A beautiful section of Maine, the Pine Tree State

 Posted by Wayne G. Barber and Photos by Wayne G. Barber & Daughter Kimberly Barber Spink

For 11 years , 1986 thru 1997 of my full time working career I had to travel to Maine for our 13 Goodyear Service Centers for counterman teaching and suppling their auto and light truck parts and cataloging,( Computers) plus a few trips to see PC Friars and the Black Bears in Hockey East battles with a good friend Roger Quimond and another trip to see my friend, President Bush heading out to catch a few bluefish from their family residence. I fished the mighty river near Bangor for my chance at a salmon and when one climbed by me I realized very quickly from bringing my lightweight Rhode Island fly rod set-up it would surely be snapped in two. Kodak moment etched in my mind. I always had a large truck with the new parts to fill the shelves and to remove to our warehouse slower moving items and new returns and cores from rebuilt items. Time wise I always got the closest room to each store and not sight seeing on the clock.

A few years ago our daughter,( first born) Kimberly and her husband Chucky Spink moved up tp Milo, Maine and two of their children soon followed. Brother in law Freddy Spink had already called Maine his home for good a few years earlier. The trip from the Northeast Quiet Corner is a little over 300 miles and we found a beautiful Bed and Breakfast in Dover-Foxcroft that Becky Seltzer had used for a earlier trip to Maine to see her sister and nephew. Freedomhousebandb.com at 1-207-564-8851 Elizabeth and Mike Loomis really make you feel like part of their family with attention to all the details of your visit to a town at the foothills of the Longfellow Range. The quaint main streets and rivers and even a old movie house with one feature or a small  retail shop for browsing or just kicking back a little. I took alot of photos and Kimberly loves to use her new style phone for photos too. We get a guided tour each time we get a chance to visit and it saves alot of time and miles with family that know what you would want to take in,

in your window of daylight. Wood is still the main economic engine here with tourism a very close second. Elaine's Bakery & Cafe is also 5 star. This bridge crosses over the Sebec River and even had a float plane waiting to take off. My eye caught the dilapidated remains of a old spool factory along the banks

Our guided truck ride took us to Guilford and the famous "Low's Covered Bridge" and  hotel across the street and a little farther up the highway we found the Guilford House, bed and breakfast on our way up to the grand daddy of them all, (Moosehead Lake" shopping, minerals, lunch and then the long ride up to Roach River and the First of seven lakes Kimberly sent us some nice photos from the Katahdin Iron Works in Monson, one of the first " or last" towns on the Appalachian Trail.