"RoseGarden" - - - - - - - from - nscave

Journey stories > south to north 2014

Just before Bangor we came to the end of the Maine Turnpike, paying the final toll of which there are many, a sign indicated a rest stop a short distance ahead.

Since we were debating whether to stop overnight in Bangor or continue on, here was a chance to get a discount coupon book and do a weather check online. How good is that?

Mission accomplished, we decide to stay overnight in Bangor since the weather up ahead is ten times worse than awful. Back out to I-95, but which way? Two signs say 95, and since we were facing north, it looked like straight across the local highway to the 95 heading north.

Rerun

Across the highway we go, between the bushes and trees and ... Then ...  the road curves to the left, over a single lane overpass and curves left again and there we are heading south to the I-95. Southbound brings us to the toll section we just passed through northbound a short while ago. $1.75 it is - again.

"Bangor is back that way isn't it?" I say to the attendant.

"Yes it is," he confirms.

"Thought so, we just made a mistake back there that put us in this direction. How far do I have to go before I can get an interchange to turn around?" I ask.

"Gee, you have to go about 15 miles," he says with a tone of sadness.

"Can't you let us turn here?" says my navigator, (its not her fault that we got mis-directed, we both share the responsibility.)

"No can't do that," says the attendant. " I have a pass lane right in the middle, and they come through there at high speed. Too risky. Only thing you can do is keep going to the interchange, or, if you think there are no police around to nab you, cross over at one of the authorized vehicle spots."

Off we go with one unhappy driver (me) at the wheel. She wants me to cross over at one of those authorized vehicle spots several times, but being formerly involved in road training I am not willing to assume that risk.

15 miles seemed like 50. Finally the interchange shows up - up, across, and down the other side we go. Seemed ironic that a state trooper car was the car coming in the distance as I completed that manoeuver.

Come On Back

Well here we are again, northbound finally. Seems like we covered this territory before, there's a rest stop sign. $%&*$ the rest I say as we finally get to the tolls - again. $1.75 it is, seems like we traveled a hundred miles for the privilege to pay that $5.25 for the same stretch of road.

So off we go to Bangor which is almost an hour away. No problem deciding to stay there overnight after wasting an hour. Nothing boring on this trip, when things get dull, just figure out something unique to do.

Like triple toll yourself around . . .

This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License