Maine

The wind blows unchecked across one hundred miles of forest and tosses a thousand leaves down the main street of a small town called Lincoln.

This place and the North Woods that surround it have been my home away from home for a very long time.

I'm a North Woods wannbe at heart but smart enough to know I don't have what it takes to live year around in a place where snowmobiles are in use six months out of the year and they sell red, white and blue hoodie sweatshirts with "Happy 4th of July" proudly displayed across the front all summer long.

But often I'd like to think I could live somewhere else. I don't mean just down the road or across the dusty county line. I'm talking another life in a place more than 1200 miles away.

A place like Maine.



Why Maine?

First family, in my case because Mrs. Cedar Posts family in Maine dates back to the late 1700's.

Second lack of traffic.

North of Bangor you can drive on I-95 for twenty miles of more and not see another car or truck, try that at any hour in the Carolinas.

Third pick-up trucks.

I have no reason to drive a pick-up truck living along the I-77 metro area of the Carolina's. But in the north woods a pick-up truck is a necessity. In fact most F-150's sold in Maine include a snow plow package.



When you are not plowing your driveway a truck is handy to take the trash to the transfer station aka "The Dump". Even Mrs. Cedar and Pooh Bear opt to ride the truck to the dump on a Saturday morning, as for many its the highlight of the week.

Where else other than the remote North Woods of Maine could you find campaign signs in front of a garbage dump rather than in the dump. Being as election day is only a few weeks away, the transfer station during our trip was manned by a couple of vote seeking politicians, smiling, shaking hands and helping folks unload their trash.

Fall in Maine would be another reason. Maine is a fall paradise, crisp cool clean air and color that explodes each October. Colors that are so vibrant you really have to stop and look.



Wildlife in Maine is something that has always amazed me. Not just deer and rabbits and the standard North American collection of song birds but real wild life. In a 10 day span I saw hundreds of deer, no less than 100 wild turkeys, countless varieties of duck, even three fox in within a mile of each other.

This young fox is unconcerned with our slow moving F-150 on a gravel road about two hours north of Bangor.



In the end its the coast that keeps me in the Carolinas. Our lazy days of summer where the ocean is pond like has Maine for stark contrast. The ocean along the coast of Maine, even on a nice day seems angy to this southern boy.



But Maine and its true to life L. L. Bean lifestyle is something that draws me north each fall in seach of what I'm not sure. Perhapes a simple life in a place of endless woodland wonder, a place called Maine.