Bill and Cathy McArthur Spring/Summer/Fall 2009: 20
Monday, September 21, was a beautiful day: sunny, warm, with light wind. Tom and Jean had planned to ride their bikes on the carriage paths in Acadia. Bill had wanted to ride with them, but Cathy did not want to go. Bill turned the day's plans over to Cathy. We got the RV ready to move and drove to the Jordan Pond parking lot. We walked the east shore path to the South Bubble Trail. The ascent to the summit was surprisingly vertical and rigorous. The views were also surprisingly good and provided some new points of view. We walked over to the famous balancing Bubble Rock and waved to tour buses on the road below. We hiked down the Bubble Gap Trail and were again surprised by its verticality. We retraced our steps on the east shore path to Jordan Pond House. We found Tom and Jean seated on the lawn for lunch. We took our own, front row, table to enjoy the view of the pond and the Bubbles beyond. We enjoyed a light lunch of soup and popovers and then Bill spoiled it by ordering a blueberry crisp for dessert. We drove the RV over to the Sand Beach parking lot. We hiked the Great Head Trail and enjoyed the beauty of the coastline. We totaled about 7 miles following Cathy's ideas for the day's activities. We headed back to the campground after a stop at the supermarket in Bar Harbor to buy fruit for the road. Back at the campground, we cleaned up and joined Tom and Jean in the rental car for a ride into Bar Harbor for dinner at Maggie's. We had wonderful dinners and then went back to the supermarket for a few more items. When we returned, we got the RV prepared for the trip south.
Tuesday started at 5:50 AM. We made final preparations and drove out of the campground. Tom and Jean had more bad luck with their RV and had to remain for some repairs. We looked in vain for a place to eat breakfast on the road to Bangor. We drove about 60 miles before stopping at a Tim Horton's for a light breakfast. Bill had hoped for one more dose of blueberry pancakes in Maine, but settled for a couple of bagels with his coffee. Cathy ate a low-fat blueberry muffin. We had easy going on the road and ate lunch in the RV in a rest stop near Lowell, MA. We arrived at the Outdoor World campground in Sturbridge, MA at about 2:30 PM. Tom and Jean had experience further problems on their trip and had to get a second repair of the day. Our campground was pretty run-down and sparsely populated. We found a set of dirt roads and double track trails looping around a lake and took a 2.25 mile walk on the hilly route. Bill decided to get some trail run practice and ran 3 loops for 5 miles. After a quick shower, we walked about a mile to a Pilot gas station and met with Jack and Sue Beatty, who drove 54 miles from Natick to have dinner with us at the Publick House in Sturbridge. We had wonderful dinners in an historic location. It was great to catch up with Jack and Sue. Unfortunately, Tom and Jean, who were supposed to dine with us, were still on the road as we ate. They stayed at a different campground in Sturbridge, arriving after 8:00 PM. Jack and Sue dropped us back at our campground on their way home. We watched the season opener for "Curb Your Enthusiasm" back in our RV before heading to bed.
Wednesday, we got up at 6:00 AM and headed south on I84. We were looking for a Cracker Barrel for breakfast, but ended up around Waterbury eating bagels in a deli parking lot. We stopped at Trader Joe's in Westfield, NJ for a couple of cases of inexpensive wine to bring to Florida. We stopped in a service area for lunch in the RV. Bill got a cappuccino in Starbucks to go with his fruit. We made very good time and arrived home at 2:00 PM. We hustled to unpack the RV and organize our things. By 4:30 PM, we were ready to drop the RV back in our storage lot in Cape May Court House. It was good to be home.
Thursday, Bill went out for a light 3 mile run:
Cathy had to go for a scheduled mammogram and missed her morning aerobics class. After the run, Bill went out for a 6 mile kayak paddle down to the canal. He faced a heavy current on his way south, but loved being back on the water. We enjoyed eating lunch back at home. After lunch, Cathy went out for a walk. On the way to a dermatologist appointment, we stopped by the RV to drop off a couple of things and pick up some others. Back home, Bill made a cappuccino and we grilled burgers for dinner. We downloaded the opening two episodes of "House" from iTunes and watched the first one on Bill's laptop.
Friday started with a couple of hours of rain as a front slowly moved through. Cathy went to the gym. The day continued cloudy as Bill worked on catching up with his online journal (this). Bill was resting for the 5 mile Beachfront Run on Saturday. After lunch, Cathy worked on trimming vegetation at the edges of the driveway. We picked up our friends Jim and Linda at 7:15 PM for dinner at Oyster Bay in Cape May. Bill had pasta, Jim had lamb, Cathy had beef, and Linda had fish. The restaurant was surprisingly crowded. We got home at about 9:30 PM. Bill headed for bed soon thereafter.
Saturday, Bill arose at 5:30 AM and started hydrating with a quart of Cytomax and eating breakfast. He left at 7:10 AM to drive into Cape May for the 5 mile Beachfront Run. The temperature was in the low 60s and the east wind was blowing about 20 mph. Bill had eaten a Gu pack at home and ate another about 45 minutes before the race:
The first leg of the race was right into the wind, which was disheartening. Also, part of the last mile was again into the wind. Bill took 2nd place in the 65-69 age group and received a trophy. He talked with Joe and Maria Link and Herb Townsend before and after the race. When Bill arrived back home, Cathy went to the ACME for a few items. We drove to Glen Mills after lunch for a quick overnight visit to Alex, Phil, and family. Shortly after we arrived, Bill went out to Borders for a cappuccino and a copy of "Trail Runner" magazine. We had take out Chinese from P.F. Chang's. Bill tried a Coconut Vegetable Curry which was very good. We suffered through some of Penn State's hapless game with Iowa before going off to bed.
Sunday, Bill stayed in bed working on the Sunday Times puzzle on his iPhone until after 7:00 AM. He finally heard Bridget moving around and got up to join her downstairs. The rest of the family staggered their starts, including Phil, who had arrived back home at 3:00 AM after attending the Penn State game. Phil, Bridget, and Erin went to Kennett Square for Erin's afternoon soccer game. The rest of us ate a light early lunch and then drove to Kennett Square in two more vehicles. The overnight and morning rain had stopped, so the conditions were OK for the soccer match. After the game, Bill and Cathy got on the road to home, with a stop at the Starbucks in the Concordville Target. We got back home at 5:00 PM.
Bill and Cathy
