Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Borderline

Lingering in the historic downtown of Houlton, Maine which has a fairly intact historic core. A kind guy in a Mazda Miata opened the museum for us and gave us a tour. The town has suffered from depopulation over the last fifty years - now down to about 6,000 people. Folks welcome visitors in this part of the world.
Reflecting on New Hampshire with the motto "Live free or die" - no helmet law for adults so you see plenty of motorcyclists with no headgear. They are catching on to roundabouts here however - still sufficiently new for the Bangor Daily News to run an article on the novelty of it all.
We had a couple of beers in O'Kellys Irish Bar at Ivey's Motel last night. Two large beers [Coors bland lite] and a cranberry juice for just over $5 US - surely the cheapest for many a mile. Nothing very Irish about the place, more NASCAR with "Dale O'Earnhardt" dominating with inflatable racecars for decor and season calendar front and center. We were watching a belly-flop contest on CMT as overweight folk dove into a swimming pool - surely the nadir of redneck TV. Annette photographed the smart car with some Quebec bikers on their Hogs alongside, after "de-luxe continental breakfast" this morning. Heading for Canuckistan later.

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