9/23 Salisbury Beach, MA

It took three long days of driving to get from the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, NS, to here, so I have not posted recently.  I wanted to get back to the U.S. and larger towns for two reasons:  1) My motorhome left front wheel was making a lot of noise and vibrating, so I knew I needed to have the wheel bearings checked. I knew I had a better chance of having this done in Bangor, Maine, than in tiny towns in Nova Scotia.  2) I was not feeling well and wanted to get back to where I could get care if I needed it in the U.S.   (FYI, a long day's drive for me with this vehicle is 250 miles!)

The good news is that I did get my wheel bearings checked and adjusted, plus the tires rotated in Bangor.  They switched out the badly worn tire with the spare.  (Luckily, I have  seven matching tires that are fairly new and in good shape, other than the one that got messed up by the bad wheel bearings, thanks to the Michelin recall in December 2013.)  If I need a spare for some reason, I will have it to use until I can buy a new one.  Also in Bangor, I got groceries, did 11 days of laundry, got a haircut, and did some dusting and vacuuming. 

So, I arrived here in Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts, last night.  I slept in this morning, then since it was such a gorgeous day, I got my bike out and went for a ride to the beach and the small nearby tourist area.  Actually, the campground is very close to the beach, but it is much easier to ride than walk.

The state park was formed because of the huge salt marsh that lies on the north edge of the Merrimack river as it empties into the Atlantic, and behind dunes along the beach here.

Had this not been made into public land, I can envision the builders filling parts of this in and building condos!

Here is the campground. You can tell by the short, wind-blown trees that there is a lot of wind here.

Ah, the Atlantic Ocean!  In nearly all parts of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces, you could not see the actual ocean because the land has so many deep bays and islands.  The map has a very raggedly edge!  Here, this is direct ocean.

There were quite a few people walking on or sitting on the beach.  Not very many shells to collect, however.   This was low tide.

You can see the campground from the walkway to the beach.

This is the little tourist area nearby.  Tacky, tacky, tacky, with little but junky shops.  Most were closed for the season.

Nice ride home!

 

Tomorrow, I have promised myself I will wash all of my windows inside and out, and remove and wash all the screens.  Mostly, however, it will be a rest and relaxation day.  Then on Friday, I will drive to Salem, where I will stay for two nights before heading back to Ohio, via Sturbridge, MA and Pennsylvania.