This is what I'd been wanting to do for a long time; wake up by the sea...
Sunrise through the tent screen.
Wow! What a view!
This is why I named it Serpent Cove.
The land looks like a serpent going in and out of the water.
My beach.
Looking at an unnamed island on the Sheepscot River.
This location for the tent worked well. But it was going to rain later this day, and I wanted to get into the shelter of the woods more. For now I had to air out the sleeping bag, and I wanted to explore the beach and rocks to look for edible plants...
Aster. Pretty, but not edible.
I want to know what this flowering plant is. It is all over the place here.
I tested it and it seems edible.
A patch of wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa), also edible.
Japanese beetle.
Queen Anne's lace.
I made a place to plant some of my poppy seeds.
My Nomadic symbol from the night before.
There was plenty of seaweed. I tried eating the above. It was okay, but very tough.
But, this was the big time winner. This is sea blite.
It is truly delicious, salty, crunchy, slightly bitter, with a hint of nuttiness.
This would be my go-to plant for the next few days.
Huh! I was across from a freight train track.
It was time to walk into town. So, I disassembled the tent and left it under a bush, thinking the rain would hold off until late afternoon. That gave me some space in the pack to carry water and food. I did not yet realize that I was out of money. Making sure to grab my trash, I sidestepped up the steep bank and onto Route 1 heading back toward Wiscasset, about a mile away...
Panorama of the pier leading out from the Water's Edge Banquet Facility.
When I got to Sprague's I threw out my trash and put my bottles in the recycle bin. Unless you are on the east side of Wiscasset (four miles away), you only have two choices for convenience stores, the Wiscasset Clipper Mart (in town on Route 1) or the Wiscasset Quik Stop (about a half mile north up Route 27). I'd been using the Quik Stop since being in the western part of town, so I went there.
They have Wi-Fi, and I got on to check my balance. It was $2.50. PayPal prepaid had taken out their fees several days early. Figures! I bought a water. I was not pleased. Even though the sun was still shining in part of the sky, rain began to fall...
Every place I'd been to north of Freeport was hiring. Surely unemployment must be lower?
Yes, "Dream First." Too bad this is a sign at a bank encouraging people to get a loan...to dream.
I had noticed each time I went to the Quik Mart that this place was packed.
Would have loved some spaghetti.
When I got back to the campsite, I found the tent and set it up further in the woods after excavating the site. The rain had stopped long enough that I could do it without everything being soaked. As soon as it was up though, the rain started again...
I tried different tarp configurations, until settling with the western side down.
The rain continued intermittently throughout the afternoon. I was losing a day of writing. I was also very hungry. I gathered as much sea blite as I could...
Combined with wild lettuce, some other seaweed, rose petals and hips, I ate and then gathered more and ate again. Essentially this was a Coastal Maine salad. The sea blite was salty enough to give the rest of the salad some taste. The wild lettuce was kind of bitter, but not overly so. After this meagar lunch I set about cleaning up the area...
Small sticks jammed together make a great wall.
Plenty of large branches for hanging items.
A large Nomad symbol.
It began to really pour again, and I put all delicate items in the tent and then took off my shirt and worked in the rain. It felt so good. It was like taking a shower. My shorts had been sweaty and salty. Now they were being rinsed out...
A group of male flying ants gather under one of the branches to wait out the rain.
A view up the embankment toward the highway.
It was nice to have the tent flap open, and the tarp protecting it (to the left).
The rain was blowing in from the right.
This is the "middle room." It had a possible place to set up the tent too.
The poppy patch had received a nice first rain. The seeds will take about a month to germinate.
The rosettes will remain under the snow all winter and emerge in late April of next year.
A look at my tent area from the night before.
Essentially, I had three levels. One was woodsy with pine needles. The middle room had green plants, but was still somewhat sheltered. And the lower room by the shore was grassy, with only a couple small birch trees. It was a gorgeous and perfect place to camp. I think it was my best yet. Very private too, having only a fence and an old warehouse to my south and the road siding with more beach to my north...
In the late afternoon the sun came out briefly. I took this chance to further explore the rocks on the other side of my beach...
My neighbor's fence.
When it began to cloud up again, I made my way back to the camp...
The solar air lantern from Melinda--one of my most treasured and useful possessions.
This time the sky opened up and the rain pelted everything. I used my shirt to dry off and climbed into the tent to wait out the current storm, eventually taking a nap...
At dusk I awoke and checked outside. The rain had stopped for now. I couldn't help getting getting right out of the tent again and walking around. With each pace through the camp site I found ways to improve it.
A house far across the river.
Evening view.
I decided my poppy patch would benefit from a rock border.
Darkness fell quickly as the sky clouded up again. More rain was on its way. I was tired and hungry again, and the mosquitoes were coming in at full force...
It didn't take long for me to go back to the tent and find refuge. I fell asleep quickly and slept through the rest of the night, occasionally waking to hear rain falling on the tarp.
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