On the road again. We packed up from the Sugarloaf Park campground and pointed the truck to the southwest - destination Bangor, Maine.
As we traveled along the highway in Northwestern New Brunswick we were reminded that these people still retain their rural roots and are not significantly different from rural Alberta. When we first arrived in the area we were told that moose hunting season had just started. We were "amused" when we left Campbellton after filling our gas tank, there was a truck and flat deck trailer turning into the Tim Horton's. On the trailer was a freshly killed moose. Only in Canada you say. In hindsight I should have turned around and taken a picture, but I'm sure that if I posted it someone would have complained about how awful it was to kill a poor innocent moose - and then take him for coffee.
The highway took us through a number of small towns that all seemed to be named "Saint Something or Other". We encountered another parking lot on the side of the road, with two trucks parked side by side. Each truck was carrying a freshly killed moose in the back. Brenda was sure the guys standing around each truck were saying "my moose is bigger than your moose". And we were no more than a few hundred meters up the road when we met another truck coming to town with another freshly killed moose in the back. I think it was a good season for the hunters and a bad season if you were a moose.
We had read that the maple syrup capital of the Maritimes was Saint Quentin, NB, so our intent was to pick up some syrup as we passed through. Unfortunately we couldn't see a single location to buy local syrup. Even the tourist information centre was closed for the season.
We crossed the border into the USA at Houlton, Maine. For the first time that I recall, the US border security asked for the keys to the trailer so that they could check inside. After a quick check of the trailer and the back of the truck, we were on our way.
We arrived in Bangor, Maine at about 5:00 PM - we gained an hour going from Atlantic time to Eastern time, and found a nice campground called Pleasant Hill Campground. We decided to stay a couple of nights. Although we were close to the local airport, and the occasional jet aircraft flew over, it was a nice quiet and relaxing place to stay. The infrequent aircraft didn't bother us at all.
