Another great adventure. This time it was just a pleasure trip. Bonnie, Halla and I went. We headed out about 8:30 AM Saturday morning. We met Halla at the gas station in Richmond that is by the highway. Halla led the way to Bangor where we stopped at Dysarts Truck Stop for something to eat. I had to gas up. Halla has a nice new diesel truck and gets much better mileage then I do. We dropped the windows in the horse trailers so the horses could stick their heads out and look around. They were quite fascinated by all the trucks. When one would go by they would quickly pull their heads back in like they feared losing them. It was funny to watch.
Halla wanted me to take the lead from Dysarts so I could show her the route I take to get to Wildwood Stables once you get on the island. It rained on and off all the way there, but it wasn't bad traveling. We had just crossed onto the island when suddenly my truck starts sputtering, spittering and coughing. I looked at the battery gauge and the battery was stone dead! I quickly turned my lights off and that gave me just enough power to keep going. I knew right away the alternator was bad so I just crossed my fingers and said a few prayers and kept driving. Every time I hit the breaks, the battery gauge would drop to nothing, then come back up. But, less and less each time. I thought about unplugging the trailer but the island is hilly with narrow winding roads, I didn't dare drive without trailer breaks. God was definitely watching over me because I actually made it all the way to Wildwood Stables. The truck died in the parking lot. we unloaded the horses and got them all settled into their stalls. Then, we used Halla's truck to jump mine so I could park the trailer in the campsite. I backed the trailer across the parking lot and into the campsite slick as can be. I was proud of myself. I went into the office and asked if anyone knew of a decent mechanic. No one did. So, I asked for a telephone book, turned to the yellow pages and picked the nearest garage listed. I could only hope it was a decent place. I called the garage and the owner said he couldn't do anything until Monday. That was the day we were supposed to leave. Since there was nothing else I could do, I said that would be fine and told him I'd drop the truck off sometime on Sunday. I called Fred to let him know what was going on and that I might not be home on Monday. Ed, the stable manager, said that Bonnie and my stalls were booked up the rest of the week but that he would find a place for our horses if we had to stay longer. Halla's stall was open and she said she would stay also. Having done all I could about the truck, we went ahead and set up camp.
We were parked in side by side campsites. We stretched a tarp between the two trailers and pulled a picnic table under it which made for a great little set up. We then headed out for a short ride. The weather had cleared off quite nicely. There was a little fog but not bad. We did the Day Mountain loop. We met the big carriages at the top. My horse has seen them before but Halla's horse, Slick, and Bonnie's horse, Lady, have not. They were just a little bit nervous about them but did walk by with a little encouragement. We headed back down the mountain and it wasn't long before we heard the carriages coming down. That made Slick and Lady quite nervous so we trotted on ahead to an intersection and waited for the carriages to pass. Lady and Slick were fine after that. When we got back to camp, we settled the horses into their stalls for the night and headed into Bar Harbor for supper. I can't remember the name of the place we ate but it was very good. When we got back, we checked on the horses making sure they had plenty of hay and water for the night then headed to bed ourselves. we did stop for a few minutes to visit with the people in the next campsite. They had a nice fire going. A couple of the carriage drives were there. And they, of course, had some good stories.
I got up about 6:00 AM on Sunday morning. Bonnie and I fed all three of the horses then heated up water for coffee. We knew Halla would be useless until she got her coffee. Her boyfriend serves her coffee in bed every morning. We told her we would make the coffee but she could forget about getting it served to her in bed! I had some oatmeal and fruit. We decided to drive over to the garage where I would be dropping my truck off to make sure we could find the place and that it wasn't too far as I didn't know how long I could keep my truck running when we jumped it again. We found the garage with no trouble. When we got back, we tacked up the horses and headed out for a ride. We did the Bubble Pond and Jorden Pond loops. Halla thought that slick was acting like he was a little sore a few times going down hills. So, we rode slow to make sure he was alright. The weather was outstanding. After we rode, we made sandwiches. After lunch we jumped my truck and dropped it off at the garage. After we got back, we took our chairs over by the barn and just hung out for a while. We decided to do the Day Mountain loop again. I rode Marie bareback. Marie is not well built for riding bareback. She is built like a 55 gallon drum and does not have a smooth trot. When we did trot, I got to bouncing so bad it's a wonder Marie didn't just buck me right off. We decided to stick to walking or cantering, I could sit to that. There were three of the carriages at the top of Day Mountain for the sunset drive. All the tourists were out of the carriages and all over the top of the mountain. Marie, as usual, was fine. Lady was good about it also. The stable manager was driving one of the carriages. When we rode by him, I noticed him watching me. I told him I'd had to sell my saddle so I'd have enough money to get my truck fixed. He got a good laugh out of that. We headed down the mountain before the carriages. They soon caught up to us so we stopped and let them pass. Lady danced around a bit then. Not out of fear of the carriages, she wanted to get back to camp, it was getting past feeding time! But, Bonnie handled her fine. We did some more trotting on the way back to camp and Marie figured out that if she rounded out and collected her trot, it was smoother and I didn't bounce on her back. Smart horse! I was a bit stiff when we got back to camp but not too bad. Lady was a little warm so we didn't give them their grain right away. We did give them lots of hay and water. Bonnie put a light blanket on Lady to make sure she didn't get chilled before she was dry. We went over to Northeast Harbor for supper. We'd seen a couple of likely places to eat when we'd dropped my truck off at the garage. It was getting a bit late so there wasn't much open. We ended up going to a restaurant lounge in a motel. It was nice and the food was very good. They had live entertainment, if that is what you'd want to call it. It was a man playing a keyboard and......singing.....at least that's what I think he was doing. he was a very bad singer. It really was quite funny. We went back to camp and fed by flashlight. Halla went straight to bed. Bonnie and I stayed up a while longer, then we gabbed for quite a while even after we went to bed.
Bonnie and I were up by 6:00 AM Monday morning. we headed right over to feed the horses. Halla came over to the barn while we were cleaning stalls. I was surprised to see her up so early. When we got done at the barn, we went back to the campsite and heated up some water for coffee. While having supper the night before, we noticed that the restaurant we were at was having a breakfast buffet this morning. Halla doesn't eat much in the morning but said she would be happy to take Bonnie and me over there if we wanted to go. Bonnie and I, being the pigs that we are, absolutely wanted to go. By the time we got there, Halla was hungry enough to enjoy the buffet also. After breakfast, we decided to stop over to the garage so I could talk to the mechanic. When we got there, the truck was still sitting right where I'd parked it. That didn't look hopeful. I went in and introduced myself to the mechanic. The mechanic told me the owner was over at the house across the street and that my truck was all set. I couldn't believe it was done so fast!! I went over to pay the bill and the owner said he just happened to have one alternator in stock and it happened to be the one needed for my truck! What's the chances of him having one for an old truck like mine. He was such a nice man. I was so thankful to have found a decent place and so close to where we were staying. Halla was jokingly trying to get me to ask the garage owner if I could leave the truck there one more night so Ed, the stable owner, would think we needed to stay at the stable one more night and get in another day of riding. We weren't going to do that but I told her I would ask Ed if we could possibly stay another night anyway. I went straight to the office and asked when we got back. Ed told us he would find room for us if we decided to stay another night. Bonnie and I would have to get our horses out of the stalls they were in. I hooked up the horse trailer and parked it over by the barns so we could tie the horses to it and clean out their stalls and put all of our stuff in the trailer. After we were done there we headed out for a ride. We didn't have any particular route in mind, just wandered around. We did go down to Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor, by the amphitheater and Jordan Pond House. It was a lovely ride. We did quite a bit of trotting and some nice canters. Halla rode right up on Bonnie once, making Lady mad and causing her to buck a bit. I heard Bonnie, as calm as can be, saying, "Halla....Halla...what are you doing.." like she was reprimanding a child. I was having a good chuckle from behind them. We talked to a few people while we were out riding and were told that there was a big storm coming in that night and Tuesday was going to be a rotten day. We decided then to not stay another night. We met up with a man while riding that Halla knew who was riding a $30,000 horse. Jeesh, I'd be afraid to take a horse like that out of it's padded cell.... I mean stall! I'll stick to my free little rescue horse. I guess this man does upper level eventing. When we got back from our ride, we headed straight to the office to let them know were were leaving. We thanked them profusely for being willing to accommodate us another night at their inconvenience. Bonnie and I cleaned Halla's stall while she packed up her campsite. It didn't take us long to get loaded and headed out. I took the lead for the first part of the drive home. When we got into Ellsworth, I accidentaly took a wrong turn. I knew as soon as I did it but then had to find a place I could turn around. I pulled over to see if Halla had followed us. I knew she must be cussing us. She soon came along and pulled over behind us. Bonnie went back to let her know we'd made the wrong turn and were turning around. I could read Halla's lips in my rear view mirror saying to Bonnie, "Where are you two going?" We headed back into town and to where we'd made the wrong turn and got going in the right direction again. The turn was a very busy intersection and it took us a while to make our turn. We were driving down the road when I noticed a nice truck and trailer sitting in a parking lot up ahead. I pointed it out to Bonnie saying, "hey, look at that nice rig in the parking lot ahead." when I suddenly realized it was Halla! She had taken a shortcut around the bad intersection and gotten ahead of us. She was pretty proud of herself. She sometime works in Ellsworth so knows her way around. We stopped at Dysarts for supper. The food was great as usual. We made it home safe and sound.
