moose River. And yes, we did see a few moose. As you can see from the picture, we didn’t get too close. The bull moose were not around; according to the locals, they’re busy resting up for the rut, which starts in a few weeks.
On the outside of Hanover, we came across an abandoned motel very reminiscent of the Bates motel. The windows were broken, except for one room in the front, where we thought we saw a shadowy figure in the twilight.Â
Tonight, I’m giving a reading and a talk in the commons room of our hotel, the Ocean House. Julya organized the event. I have no books to sell, but you never pass up an opportunity to talk about your work. I am mid-way through a new book, a novel, and when we stop somewhere for a few days or more I write a few pages a day. I’ve had trouble with fiction over the years, but this seems to be going well. Maybe I’ll post a page or two.