Day 5 - Homeward Bound

Well... we woke up to this...

For a moment I thought I was trapped in a Windows XP wallpaper.

Then we drove through it for a couple of hours until we got to Lancaster, PA.

You might be asking me right now, "Why, haven't you already visited Lancaster, John?"

Yes. Yes I have.

But this time, I got a private tour of the Demuth Tobacco shop. I guess private tours happen when you are possibly related to the original owners from 1771. According to my Dad, we actually are related to the original owners.

I took lots of pictures of the inside of the tobacco shop, but I was told that I could not put them online anyway. So, I drew this picture in three minutes flat. The inside of the tobacco shop looked exactly like this.

By the way. I'm home now.

--John D.

Day 4 - Ben and Jerry's Factory

Time: 10:32p

Location: Some Rest Stop on I-81S in PA

Mileage: 1663.1

Jake and I left Maine this morning at 8:00am. I am kind of sad that we are no longer in Maine. Mostly because I won't see this for a long time.

Aside from two semi-short stops, we have been on the road since 8:00 this morning. I think that is a new record for me as far as driving goes -- at least twelve hours of driving in all.

As I said before, we left from Cape Elizabeth, ME at 8:00am. We arrived at the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory at 1:00pm. This was our first stop of the day.

Walking into the Ben and Jerry's factory was like watching and living a scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There wasn't as much chocolate, but it was very colorful and fun. Our tour guide kept the puns coming whether we wanted them or not. We also watched a short video on the history of Ben and Jerry's and learned how the ice-cream was made.

Did you know that a factory employee of Ben and Jerry's gets to take home three pints of ice cream per day?

Also, there is a cemetery for the "deceased" flavors. You can visit your discontinued flavors and pay your respects, or you can dance on the grave of other flavors that cursed at you while they were alive.

Fun fact: There is one zombie flavor. This flavor is probably my favorite. It is called "Coffee, Coffee, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz." It is a zombie flavor because it is still offered at Ben and Jerry's scoop shops, but they no longer offer it in pints. It is my favorite because it has coffee, chocolate, and lots of each of those. Bonus points because the tour guide referred to this flavor as a "zombie flavor."

That was the highlight of the day. If you are ever in Vermont, it would be a shame to go without visiting the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. You can have a tour for three dollars, and they give you a free sample of ice cream.

Other than that, today consisted of driving through Maine, Vermont, New York and some of Pennsylvania.

Oh, and we saw a mountain.

--John D.

Day 3 - Boats, Snow and Taverns

When we left Ohio three days ago it was at least 60ºF, sunny with blue skies.

Today in Portland, Maine it was around 30ºF, snowing all day with gray skies.

Just to show "Mother Nature" that she can't stop us, Jake and I walked around outside a lot today. We spent the entire day outside, walking around the Old Port area of Portland. There were lots of brick sidewalks and a lot of taverns.

We decided to grab lunch in a tavern. We had fish and chips.

Amazing.

Then we went for a three hour tour on a mail boat. This mail boat ride travels, round trip, from Portland to five different islands delivering mail and commuters. They gave us a map, but it is really big. It looks like this map, but much better.

Also, our map has little facts about every place. For instance, Cliff Island had its first telephone installed in 1956.

Apparently I look like a dog in a car when the waves get choppy. Jake laughed at me. In my defense, there were very large waves today. It was kind of terrifying.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

It has been a very cold, very lazy, and very good day. Tomorrow we will be leaving Maine, but the adventure continues.

--John D.

Day 2 - Dan the Lobsterman

Dan is a very nice man that Jake and I met at church this morning in Maine. Dan is a 5th generation lobsterman. He fits the persona of a lobsterman.

I'm not exactly sure how to define the "persona" of a lobsterman, but when he walked into the room Jake turned to me and said, "I think he is the lobsterman."

He was.

We talked with Dan the Lobsterman and simply asked him about the best places to eat lobster. Our conversation ended with Dan having our phone number. Jake and I were going to go to a beach and park and Dan was going to call us back. We assumed he would tell us where the best priced lobster was located, or he would show us which restaurants were the best for lobster.

So we went to the beach and saw the Atlantic Ocean.

Jake checked his phone: One missed call from Dan. Jake called him back.

Dan gave us specific instructions. He told us to meet him at a gas station and told us to buy some snacks. He also told us to wear warm clothes.

We didn't know what to think. We imagined some scenarios of what was about to happen, but none of them compare to what actually took place today.

Dan took us out on his boat with Cory, his younger relative.

We were told to dress warm because it was very cold on the water. Dan took us around to show us different boats and their purposes. He showed us old lobster boats, new lobster boats, shark fishing boats, and even an oil cleanup boat. (Sorry Forest Gump fans, no shrimping boats.)

We got to see Maine from the water. This was amazing.

Then Dan started to head out to sea. He showed us some lighthouses and then took us to an Island. This island was very small. Also, this is the location of Fort Gorges.

Fort Gorges is old and abandoned. Dan took us to this small island with this large fort and told us to go exploring. He gave us a flashlight for the dark corridors and let us have fun.

After we were on the roof of the fort, Cory came to get us. We went back to where Dan had docked his boat to find this:

Jake and I were floored. We couldn't believe what was happening. We wanted to go to Maine to have some lobster. Both of us imagined that this experience would be in some kind of restaurant -- not on an island. So, we enjoyed some lobster.

We filled our stomachs on lobster and clam. Then we rested.

After some time and some good conversation, we loaded the boat with Dan's things and we were on our way back to the port. Jake and I couldn't thank Dan enough for his hospitality and the wonderful experience.

This is a story that I will tell my children some day. Also, I am pretty sure I will tell this story every time I consume any form of lobster.

"This lobster tastes alright, but let me tell you about this one time in Maine..."

Thanks for the lobster Dan, and thank you for the memory.

--John D.

Day 2 - Church

Jake and I woke up to the sunlight piercing through my car windows this morning. Then we went back to sleep after we put blankets over our heads. Then we woke up.

We woke up and went back to sleep several times. This tends to happen to you when sleeping in a car. Especially when the temperatures are below freezing.

After waking up the for the last time, we decided to go to church. Jake got on his fancy smart phone and typed in "Nazarene Church" and we were on our way.

We arrived at the church and immediately noticed that it was very small.

There is nothing wrong with small churches by any means. I'm going to be honest though, the average age of the normal congregant with every small church I've ever known was no less than 60 years. There is nothing wrong with being 60 years old, but part of me was still a little worried.

I was worried that a little church in Maine filled with elderly people would not know how to handle two visiting college students from Ohio who haven't showered in two days.

There was only one way to find out.

We walked in the church, me wearing a baseball cap to cover my greasy hair, and Jake with his greasy hair. We stood around for a second before looking where to go. Almost immediately the pastor greeted us. Before we knew it, he showed us around and told us that we were welcome. Shortly after he greeted us, several elderly people greeted us as well. I think everyone greeted us and asked us where we were from.

Somehow in the midst of the conversations, I said something along the lines of, "we don't really have anything planned. We just drove up here from Ohio to get some Lobster. Everything else is extra."

"Oh," the pastor said, "I don't know the best places to go, but I know someone who would. One of our members is a lobsterman." Actually, he is a 5th generation lobsterman. His name is Dan. But that is another story for another time.

Everyone was so friendly towards us. Some told us about cheap boat tours, some told us about beaches and parks that were really nice, and one even offered to give us a place to stay for the night. We might take him up on his offer tomorrow.

Everything from the order of service to the decorations in this humble little church made me happy, but the loving people stood out the most.

So, thank you little Maine church. Thank you for being genuine and showing love to a couple of smelly and tired college students. It was a blessing to be a part of your worship service today.

--John D.

Day 1 - Maine Trip

Day 1

Time: 12:11am
Location: Bideford, ME in a WalMart parking lot

Just shy of 1,000 miles (967.6), we are finally in Maine. We have seen exactly one moose signand at least two dozen lobster themed restaurants.Today we traveled through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Much to tired to write much more, but here are some fun pictures from today.

Oh, we did stop in Lancaster, PA. The Demuth tobacco shop is there, but it wasn't open. That made me really sad. Perhaps we'll be able to hit in on our way back. We'll see. It looked pretty neat from the outside though.

Tomorrow we plan on going to some church that we've never been to before. It should be fun.

--John D.

Road Trip - Day 0

Day 0

Time 2:17am

Location: Franklin County Rest Stop on I-80

Eight hours ago my good friend Jake and I started on a journey. You see, it is Spring Break and we wanted to do something great.

Obviously we thought: Lobster.

So, we are on our way to Portland, Maine to get some Lobster. Along the way we plan on stopping at multiple Starbucks locations along with many other insignificant things.

Today alone we have traveled 365.4 miles from MVNU to our current location. We have traveled through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

No. We are not lost.

Yet.

--John D.

Road Trip - Spring Break 2011

For those of you that don't know, my good friend Jake and I are questing to Maine.

Road Trip style.

There will be pictures.

There will be tweets.

There will be blog updates, but not in real time.

You are more than welcome to follow us.

@JohnSupreme

@MrWright1127

#MaineTrip

--John D.