Paying our respects to Honorable Bob in Frankfort, ME

Sunday, 8/14/11 - Today is moving day and boy do I hate to leave this beautiful place in Thomaston, ME but our next place is our last campground in Maine....Orland and is closer to Bar Harbor, ME. The drive is a a beautiful one straight up Route 1 that runs right next to the Atlantic Ocean and through the small towns of Maine. It's a beautiful day but they are expecting rain for the next couple days so we hope we make it there before a down pour. We arrive and compared to our last place which was a 9 this would be about a 5..... We are in a large pull thru lot very close to the office/store and pavilion that seems to be open and serving food on Sunday. They are having a birthday party for some guy named Stan and he is 75 years old. They are having a great time and it was ok until the karaoke started. Ok, it was all country music and I was kind of enjoying it at first.....you know, singing along but it started at 3 pm and didn't end until 7 pm....by that time they were down to "the dredges of singer" and I was closing all the windows and turning on MY own country music. Day 1 at Baslm Cove Campground.

Monday, 8/15/11 - The rain has come and boy is it steady but we had planned today was one of many chores.....washing clothes, reordering prescriptions & Jafra, post office and just lots more. Also on our way up here we got a crack in the front windshield of the RV and Will needs to find someone to come out and fix it....that's on his to do list today. It has rained all day and all night at this place and we are just staying inside keeping dry & warm and boy do I wish I was somewhere laying in the very warm sun right now. We definitely know that this will be our ONLY trip to Maine. It is very beautiful here but once is definitely enough.

Tuesday, 8/16/11 - Today is our day to pay our respects to Honorable Bob Tufts. Bob was our next door neighbor in Mesa Spirit, AZ in 2009. We spent a lot of time with him and his ex wife Judy who was out in Arizona with him that year. Bob loved Maine and talked about it all the time and really wanted us to come visit him and stay on his property in Stockton Springs, ME. We wrote back and forth many time and Bob was always sending us something from Maine....and a reminder to come visit him. Last year in 2010 we missed Arizona due to Will's back surgery but sometime after April 2010 I received a letter from Judy telling me that Bob had had a terrible accident and died. We were both shocked and felt so bad that we never got to see Bob again in either Arizona or Maine. So when we decided on the year long trip we knew we would visit Honorable Bob (that's what he called himself on his card he gave out) and pay our respects. So today was the day, rain or not and boy is it coming down. Thank God for the Internet as I was able to Google the obituary notice and then through the yellow pages on the computer find Judy's phone number. When I called the number, Judy was out but I talked with Bob's son, Tom who told us his dad was buried right across the street from where they now live in Frankfort, ME in a family cemetery. We got the address, told the girlfriend, GPS where it was and off we went and surprising enough it was only about 15 miles from our campground.

When we arrived at Judy's address we were unable to find a cemetery across the street so Will went up to the front door and met Tom and he directed us back about 1/4 of a mile or so. Well, it's still raining but off we go and when we find the "dirt path" to the cemetery we see we cannot drive the car in so we have to walk in the mud to get there. Now we have come to far and tired to hard NOT to walk in the mud up there to pay our respects. So off we go, in the mud, about a football field length to get there. It is a darling family cemetery with plots dating back to 1818 and about 20 gravestones. And at last......there was Honorable Bob, born 7/5/34 - 4/11/10. We had hoped to purchase flowers in the small town when we were there but trust me....there was NOTHING in this town but a gas station. So I took out one of our cards, Will made a hole in it and we found a stick and stuck it in the ground right next to the small flag at is grave site. We both felt better just keeping our promise to see Bob and Maine. With that we trudged back out of the place to our car, headed home and got out of our wet clothes and read, slept, had a fire in the fireplace on this dreary afternoon, however "mission accomplished".......rest well dear friend Bob, we will miss you at Mesa Spirit. Much love to all our family and friends.