07-18 Doug's Diner Dash

READY TO ROLL After a late night of packing and loading (you think I'd know better by now), the apartment is finally clean and Pepe is all loaded up and rearin' to hit the road. Good grief, look how high the sun is YIKES!!! I gots to go!

ACADIA IN THE SIDE-VIEW MIRROR Not the best shot, due to the camera not knowing what the subject is, but those are the mountains of Acadia receding into the distance. Adieu, for now.

HERE WE GO AGAIN! Yep, this has got to be a Doug photo gallery -- three shots in and we have bridges. Once more, the Verona Narrows cable-stay bridge, with the old suspension bridge to the right.

OBSERVATION TOWER One thing this new bridge has to offer -- other than passage across the Penobscot River -- is a 420-ft tall observation tower, reportedly the highest in the US. $8.00 will buy you an elevator ride to the top, as well as a tour through nearby Fort Knox (no gold bullion in this one, though), where access to the tower's elevator is achieved. I was hoping to hit this up before I left, but I just didn't make it. Dang!

THE A-1 DINER And here we are at my first diner on this little tour, the A-1 Diner in Gardiner, ME, although I almost missed it. This place is pretty much the way it was when built in 1946, with the exception of it now being attached to a building out back into which the kitchen and storage rooms were moved, adding more space to the front seating area. Being on "Guy's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" hasn't gone to its head, though, as it still has that well-worn and loved look about it. Great cheeseburger, too, by the way.

A-1 DINER INTERIOR Is this place cool, or what? How can a person not want to eat in a place like this? That's the one and only waiter at the far end, cheerily chatting up his customers. He clearly loves his work.

NEON SIGN AND GOODIES FOR SALE As always, I just can't pass up a neon sign, especially one backed by such nice metalwork. I did, however, curb my spending by not buying one of their mugs, but that doesn't mean I won't later. You know me.

COUNTER STOOLS You can see what I meant by well-worn in this nice angled shot of the diner's counter stools. Lots of folks have sat on these stools. I wonder who?

WALK-THROUGH DETAIL I was particularly fascinated by the old glass brick corners on the counter walk-through, especially when I noticed there were light bulbs in them. I'd love to see this place at night to get the full effect. I just may have to do that someday.

LEAVING MAINE And here is the obligatory Piscataqua River Bridge shot you've all come to know and love. Well, know, anyway . . .

AN UNEXPECTED TREAT My first stop for the night was at Rancho Descansamos, the home of the Stager/Velasquez clan, and I was treated to a homemade dinner of Chicken Pot Pie, cooked by Lisa herself. The recipe came from Dot's Diner, which Lisa said was in Canada, but I was unable to locate one there on the internet. There was one in Wilmington, VT, however.

LISA HERSELF And here she is. offering up yet another homemade treat, Banana Cream Pie. Mighty tasty, folks, and the service was excellent -- as always.

BREAKFAST IN THE MAKING Ever the tireless hostess, Lisa helps her mom and dad -- John and Susan -- in preparation for the morning feast. There's just no stopping this girl!

OH, NO YOU DON'T! Kevin wants something, and Lisa's not buying it. He's only two, but he knows how to use those big brown eyes -- except on Mom.

MORNING HERDING Every morning, the goats get herded from their pen to a temporary pen set up in a field of tall grass -- for their benefit and the ranch hands. John takes the lead this morning.

RIDING DRAG In normal trail driving parlance, the person bringing up the rear to keep the herd moving is referred to as "riding drag." This has term been used for comical effect by a semi-serious western/folk group known as Riders in the Sky, and means something else completely, I'm sure. Not this time, though.

ALMOST THERE We've almost achieved our destination, a temporarily fenced-in section of high grass. What we didn't know was there lurked a problem.

RANCHO DESCANSAMOS This shot is for those of you out there who have had a hard time getting the layout of the Rancho, especially with the addition of the new pole barn. L to R: The Big House, The Barn (Lisa and Sergio's home), and the Pole Barn. (As to why it's called a pole barn is unknown; could be because it's made of poles or made by Poles. It's a mystery.)

CASA VELASQUEZ Here's a close-up shot of Lisa and Sergio's home, a converted barn. It's really pretty cozy upstairs, where their apartment is. The downstairs area is still functional.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I was quite taken with their Halloween display, as the stuffed fellow reminded me of the Great White Hunter in Beetlejuice.

PRODUCT SHOT I stayed over a day at the ranch to visit with the Stager/Velasquez bunch, but primarily to do some product shots of Lisa's wool products for her online business. This is a starter kit she offers.

ABBY'S WOOL This is a basket of wool from Lisa's favorite goat, Abby. (I think.) Very nice texture, don't you think?

WOOL ANGEL A little something offered for the upcoming holiday season. Very nice!

THE POND After our morning product shot session, Lisa, Kevin, Susan and I -- and, of course, the dogs -- went for a little stroll down to their pond to see if we could see any turtles or frogs. None were found, but there were several salamanders in attendance.

FUN IN THE MAKING One thing we found were cattails going to seed. They were everywhere and ripe for the picking.

BLOW, BOY BLOW! Kevin got into the act right away, blowing the downy seeds all over creation.

HOUSTON, WE'VE HAD A PROBLEM Uh-oh! One of the dangers of this little exercise is having the seeds blown back into your face, and mostly into your eyes. He's not a happy camper.

A MOTHER'S TOUCH Lisa attempts to soothe Kevin's woes with a little TLC. It worked for a while, until she threw his spent cattail stalk into the pond, at which point Kevin became very upset.

KEVIN'S MAGIC WAND It looks as if Kevin is casting spells waving his cattail stalk in the air and sending hundreds of seeds flying.

CATTAIL GOING TO SEED I thought I ought to go ahead and include a shot of the instrument of this little exercise, since it was so photogenic.

STORE FRONT SHOT This is the "store front" shot we did for Lisa's website where she sells wool "rovings." Abby, her pet goat, was the perfect model as long as she was on a leash, but as soon as she was off, she was . . . well, off. Models! For anyone interested in checking out her website, it's: Local Harvest - Rancho Descansamos

OH, NO!!! Unbeknownst to us, there lurked a stand of cockleburrs in this section of high grass we alloted to the goats. Oliver seemed to have borne the brunt of it.

"ARE YOU TALKIN' TO ME?" Why, yes I am, Ollie. That's a nasty tangle of burrs he has in his beard there, and in the end, it'll have to come off. There were just too many.

THE DEBURRING Ooh, ow!!! I don't know if it was as painful for the goats as it was for me, but they don't look like they're having a good time of it. Yikes!

CLEA As always, Clea refused to come out any farther out of her house than this for a picture, no matter how hard I coaxed her. She always did have a mind of her own.

AND INTO NEW YORK WE GO It's now the following morning and we're off and running again, this time through the the New York countryside. Nice scenery and perfect for getting back into the swing of things. We're on I-88 right now.

A BREAK IN THE CLOUDS Having left Vermont with the promise of sprinkles (and achieving same), we finally broke out into some beautiful weather. Now, this is more like it.

PENNSYLVANIA MORNING it's now the following day and I'm approaching what was warned as a 2-mile fog area. We'll see just how far this goes.

HERE IT COMES Well, we're really in for it, from the looks of things. Hold on!

ONWARD THROUGH THE FOG Yep, sure enough, we're in it now. Not too bad, really, considering some of the fog I've dealt with in my travels -- like on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

AND BINGO! Almost two miles to the dot. Boy these Pennsylvania guys know what they're talking about.

SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDER And Pepe's shadow running alongside. I wanted to take a movie of Pepe's shadow running alongside to mimic a scene in Cars, but it was on the wrong side. I'll try later.

ENTERING VAN WERT, OHIO I have to admit, this little town is quite attractive and homey. Lots of trees and grass and just a fine setting.

AT BILL AND SUSAN'S I finally made it to Bill and Susan's, and even before sundown this time. I didn't quite make it in time to have lunch at the Triple XXX, but Bill and I had already decided to do breakfast there the following morning. Good thing, as I never would've made it.

ANNA Boy, can this kid schmooze for the camera, or what? Isn't she a little cutie?

JACK ATTACK Jack's dining skills are still in the making, but for now it looks like he's making a stab at his meal. You go, Jack!

STORYTIME The kids love to be read to, and this one -- about a boy who loves burgers so much he turns into one -- is one of their favorites.

READY FOR TAKEOFF The next morning, there was much bustling about, as we were preparing to head to West Lafayette for breakfast at the Triple XXX, and Bill and Susan and the kids were heading off to Seattle. I found their shoes all lined up and ready to go, so I added my boots to the lot. Hey, when in Indiana . . .