So I thought I would take a moment and do a more detailed update on my hunting trip for 2009.

Growing up my father, brother and I would try and make it up to the North Maine Woods for a long weekend of hunting. Soon my brother became busy with high school and couldn’t join. Then I  too became occupied with high school sports and didn’t have the time to make it up to the North Maine Woods. Even though fall sports occupied most of my time my father and I would still find time for some hunting trips closer to home. The past few years the two of us along with our bird dog Maggie have been hunting over in the Rangeley area.

I have nothing against the Rangeley area, as it is a beautiful area. But the hunting just never seemed to be quite as good as the North Maine Woods. Well this year I decided I should take some time away from the S-bux and head up north with the old man and Maggie. A friend of mine and co-worker offered us his old pop up camper trailer for the weekend. When I went over to Dana’s house to check out the camper Dana said “as you can see by the camper there isn’t much you can do to damage it. This camper has been on a lot of fishing and camping trips.” I thought great, this is perfect, old dirty and well used!

Things seemed to be coming together well for our trip. Thursday morning around 4:30am my father and I got up, finished loading up the truck with the coolers and proceeded to head north for the North Maine Woods. We made it up to Ashland, ME without any problems, checked in at the 6mile gate and continued west on the Reality road.  After driving for close to 45miles on dirt road we arrived at the south end of 2^nd Musquacook where we would stay at a designated North Maine Woods campsite. After taking 30 minutes to set up the camper and camp the two of us were eager to get out and hunt for some birds!

Thursday afternoon went well for us. We saw about a half dozen birds but I was only able to get two. Not bad considering my father spent three days hunting in the Rangeley area the prior week and only managed to get one bird the entire trip! Bedtime came early Thursday night, as it would every night. We were in bed and asleep by 8:30 or 9:00 every night. Friday brought rain and dark clouds for the entire day. Neither of us had high expectations for the day ahead of us. Maggie was still going strong and up for another long day of running. Within fifteen minutes of leaving camp we had spotted one bird which we successfully got! That day both myself and my father reached the state limit of four birds per day! I believe the last time both of us reached the days limit was back in 1997 or so when we were hunting up in the same area.  Needless to say bird was on the menu for dinner Friday night!

Saturday brought more rain in the am. Despite another wet day the two of us had high spirits based on the prior day’s success. It didn’t take long before we started to spot some birds. If my father’s aim was better we might have had better success, but needless to say the day turned out alright. We managed to pick up two more birds to our count, 12 total. Not a bad year. A lesson for anyone heading into the North Maine Woods, just because a map shows a road going from point A to point B, doesn’t mean it really exists! Beaver’s are everywhere! And with beavers comes flooded roads that lead straight into a pond!

Saturday night  the weather changed, the sky was clear and the temps dropped! The camper had a heater and we had plenty of propane for the heater, however, we just were not sure how long the battery would supply energy to the fan on the heater. That night the two of us were layered up in long johns and nestled into our sleeping bags. Maggie even had on our fleece jacket and was allowed up into the bed so she could lie next to my father to help the two of them stay warm.  What a spoiled dog she is! I managed to sleep quite well and never got cold. My father on the other hand is getting old and soft.

As the two of us enjoyed a hot cup of Starbucks new VIA instant coffee we discussed the plans for the next two days. One way or another we had to drive back into Ashland to get gas if we wanted to hunt on Monday. The weather was reporting for snow flurries Sunday night. Neither of us wanted to get back home to late on Monday and that meant there wasn’t much time for hunting Monday morning. We decided to take it slow and easy packing up Sunday and head home a day earlier. We had already had three great days of hunting and didn’t need any more birds. So off we went heading back home. A quick pit stop in Ashland to fill up the tank, check the tire pressure was all that was needed before our multi hour trip south.  It wasn’t long after we got onto I-95 south that my father noticed that the back right corner of the trailer seemed to be riding slightly lower than the left. It wasn’t more than a minute later that the right tire blew! The tire was completely shredded. So there we are on the side of I-95 a few miles north of Lincoln, ME changing a flat. We mounted up the spare and headed into the small town of Lincoln. We checked the tire pressure and did everything we could to make sure the tire would hold until we could make it back home. Not more than 40 miles later we found ourselves on the side of the highway again! This time we were a few miles north of Orono! It was 5pm on Sunday evening and there we are stranded on the highway. I called AAA only to find out they wouldn’t help us, I was told to call back on Tuesday and they would be more than willing to help me out with a RV plan. Thanks AAA. So I opened up google on my I-phone and found a towing service in Orono. I talked with Alan who had left work and was just sitting down for dinner. Alan left his dinner to help us out. As Alan rolled up to the camper we noticed he too had a flat! So here we are, 6pm Sunday night fixing the tow trucks flat tire so we can then load  the camper onto the trailer. We measure the trailer and then measure the width of the camper, we had one inch of clearance room. It took the three of us to lift the camper onto the trailer! Now it is 7:15pm and we are now able to head back home as Alan took the camper back to the garage for the night.

Not more than 10 minutes later did I see sparks coming from the truck in front of us on the highway.  My father pulls up next to the truck and I noticed that the trucks rear rotor had this bright orange glow to it! I roll down my window to inform the driver his truck was about to be in gulfed with flames. What does the young punk driver do? He speeds up. Neither of us really wanted to witness a blown up truck and we really didn’t want to be stuck in a traffic jam we tried to warn the young punk driver one more time. Second time was the charm as some since seemed to kick into him or maybe his nose opened up and he finally smelled the smell of burning metal coming from his truck. Either way the young punk driver pulled over and we were on a marry way home.

On Monday we headed back up to Orono to pick up the camper and have two new tires installed. A few hours later and we were finally heading south again. I was driving this time and kept the speed right around 62. All we could do is pray and hope that the trailer would make it back to Winthrop and then back to Yarmouth. Everything went well and smooth for the rest of the drive home. The camper and two tires held up. Now all I have do is explain to Dana how he ended up with two new tires for his camper!