First full day in Camden and we have "trouble in River City"!! No hot water in the RV! In fact, no water coming out of the hot water faucet at all! And the worst of it was that Barry had just cooked his famous farmer's breakfast for the Gustafsons. Yes..........bacon eggs, hash brown potatoes, french toast........the works! Can you imagine the mess we needed to clean up? Well, Barry was soon on the phone, trying to reach a nearby RV repair shop for assistance. After many, many calls, the best he could find was to make an appointment for Thursday morning in Bangor, Maine.............about 60 miles from here. And...........in the meantime............no hot showers, no washing dishes etc. So.............we did what we used to do while camping in our pop-up. Yes..........you who have camped with us in the old days know exactly what I mean. The dreaded dish pan..............heating water inside on the stove and then filling an old large dish pan with soapy water..........and constant heating of rinse water. All this done, of course, outside on our picnic table. Megan, our 17 year old grand-daughter knows all about this, for she was the designated dish washer for a couple of nights while on a 3 week western camping trip with us several years ago. Remember, Megan?
In the midst of this trial, another large 5th wheel RV was attempting to pull into a small spot across from us. Barry went right outside to see if he could help the man driving the truck and having trouble trying to fit a large RV into a small spot. Barry successfully directed the man into the spot and this gentleman was so appreciative he asked if he could do anything to help Barry. Well......those are dangerous words around here! Barry began to tell him of our hot water problem. And.............the man came right over to see if he could help us.
Bill Henson, from Rhode Island, was indeed our Angel in Camden. What a kind, knowdgeable and generous man! He told Barry that he was retired from IBM and was a trouble shooter in their customer service department. He loves to work on RVs and was able to diagnose our problem and help Barry to take the system apart, find the problem (a defective part in a valve) and repair it! WOW! All of this in about an hour and no charge to us!! I'm sure if we would have taken the Montana to an RV repair shop in Bangor, it would have cost us several hundred dollars.......not to mention the wasted time and stress. We can never thank Bill enough for his kindness. We think God placed him right here across from us at this particular time because He knew that we would need him. This is one example of why we love RVing and the kind of helpful people we encounter along the way. We will never forget the kindness of this man and I'm sure that what Barry has learned will be passed on to others we meet during our travels.
We ended our day with a lobster dinner right here at our campsite. Jim and Barb were out doing some errands and decided to stop at a nearby lobster place to bring home 4 large lobsters, corn on the cob and cole slaw. A good ending to the day that began on such a stressful note.
Some little known facts about Camden, Maine. It is the birthplace of Edna St. Vincent Millay. And...........the movie "Peyton Place" was filmed here. I remember the novel Peyton Place. It was a forbidden book read secretely at one of my slumber parties in junior high school!
Tomorrow we will be exploring Mount Batty, which overlooks the Camden Harbor. We will also have lunch at the Samoset Resort. I am, of course, hoping and praying for hot water for my shower.
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