June 14, Lowell, MA

Hi, bloggerheads, we are back on the road.

We were off the air during the 2014 Chrome Glidden Tour in Maine.  If you were on this tour, you'd understand why.  Costal Maine is such an interesting a special place.  We were taken to one amazing destination after another, guided by our hosts Barbara and Dick Fox.  Adding about a hundred VMCCA tourists sharing the experience invites talk and leaves little time for blogging.  Here is a link for some images from the tour.  You'll have to wait for the full article in The Bulb Horn to find out about it.  Perhaps I can add a few tidbits later on.

2014 Chrome Tour Pictures

Big rain and fog came to Bar Harbor on Friday the 13th, the last day of touring.  It was no bother.   Nance was enjoying the hydration and most of the tour stops were not dampened by the moisture.  We finally said goodbye to our VMCCA friends on Saturday.

Nance and the Birds at their home in Brunswick

We planned a stop in Brunswick, ME to visit with Nance's 2nd cousin Ira Bird,  his wife Joy and son Charlie.  Like most young families, their Saturday was fully scheduled -- so we met them at Charlie's lacrosse game.  This is a very popular sport here and both of their boys are active in it.  We reminisced more than we figured out how the game is played.  Ira explained "it's a combination of soccer and field hockey..." but that wasn't quite enough.  Still, it all worked out well and we had a short but sweet visit, topped with apple pie a la mode in their lovely Brunswick home.  That has been a theme on this trip:  we are visiting quite a few people but have to keep moving.  We just have too much distance to cover to linger as long as we would like.

Brunswick, ME is the home of Bowdoin College, a small highly respected liberal arts institution.  It creates a beautiful green jewel right in the center of town.  What an asset these institutions are to their towns.  I hope they can all find ways to survive and prosper.

We proceeded down the southern Maine and New Hampshire coasts using combinations of I-95 and US 1.  Nance wanted to stick with US 1 to enjoy the Atlantic Ocean for as long as possible.  Unfortunately, only fleeting glimpses of the water could be seen from US 1 and there was plenty of vacation traffic.  Finally, after we passed through Kittery, ME, the Atlantic was gone.  We probably won't see it again for a few years.   We must come back, there is so much more to see.

Tomorrow we will visit Nance's cousin Trudi Bird in Storrs, CT.  We packed it in in Lowell, MA and this will leave just a short drive for tomorrow.

The Mercedes is running rather well right now.  It acted up a bit on the tour.  It was nothing too serious:  it developed a very rough idle and became reluctant to start.  It seemed to be getting worse every day.  I decided to remove the original Mercedes electronic ignition module and convert the system to conventional battery ignition.  Nothing too difficult here, it only took a few minutes under the hood to effect the conversion.  I was surprised to find an immediate improvement in idle and starting.  The only downside to this change is the tachometer is not set up to work with battery ignition.  But we don't really need the tach, so we will stick with this setup for now.