MAINE: my final frontier. These are the voyages of the Scooter Vespa 250 i.e. Super. Its continuing mission - to explore America's most heavily forested state - to roam the vast coastline, numberless lakes, and mighty mountains. To boldly go where no scooter has gone before!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Just Three Inches Off

What happens when an old scooterer from New York City who can read a map and an old scooterer from Maine who can spell map plan a ride through the back roads of Maine?

They get lost, of course!

When Mike( http://scooterthefun.blogspot.com/)  and I recently rode around southern Maine, with Mike's map safely ensconced in plastic, I confidently and cluelessly rode about 20 miles off course.


As Mike indicates with his forefinger where we should be and puts his thumb where we actually were, I pointed out that it wasn't so bad - we were only three inches off.


We stopped for a rest in beautiful downtown Ross's Corner.


Another view of Ross's Corner


A few miles west, or east - well, some distance from Ross's Corner, we came upon the new-fangled way of collecting maple sap: rather than buckets hung under taps on hundreds of maples, tubes run from tree to tree right into the sap house. Certainly easier, but not at all Mainely.


I can imagine some old Maine farmer selling this property to a foolish buyer from away: "Yessah, got plenty of maples he'ah, but the best ones - the ones that'll give ya the most syrup - are those pretty little furry maples, like that one I got tapped right out they'ah."






11 comments:

  1. It's always great fun when riders share their stories about the same ride. Only three inches off, eh?

    "Mainely?" A Keene adjective I suppose :)

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    1. Keith,

      Mike is a great guy to ride with, and he knows each and every great place for superb coffee.

      With 'Mainely' I was thinking of 'manly' - with the provincial addition of a sense of superiority that Mainers sometimes feel when putting one over on an alien - like someone from Massachusetts or New York ...

      Tom

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    2. Glad to see youse still using paper maps!
      I am a bit "old school" myself!

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  2. Thomas:

    I like to hear ride reports from different perspectives. You know that 10 witnesses' will have 10 differing stories and recollections. It really doesn't matter if you were lost or not, just as long as you managed to find your way home, and had a good time whitling away the day


    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube

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    Replies
    1. bob,

      Mike and I plan to ride together at least weekly, and we'll each report the ride. Every ride we take promises to be an adventure, but we expect to return home eventually.

      Tom

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  3. That looks like a really good ride. The maps for my county are not always correct, so I have to fill in the blanks sometimes. I really understand your Mainers. The "outsider" or all encompassing "Illinoier" label is always part of every day life here.

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    1. Martha,

      I use the Maine Gazetteer printed by DeLorme. These are accurate, easy-to-read maps - for those who can read maps. It's like saying Einstein wrote an easy-to-read proof for his theory of relativity - if you're a physicist.

      Tom

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  4. I like to get lost but it is so hard to do in Pennsylvania since I'm overly familiar with the roads now. The only excitement is to run short on fuel and wonder if I'll make it to a gas station in time...

    I too like seeing paper maps though seldom take them either.

    Nice post!


    Steve Williams
    Scooter in the Sticks

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    1. Steve,

      Thank you! I must admit that it is embarrassing to get lost in one's own backyard. I've been trying to formulate a believable excuse (e.g. A total eclipse happened as I was reading the map, or I was blinded by a swarm of fireflies), but nothing passes the smile test yet.

      Tom

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  5. Thank you, noeclark. Please tell us about yourself - do you ride? What's your vehicle of choice? And where are you?

    Hope to hear from you soon.

    Tom

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