East Coast 2021:
Day 4 - Fort Kent, ME

	Monday, September 13, 2021: We had a very long driving day ahead, and left the hotel just after 7 AM.
	We stopped at the Dunkin Donuts right up the street from our hotel. When we got to the speaker, Tom asked if they had any crullers (pronounced like "croolers" in his midwest accent). The Dunkin employee, in a heavy Boston accent asked if he meant, "French crullahs." After saying "yes" and completing the order, we rolled up the window and vowed to only order them that way until we were out of New England.
	We saw some really unusual cloud formations over the mountains on our drive, ...
	... including this flying saucer-shaped cloud.
	We were unknowningly repeating a part of a drive trip that we had taken in 2009, and inadvertently took many of the same photos, including this one of the Welcome to Franconia Notch State Park sign.
	We saw Cannon Mountain Ski Resort, ...
	... and the rock face where the Old Man of the Mountain used to be.
	Our first stop this morning was the historical marker for the Betty and Barney Hill Incident, the first widely reported UFO abduction report in the United States. We had watched a Neflix documentary about alien abduction reports recently and it mentioned this marker, so we had to come see it. Now we understood why the clouds were shaped like flying saucers.
	Back on the road, we stopped at the Old Man of the Mountain viewing area.
	The interactive display showed how it used to look before the iconic rock face collapsed back in 2003.
	The display also include a picture of a viewing area on the shore of Profile Lake where they had erected steel "profilers" to allow you to see what it used to look like. Clever.
	We can only imagine that this place is eventually packed with tourists, but we were again the only car in the lot. Amazing, we had parked in exactly the same spot as the last time we were here.
	We saw the signs to ride the Mt. Washington cog railway, which we did in 2009. We would not be doing that this time.
	They still swear there are moose in this area.
	The mountains of this area are very beautiful.
	We're still looking, but we aren't believing you any more, New Hampshire.
	We always enjoy it when we are on a scenic byway.
	There was more evidence of the changing fall colors.
	Maersk!
	We stopped at a McDonald's for second breakfast ("Do they know about that?").
	Maybe this is one of the moose that we have been warned about.
	Keep New Hampshire Clean and Scenic. Both.
	We pulled off the road to a trailhead ...
	... for the Appalachian Trail. Debbie's cousin had hiked the entire length of the trail over several summers and had just finished it a month earlier in Maine.
	We had been driving through the northern edge of the White Mountain National Forest until we crossed over into ...
	... Maine! This was the 35th state we had visited this year.
	The area was still very scenic, with lovely lakes ...
	and gorgeous greenery on both sides of the road.
	When we saw this, we both said at nearly the same time: "Need gas, Breau?" It was hilarious.
	We'll see if Maine does any better at actually displaying moose to travellers.
	Travelling scenic byways rather than interstate highways means that there are very few, if any, rest areas with bathrooms. It wasn't a problem for us, since Debbie had purchased a Camco portable toilet for our van. It is about the same height as van seats, so it is very easy and comfortable to use. We stopped along the drive for bathroom breaks as needed, grateful to not be at the mercy of those very rare rest areas.
	Beautiful.
	After a quick lunch stop at Burger King, we drove to the Maine capitol building in Augusta.
	The building was built in 1832, one year after Augusta was declared to be the capital of Maine.
	Where are the moose?! Where?!
	There are lots and lots of roads that are part of the Purple Heart Trail.
	We could see Mount Katahdin in the distance. It is the highest mountain in the state of Maine at 5,269 feet.
	As we continued north, we saw many signs warning us to share the road with the Amish, and we saw several Amish families around their farms including groups of children playing by a pond.
	Charming.
	Maine thought this area was charming enough to designate it a scenic byway.
	The roads were well maintained, easy to drive on, and incredibly scenic.
	Don't you agree? There are hills and water, ...
	... and hills and trees.
	And apparently, there are winter sports to pass the time once the snow covers the hills.
	Just before 5 PM, we pulled in to our destination for the evening: The Northern Door Inn in Fort Kent, Maine.
	We checked in, and couldn't resist buying a shot glass and refrigerator magnets with the same "Mile 0" motif as this sign.
	We brought in our suitcase and other gear, and then headed right back out.
	Right outside the hotel is the start of US Route 1. We were going to drive from Fort Kent to Key West on as much of US Route 1 as we could manage.
	The back of the sign is for those travellers who were driving it from south to north and were completing their journey here.
	We walked along the street admiring the US/Canada border crossing station which was once again open for travel.
	There's a little park which celebrates "America's First Mile."
	It has a map of route, and other information about the original designation of the route that would become US 1. Note that this sign says that Route 1 has 2,446 original miles, while the sign outside the inn said 2,390 miles. The difference is because the route has changed over the years, as the interstate highway system has incorporated some of the route and shorted it.
	There was a path up the embankment and we headed up to take a look.
	Here is the back of the US side of the border crossing.
	The bridge connects Fort Kent, Maine, to Clair, New Brunswick, Canada, over the St. John River.
	We sat for a while on the bench and listened to the sounds of a lumber mill or something similar coming from the Canadian side. The sound was continuous while we were in the area, and stopped just after 5 PM.
	Tom had forgotten to pack a toothbrush, and had picked up a replacement in the first hotel that we stayed at in Erie, but it wasn't a very good toothbrush. We stopped at a local pharmacy on the way back to the hotel to buy a replacement, and picked up a full-sized toothpaste and this awesome Route 1 magnet.
	We had a very satisfying dinner in our room of freeze-dried beef stroganoff and Crystal Light. Yum!
	We spent some time surfing and working on this very travelog before we called it a night. Day 5 >