Stories from the road
October 11, 2018
Searsport, Maine

The foliage was in full bloom yesterday as we wound our way up highway one towards the Roosevelt home on the Island of Campobello. At one point we all wanted coffee, but at that point, we were in rural Maine, the summer season was over, and few shops appeared. Finally, we found a building that needed new paint with an open sign on it.

The first person I talked with was a customer. A large man, he was taken aback when I started talking with him. He wasn’t unfriendly, just surprised. When I asked out waitress if she liked living in her small town, she said, “I guess so, I am still here.” I thought her answer was clever and thought there might be more out there for her. The cook was defensive. I think he thought I was mocking him rather than being interested in how lives are lived.

Campobello, reachable by a long bridge, is an interesting place. President Roosevelt came to the island as a child and continued to visit the island throughout his life. His 38 room “cottage” still stands.

We took the gratis “fun tour”, which indeed was fun. Our group of four were the only people with our tour leader. She ran quizzes and contests throughout the tour and gave prizes. Her presentations were short, to the point, and highly interactive. At the end I told her she was effective and keeping our attention and helping us learn a lot in a short time about the Roosevelts. I told her I hoped the tour became a model for others to use.

Campobello is just over the border in Canada so we had to go through a border checkpoint on the way home. The agent on the way to the island had been on the rude side. This one was no different. Phyllis apparently went through a red light that none of us saw. The agent seemed to use the opportunity to be nasty. Perhaps the two women were bored and need more stimulation. Who knows?

After our law and order contact we drove to a functioning lighthouse on Quoddy Point, the easternmost point in the United States. As day’s light began to fade we turned back onto highway 1 and drove to points south.