On The Road Again… Reconnecting
We finally made it back out on the road in the Vienna, for a quick trip up to Maine. The trip was prompted by a Facebook post from my friend and former colleague, Lynne Dougherty. The post encouraged her friends to come to Maine in May for the musical “Beautiful”, playing at the Ogunquit Playhouse. That was all the inspiration we needed. Beautiful is a musical we’d been dying to see, and we actually had tickets to go back in March of 2020. We all know what happened that month and needless to say, that show was cancelled.
French Pond, Henniker, NH
Our first stop on the short 5-night trip was Spacious Skies French Pond in Henniker, NH. Spacious Skies is a relatively new RV Park collection founded in 2021. They have grown quickly to 15 campgrounds up and down the eastern seaboard. They focus on consistency, hospitality, and quality facilities, amenities and service. Their French Pond campground exhibits these tenets and you can tell they are working hard to upgrade where necessary to achieve the brand consistency that they are looking for. We are Spacious Skies loyalty members and we will frequent their parks in the future.
Spiller Farm, Wells, ME
On Mother’s Day morning we unhooked and headed for Ogunquit. We made a quick stop by the Playhouse box office to inquire about parking our rig for the show. They assured us that there would be space for us. Then we headed on to Wells Maine, and our Harvest Host spot for the night, Spiller Farm. This was the first HH we’ve stayed at where we didn’t actually meet the host. A farmhand pointed us to the camping area which was a grass field with level parking. The Spiller Farm Store offered a lot more than most farms. It’s way more than a farm stand. If you’re ever in the area, and an HH member, you should consider a night here.
Ogunquit Playhouse - “Beautiful”
We drove back to Ogunquit for the 2:00 pm matinee at the Playhouse. The parking attendant directed us to the corner of the parking area where we had a great spot all to ourselves. It was really nice to be able to park our rig out of the way of all the other vehicles. “Beautiful” was everything we hoped it would be, and the cast was amazing. The playhouse has quite a history dating back 91 years. Think of a famous stage performer and chances are they have played the Ogunquit Playhouse.
Dinner with Denise and Nick
After Spiller Farm we had three nights at Old Orchard Beach Campground. This one I found on Good Sam with high ratings, so why not pick it. We had no scheduled plans for these three days, so we started Monday morning by driving in to Kennebunk. While having coffee and tea in The Blue Coffeehouse on Main St. Kennebunk, I thought maybe I should try to contact my old mentor and boss, Denise Coll, I think she lives around here. I texted her a quick selfie Terri and I had taken that morning and to my surprise she responded right away, telling us to stop on by her place in Kennebunkport for a visit. It was great to reconnect with her after almost a decade. She invited us back to her house that evening for dinner with her husband, Nick. It was a fabulous evening with endless stories and laughter.
Jamming with Merrill Marsh
Tuesday night we were able to reconnect with another old friend from our days in New Orleans from ‘82-’84. When planning this trip I contacted Merrill Marsh because I knew he live in the Portland area. I texted Merrill the week before we left and we started making arrangements for him to come out to the RV park with his guitar for a little jam session at the campsite. He stopped by just after 4:00 pm and we played and chatted for about 90 minutes before heading out to dinner at Mill Run Brewpub in Saco. The jam session included several Dead tunes like “Friend of the Devil”, “Me and My Uncle”, and “I Know You Rider”. Merrill taught me Garcia’s “Loser”, Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”, and CSNY’s “Teach Your Children”. I shared the Waterboys “Bang on the Ear” and Dylan’s “Wagon Wheel”. It was a spirited session and great to be able to play with an old friend. After dinner, back at the campsite, Merrill shared a stack of pictures from “Pat O’Brien’s” in the French Quarter. Maybe some of you reading this post were in some of those pictures. Definitely some Skeletons in the Closet… LOL.
Dunegrass Golf Club, OOB, ME
We wrapped up the trip with a round of golf at Dunegrass Golf Club in OOB. It was nice to get back out on the road and experience some new campgrounds and reconnect with old friends. We’ll definitely be planning another trip back to Maine this summer.
