My Adorable Dynamo

[Kyle]When it came time for me to leave for work, just before three the next morning, it was foggy and had been raining between a light drizzle and a downpour all night. In order for Maryanne to get the dinghy back after my row to shore, she had to climb out of our nice warm bed and accompany me so that she could row it back home. Actually, she did me even one better and graciously bailed the previous night’s rain out of the dinghy while I dressed for work.

When we got to shore, the rain was down to a light mist, so she decided she could use some exercise and joined me for the 6½ mile walk to the airport. Our walk started on an empty road through dark forest and finished just after sunrise as we arrived with the staff opening the terminal. She waited until the other passengers and I were called through security, we said our goodbyes, and then she walked back home!

I got a text from her saying that she was back at the boat around the time my second flight landed in Newark.

I was pretty impressed. Then, about an hour later, I got another message that she had left the boat again, walked about a mile to the nearest gas station, and then filled up a six-gallon jerry can of diesel and returned home. The main road has a good paved sidewalk she could roll our cart over, but the last longish bit she would have had to pick up the can and carry it to the last ¼ mile or so to the dinghy dock. {Maryanne: Actually the cart rolled a LOT further than Kyle imagines, but I'm enjoying having Kyle think I struggle more than I do, so let's keep that quiet for now}

A while later, I got another message. She was looking for lost a stash of flour (she was going to do some baking) and wondered if I had tidied up and put it somewhere unusual. After a little back and forth, the flour wasn’t found, but in the process, Maryanne had turned the boat upside down, so she decided to just give our food and galley stores a clean and reorganization.

I was working a 10-hour day and I was feeling lazy!

[Maryanne]Once Kyle heads off to work, I try and share my days alone with both chores and fun. The forecast for the next few days was pretty miserable, and I determined it best to stay aboard. The location surprised us with having no wifi, and (more importantly) barely even a phone signal for much of the time. Occasionally I'd be able to get a text off to Kyle, but had no reliable signal, and surfing the internet was frustrating enough to be avoided completely. I was longing to explore some of what Mount Desert Island had to offer, and had hoped to spend some time in Bar Harbor itself; the weather made this totally unappealing, and I declined the opportunity, sulking somewhat!

Eventually it was time for Kyle to return. He was not able to fly back to Bar Harbor (poor timing of flights and his work schedule), so we'd organized for me to pick up a rental car and drive to Portland to meet with him there. Renting a car also means I can do more extensive grocery shopping, etc. Always a bonus. However it continued to rain, and I continued to have poor if any internet. What I determined (rightly or wrongly) was that it was too early in the season for a bus service, and I was going to have to walk to collect the car. I set out in a light drizzle and to aid the speed, took our little kick-scooter (a skateboard with handlebars) - what could go wrong?

First bail the dingy of two days of heavy rain. Load up bags for shopping, GPS for car, etc. Row ashore and secure dinghy. Hike to rental car location, making use of scooter when not too much uphill nor too steep down-hill. Tumble into a face plant only twice (being careful not to fall into oncoming traffic). Rain gets heavier, my coat is wet enough that it seems to have come right out of the washing machine. Eventually arrive (early), nobody there! Find note to call a phone number, call, and await arrival of manager. Manager arrives, and do paperwork. Here is where I discover I can't find my purse, and therefore don't have my drivers licence nor my credit card. For some reason few rental companies will loan out a car in such circumstances. I can't believe it, I've just walked for 2 hours in heavy rain, and I've got go go back to the boat and look for my purse. How COULD I have been so stupid? Maria, the manager takes pity on me, and to avoid a scene of tears and total breakdown, drives me back to the boat and watches on while I row back to Begonia. Here I tear the boat upside down and still don't find my purse. Could it have fallen out when I fell? Or maybe be in the bathroom at the airport where I changed out of my wet over-clothes? Either way I have to return to Maria so I row back, still not sure if I can even rent a car, nor how Kyle can possibly find his way back home. Luckily I do have emergency credit cards stashed on the boat, and my UK driving license, so I take these and hope they will work. On the drive back to the rental office, we keep eyes peeled on the road for a lost purse (a very small black purse, and yes, it's still raining, no luck). Maria sympathises and accepts what I can offer her, and hands me the keys for a lovely car. I load it up with my grocery bags, set-up my GPS, and as as I'm hooking up my phone to the car power discover my missing purse. Doh! it was in the bag all along, now I really feel stupid.

I make a dash for the grocery store, return to the dingy to stow our new supplies, and then return to the car for the three hour drive to collect Kyle. I take the scenic route, and stop for a lobster sandwich; I tell myself I deserve it.

I treat myself to a lobster sandwich from one of the many lobster pounds on route. Yes, they cook outside, in the rain, and isn't that lobster claw cocktail stick cute!