Day 53. July 13, 2014. Sunday. Ellsworth to Acadia National Park, Black Woods Campground, Maine

Today was a funny sort of day. We slept in a bit late, got out of the hotel at a relaxing pace, and then decided maybe we'd better do laundry before heading to the campground for three days (two nights). We drove into town and found that the laundry was along fast-food alley, so ate junk for breakfast (we really are back in the USA!) and realized that there was an L.L. Bean Outlet Store across the street. We couldn't pass that up and ... a new shirt for me; clip-on sunglasses for Liz. At least we didn't buy a couple of nice 1-person kayaks for a good price.

We also tried to call Heather Rice, an old friend from our Sequoia National Park rangering days (mid-1980s) who, at the time, was the wife of Jim's boss. All we got was voice mail, but at least the voice sounded like our long-dormant memory of Heather. Her ex-husband gave us the phone number and told us that she was driving a park tour bus, but he wasn't more specific than that. He lives here too, but is baby-sitting grandkids in Texas right now.

From Ellsworth, we headed towards the Acadia National Park Visitor Center. The parking lot was full and the VC was crowed with all sorts of humanity. At the front desk, we spoke with a most unhelpful uniformed ranger who told us the campground was "primitive" and didn't even have running water, plus it was almost full, so we'd better drive directly and get in line for a space.

We followed the crowds south following signs, but Liz realized that we could take the highway and get there in 1/3 the time. We sat in line for a long time, but we eventually got to the check-in kiosk just as the computer went down. After some time, we succeeded in getting two nights in what turned out to be a pretty nice campsite for a crowed park. No view, but our neighbors aren't too close.

After fixing lunch and relaxing in camp, we decided to set out on the free park shuttle bus to explore the park, but first we would ride the bus into Bar Harbor to look for cell phone reception and wifi. We got to the shuttle bus at 2:32, and yes, the bus-like noises we heard were the bus pulling out just as we were coming through the trees. Well, what the heck, another 28 minutes of relax time.

When we got on the next shuttle bus, we asked the driver if he knew Heather, but he said nobody by that name drove a park shuttle bus; perhaps she drove a concession tour bus.

In Bar Harbor, made our phone calls and checked the email. No return call from Heather. We then found that the town more interesting than we expected and spent some time walking about, seeing the historic buildings (the town was incorporated in 1796); and yes, buying ice cream and window shopping at the various T-shirt and souvenir shops.

As we were walking back to the shuttle bus stop, from which we anticipated a scenic tour of the park, Liz stopped to look about in a rock shop. While she was inside, I stayed outside and made another phone call or two. Watching the masses of humanity moving about, I saw a tour bus drive by, and sure enough, the driver looked like she could be Heather. I called Liz out of the shop and we ran down two short block to where the bus was disgorging it load of sight-seen tourists; it was, indeed, Heather. We chatted for half an hour and arranged to meet again in the morning for a hike. It might be a rainy hike, but Heather knew of a good nearby walk to take in the rain.

Finally heading back to the bus stop, we saw a bus coming down the street toward us -- away from the bus stop, with the front sign reading "campground." We'll we were heading for the campground, so darn, we were missing our bus again. I flagged down the driver at a stop sign, and he let us on. Little did we know, that bus went in the wrong direction and stopped at all of the commercial campgrounds back in town. Well, two hours later, we were back in Bar Harbor with a 30-minute wait for our bus. We could deal with that, but the wind was up and the clouds ominous, and we hoped we would get back to camp soon; plus we were hungry.

How do these things happen? Power in Bar Harbor went out, and that affected the shuttle bus routing and schedule system; the bus never arrived. We still have no clear explanation for what happened, but we caught the next bus, now spaced an hour apart at this later hour, back to camp.

In camp, Liz fixed a great dinner in the dark, and at 10:45 PM, I'm finishing writing this as drops of rain are streaking across the computer screen -- a good time to shutdown and crawl into the tent.

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate.
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