Off to Dover-Foxcroft

For those of you who think this team has been quiet lately - well, we are hoping to more than make up for that this October. Team MudCup is looking at some SERIOUS boxing time before the ghouls take to the streets on the 31st!This morning we set out at 6am heading due north. We're pretty sure that's the way we went - but with the amount of fog, at times it was hard to tell! Teacup plotted our days adventures and picked me up before either of our houses could realize our departure (they'd have kept us home to do laundry for sure!) Goal is to always have more clues than we can actually find... but we're gonna do our darn best to get them all before they turn the lights out for the day!So we stopped first to pay tribute to some local heros in Sydney and were met by an early morning slug... as cute as he was, Tea would not allow him in the car - so he was systamatically dumped outside... it was at this point, Tea realized the more horrible of information... she was packing very light this morning. Not only were all of her inky colors home on her kitchen table - but her signature teacup was there also!Luckily - I was ready with back-up colors, but did we really want EVERYTHING in mud brown today??? Well we said adieu to the FD and move along further down the road to find a very wet ripple... the effect was still effective, but the poor logbook looked like it had been swimming for a while in water. So much rain this past month... a little TLC was all we could do before we trudged ahead.Off to visit with Robin Nest's Yellowstone box... tried as we could - we couldn't scale the fence into the power plant and then we realized we were on the wrong side of the river... silly boxers : ) We blamed the tailgater that was coming down the hill at us... and where were they off to in such a rush at 7am on a Sunday morning? Well we picked this one up in short order and discussed the virtues of snow boxing (None we could come up with) and then thought some more about summer 2009 adventures. (So we like to plan ahead)Back to the car to head over to Fort Halifax. Well, we searched and paced and then were scared half to death by a man wearing waders sporting a huge smile and a great morning attitude to help two women who looked perplexed (Like that could happen!) No luck on the box, but he did flash Tea one VERY LONG eel! Tea felt the poor eel was down in the mouth for sure - but the angler was proud at what he was hopeful to catch with that poor dangling eel. Even shared his digital catches with Tea. After a brief discussion on why he wouldn't eat anything that swam, we decided to move along.Well after a slight strike out in our find column it was that time of the morning. Sweet Tea and Cinnamelts. Oh yeah and blue flying monkeys (which the manager was more than willing to send to Tea) but they weren't in yet. Cinnamelts and tea in hand - time to head a bit further north. On our last adventure we ended up in Norridgewock. we NEVER thought we'd be back there again - guess who was VERY wrong : ) So back we went. Found multiple circles and followed all the compass readings - : ( This was getting bummingly disappointing. And to make it worse - our socks were SOAKED!Time to hit the pavement due north again, but wait - a quick u-turn had us following a Tea memory of a previous visit. (The whole reason for the cinnamelts) and off to a cemetary (our favorite place to hang out on weekends!) Tea knew where this one was for sure... then after a quick cross-reference she realized her first visit had been an attempt - no find. But after a dog brought a curious owner past Tea - and we extolled the virtues of geocaching... she found it this time! Didn't even have any written clues. And its a lovely little image in a great corner of a cemetary. Well... off again due north. Didn't realize that there was so much to do heading off to Dover-Foxcroft, our final destination (Go look at a map - its up there) but we stopped for another one... had to pass a row of happy bikers. Before we made it to this latest one... we stopped in the Solon Superette for a quick Alice in Wonderland experience. At least for me. we needed to use a restroom... and the minute I stepped inside and sat down on the thrown - I suddenly felt one-foot tall. Everything seemed strangely out of proportion. But I survived and even remembered to prop open the door with the rustic looking doorstop (a piece of wood). I know the room was off slightly - because when I did stand up - I think the ceiling was 1/4" away from my head! Tea siad I was crazy - she was fine until bigfoot stood behind her in line while she was paying for her Pringles (which by the time she made it to the car turned into healthier peanut butter crackers.)So further on we went. Stopped briefly to play with trolls under a bridge and look for more anglers... found some Indian paintbrushes and picked up more than a few strange looks - it was rush hours after all - so when all 3 cars drove by - we were a sight to see! The leaves were spectacular up there by the way. We were headed off to Kelly Mountain, and when they say "You can't get there from here." Sometimes it REALLY is true : ) Over dirt rutted roads we travelled and crossed a very cool spot with powerline rolling across hills for miles between spectacular foilage. Yup - took the touristy photo - though NOONE would ever see us : ) we also stopped at the edge of someones farm and took photos of a pond FULL of geese! They were everywhere! And there were 100's of them! Totally cool until Tea almost lost her rear passengers door when a truck came around the corner!Well - we finally made it to the 'road' into Kelly Mountain... and after a near miss with a sawed off tree, and then reading on the map and the clues that it was 1700' to the top - after my foot recovery - and knowing our up-coming trip, we decided this was one hill we needed to wait on. We will be back - Maybe after the next iceage moves the fire tower closer to the base : ) Or next summer, which ever comes first.So at this point we decided we needed lunch... any old place would do... thank heavens for Subway! And then we were quickly off again... "Tea! Are we reading that right??? Gas for $3.29 a gallon?" You bet - another quick detour... Off to Sangerville (Isn't that just fun to say?) to find what we hoped would still be there. We were in search of "Field of Dreams, Forest of Enchantment" After a drive past its location, a stop in Dover-Foxcroft, a backtrack and another stop at a vegetable stand, we were greatly saddened to find this was no longer around. We did stop and walk around where it used to be. Does anyone remember this place? We were more devistated about not finding this than all of the unfound boxes of the day. It looked truely enchanting at one point, and we were saddened it was no longer available for folks to visit.Well, home we headed... stopped at a couple rest stops along the way and crawled around in some gravel to find a twain... lots of funny laughter. Our final destination was for a cemetary (gotta love those.) So back in Augusta we went in search of a MAC box. We found the road - but where did the dang cemetary go? A quick u-turn had us heading downhill... yup there it was, right where we drove past it! The Partiots had a touch down - and we found our box! Great ending to the day (well until the Patriots allowed SF to score - but that's another issue.) On the way home I commented that it didn't seem like we were in Augusta... felt for sure I was having a "Outer City Limits experience." But Tea assured me I'd survive it.So home I am - eye barely open - I think I got slugged in the night - and I know Tea is home scratching at least 3 bug bites - but another great boxing day under our belts - and 6 more boxes in my find column (which translates to getting off of Tea's list.) Time for bed! And time for dreams of our next outing....MDI - here we come!mud *who did bring some home with her*