The Roving Pollocks - Summer 2009 Part II

Because we spent a couple of extra weeks in Virginia getting Gisela’s mom resettled, we missed the opportunity to visit with ND classmate John Lancaster and his wife, Chris in beautiful Potsdam, NY. We couldn’t make our schedules mesh…we’ll try again.

We, instead, proceeded to Maine via Elks lodges in Frackville, PA and Hudson, MA. We parked at the Fairgrounds in Cumberland Center for three weeks and for most of that time had the whole place to ourselves. It was a good location for exploring the Portland area and is near our friends at Forrest Lake and in Yarmouth. We had seen the fairgrounds over the years and had tried to find out if we could park there but could never find a way to contact them. This year we discovered a web site http://www.cumberlandfair.com/ and clicked on camping. We emailed them inquiring about a site, prices, etc. They came back and said that even for two weeks it would be $35 per night. We responded that we thought that was high for water and electric …30 amp… and a dump station…no security or other amenities. They responded with an offer of a weekly rate of $100 and offered to put in 50 amps at our site. For Maine in the summer, that is pretty darn good…better that anything except the some Elks lodges. Most full hookup campgrounds we have used in the same general area run $800 per month or more. For our RV friends, if you are interested you can email Bill Fischer, the campground manager, at: camping@cumberlandfair.com or call him at: 207-829 3283

We love Maine! We have been visiting there almost every other summer for the past ten or more years. This year we hit the ground running. As soon as we were parked, we headed for Day’s Lobster Pound. Three 1 1/8 pound lobsters, steamed…$18.…total. That’s a whole lot better than the $18 cup of coffee we “enjoyed” in San Marco Square, Venice, Italy. You can see the impact of our lobster quest…Lobster head.

On our second day, which weather-wise was the first day of Summer (August 6), we were invited to go sailing on Casco Bay with our friends John and Ellen Albin on their friend Robin’s boat. It was an absolutely perfect day. There is something special about looking at the rock-bound coast of Maine from offshore. Like this view of the Portland Head Light:

John and Bill enjoy boating together…It goes back to their days at Navy Officer Candidate School where they spent a bit of the Summer of ‘67 boating on Narragansett Bay and doing other fun Navy things.

The next day we gathered at our friend Liz Banta’s Forrest Lake cottage for a family gathering. The lake is small and quiet…you know a lake is quiet if it has loons . We love loons, too.

We joined Liz on the Casco Bay mail boat ride, had chowder at Gilbert's, took pictures of the Portland Head Light, had lunch at DiMillo’s (Liz loves their bread pudding), had lunch at Five Islands Lobster Company with Bill’s nephew James and James’ daughter, Katie who drove up from Danvers, MA, and took a day trip to Rangely with John, Ellen, and their wonderful Westie, Piper and, of course, had lunch. We love Five Islands.

It is east of Bath and is the most picturesque place in Maine to have lunch…and we love lunch.

Gisela had fun adventures at Caravan beads in Portland and discovered the Beading Path in Freeport. She enjoyed some quiet moments with her beads and wire. Her inventory is really growing….between tools, supplies, books and completed projects, we may need a larger motor home.

We visited the Christmas Tree Store in South Portland which sells everything under the sun except Christmas Trees or any Christmas stuff at that time of year. Bill was thrilled to find a Weber grill cookbook for $3. Bill loves to make lunch…or dinner on his Weber grill. Gisela found enough bargains to entice her to return again and plan a visit to another branch in Hagerstown, MD.

We traveled to Cornish, ME with Liz and her friends, Stan and Lucia. Cornish is the home of the biggest and best fried seafood platter on the planet. It is so big that three people can share it and still need to take home a doggie bag. In the name of good health, we settled for baked Haddock…I thought Bill was going to cry…He loves Cornish fried clams, shrimp, haddock, oysters, etc., etc., etc., Did I say fried clams? Maybe next time?

We did have some neighbors at the fairgrounds during the big Maine craft show. A few of them came by RV and some tent camped. We had a lot of neighbors, most of them canines, when the dog show came to the fairgrounds. We had never seen a dog show. This one did not seem to be designed for outside spectators. It was a competition much like you see once a year on television …the Westminster Dog Show from New York. Judges judging dogs, handlers handling dogs, some obedience trials, lots of people up early grooming dogs, etc. It was curious seeing handlers in coat and tie or skirts in a rural fairground field. People were very focused on their dogs and the competition. We did not see many smiles or get many greetings as we walked around. They had their ‘game faces’ on. Lots of beautiful dogs…six barking boxers outside your window at 6:00 AM tells you there is a dog show somewhere nearby.

In the small world department, we ran into fellow Escapee Boomers (RV Club) Mary Lane and Elaine Cannel in the Portland Wal-Mart. They had just spent the summer in the Canadian Maritime Provinces, primarily in Newfoundland. More on them later.

It was with a heavy heart that we broke camp near the end of August and headed back to Virginia to check on Gisela’s mom. We hated to leave Maine but it was time and Winter was just around the corner up there. We don’t do cold, snow ice, etc.

We spent a couple of weeks in Virginia. Bill ran down to Richmond and spent the day with his daughter, Ann. She showed off the ‘book’ she is putting together on one Arthur L. Vissers, a real character she ran across while doing genealogical research in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. It is hard to briefly define him but maybe saying that he had thirteen wives...three at a time…twice, was a Texas, Ranger and an auto mechanic as autos were being invented early in the 20th century gives you a flavor for old Art. It is an amazing story. It was great to see Ann and Dwayne.

Richard and Sarah Shong, Boomers whom we had not seen for several years were in the area and we caught up with them at a combination BBQ competition and Blue Grass Festival in nearby West Virginia.

The next big event was a car trip to New York City to visit Tom and Jil Mohr who had just returned from two years in Vencie…the land of the $18 cup of coffee. We drove to Staten Island and parked our car at the Navy Lodge at Fort Wadsworth, the former home of the Navy Exchange (PX) Command (NEXCOM). Why is there still a Navy Lodge 15 years after NEXCOM moved to Norfolk, VA? Beats the heck out of us but we’re glad it’s there.

We hopped on the free Staten Island Ferry and were met by Tom and Jil when we disembarked in Manhattan. Of course we passed by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on our crossing. Gisela had a similar view in 1957 as her family entered New York harbor however, she was too young to remember it. It is possible that she remembers it in German and not in English?

We stayed in a building overlooking the World Trade Center site which was where Tom and Jil lived before 9/11. The building survived but the 23 apartments were all filled with debris and required over 18 months to be made habitable again. By then, Tom and Jil had decided to become full time RV’ers. They were staying with friends in their old building and we were able to stay in another apartment in the same building. Building…I guess we learned about ‘buildings’ from Seinfeld as well as other aspects of living in Manhattan.

The WTC site is still largely a hole in the ground.. It was sobering to look down on it from seven floors above and remember that day.

We had a fabulous five days in the Big Apple. The first night we went out for Indian food…a wonderful meal in a small, neighborhood restaurant. The next day we took a city bus tour of Manhattan that had been written up in the NY Times. We were riding with New Yorkers rather than tourists from Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Michigan. We went all the way to The Cloisters which Bill instantly recognized as the location of the closing scene of the movie, Coogan’s Bluff, starring Lee J. Cobb and a very young Clint Eastwood. We had lunch…yes, lunch again…in a little local Greek diner, walked the sidewalk in front of the Apollo Theater in Harlem, zipped by Central Park and too many other familiar landmarks to mention. We also wandered through the Union Square street market. Wow, what a market…they had it all. Gisela was so taken with it all she mentioned getting an apartment .

On Sunday, we took in a great show at the Planetarium in the Museum of Natural History, and had Sunday brunch in Tribeca with Dylan Ratigan of MSNBC (he was at the next table… we recognized him…he doesn’t know us from a bag of hammers.). We capped off the day with a wonderful gourmet Mexican dinner at one of Tom and Jil’s favorite restaurants. All the appetizers and entrées were unique but clearly Mexican. No Taco Bell stuff here.

Early Monday morning found us heading uptown to Rockefeller Center with Tom Mohr to participate in the Today show. By that we mean standing around the plaza with folks from all over the country holding up signs, waving and hollering in an attempt to get on television. Did we have our own sign? Nooooo, we did not. Everyone had a sign. But we had ….the guy in the Lobster Hat. Did it work? You’re darn tootin’ it worked. As the photo clearly shows:

To see our whole seven seconds of fame go to YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb6Zob9By5A. What fun.

After our TV debut we headed for Broadway and breakfast at Ellen's Stardust Diner. Here the wait staff are all aspiring Broadway musical stars. You get lots of great singing with your eggs and toast. Tom was obviously impressed.

It is amazing how many musically talented people there are who will never get their big break. Is it better to have no talent that to be very talented and disappointed? Bill says that he would vote to have some musical talent however he knows that voting for it will not help him. He is hopelessly untalented musically. We finished Monday with a wonderful home cooked meal at Tom and Jil’s friend Susan’s apartment.

Tuesday morning found us on a boat heading for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We only went ashore at Ellis for the tour. We took the audio tour which added a lot of texture to the exhibits. Tuesday’s other big event was attending a taping of the David Letterman Show. We were there two days before Dave’s big confession. It was fun but you have the feeling that you are not much more that a prop expected to laugh and applaud on cue. As soon as the taping is over the exits open and you are out on the sidewalk two minutes later.

We headed back to Staten Island on the ferry and had a horrible cab ride back to the Navy Lodge. On the way Gisela got a call that her mom had pneumonia and had been admitted to the hospital. We drove straight to the hospital the next day, It was sad…we are not sure her mom recognized us. We mentioned to her she had pneumonia. She said that nobody told her that. It was not clear to us that she realized she was in the hospital. Good news was that the pneumonia was not severe and she was released after a couple of days.

We left the hospital and went directly to the Elks Club in Front Royal where Mary and Elaine were parked. We really appreciated their hospitality. Appetizers, dinner, wine…just what we needed after a long day on the road and several hours at the hospital…Thanks, Mary and Elaine. We were able to return the favor by entertaining them for dinner at our cabin before they headed south.

We, too, headed south for a visit with Bill’s son, Paul, daughter-in-law Yvette, and GRANDSON, William…Mr. Cuteness himself. We had a great time and were just thrilled that William is no longer pooping his pants…Yea, William! We had lots of fun going to gymnastics, the beach, the park, etc.



We also stopped off in Virginia Beach for a catch-up visit with Don and Kathee Larmee. Good friends, Good food, Good wine, Good time. We will see them again for New Year’s Eve.

We were also able to give our neighbors, Scott and Missy White a ride to Dulles Airport for their two week trip to Croatia. We take turns doing this plus we watch each others house. We get the best of that deal since we are gone eight months and they are gone about one month. They are terrific neighbors and we are lucky to have them.

One sad note: In September Bill had reconnected with a long lost friend, John Songster, through Facebook. He had exchanged emails with John and nearly missed stopping by for a visit on our way back from New York City. A few weeks later, Bill learned that John had passed away suddenly on October 15. John was the Senior Instructor/Professor of Naval Science at the Notre Dame Navy ROTC unit when Bill was in college circa 1966-67. John, or Lieutenant Commander Songster as he was known then, was a bachelor who enjoyed spending time outside the classroom with the Midshipmen that he was educating and training for Navy life. There were lasagna parties at his apartment, staff meetings at the Linebacker Bar where we hatched the ill fated plot to kidnap the US Military Academy Mules when Army came to South Bend to play ND in football, an introduction to Michael's Bar in South Philadelphia during a trip to the Notre Dame - Navy game, etc. The gang thought so much of John that we invited him, along with First Sergeant Jim Barnett, the Assistant Marine Instructor, to attend our 25th reunion in 1992. John taught us many valuable lessons that helped us all in our careers and our lives. We all lost track of John after he retired from civilian life about ten years ago. We were all excited to find him again but alas...

That pretty much covers the last half of the summer and closes out September and a bit of October.