I'm here, I'm here!

IT TOOK A LONG TIME, BUT I AM IN MAINE AND I AM LIVING.

Here is the story of how I got to be here and what I did over the weekend...

Here we are in the Saturn on day one of the trip to Maine. All of my belongings fit into it. This is good to know if I'm ever homeless.

This is New Jersey. It was everything I ever dreamed it would be.

 Here are some things that look like those metal camels in the Star Wars desert (don't hate me for not knowing their name, Anakin).

This is the first I ever saw of New York City. 

The New Jersey side of NYC left me a little disappointed with my first impression.

 But the Newark side was just lovely, obviously. 

Sarcasm.

 This bridge cost $12 to cross.

Once we passed through New York, we stopped in Connecticut for the night. My brain was so completely exhausted from concentrating for so long, because even when I wasn't driving, I may as well have been for the amount of attention it drew from me to have my mom driving my straight drive car in bumper-to-bumper traffic in urban areas. Stressful.

The good news: our beds at the hotel were like giant marsh mellows and we slept like little infants, except for a few sleep talking incidents.

Eventually, we made it to Maine...

... and I made my mom take this embarrassing picture of me holding a state map up at the Maine visitors' center.

 We drove down this very large highway that could hold many cars, but only a few were there. Maine has a very sparse population. The state has about 1.1 million and Wake County has 990,000.

It was a good sign to see a double flying v when I first entered Maine. DUCKS FLY TOGETHER!

Then we got off our exit to go to my new home! Lewiston-Auburn!

But here was a surprise: Lewiston is a dying/dead mill town full of rough looking characters walking the streets next to architecture that gives the impression of affluence lost. What's been interesting, and convicting, is my reaction to the poverty demographic in Maine. I knew that poverty in the Northeast would be very different from poverty in the South, a place where just a few generations between the present time and segregation have not yet totally dissolved the social inequality of our past. I didn't realize how much that shaped my world view and the ways that I organize information about people. That's a disturbing realization, but a very good and important one to have. 

Anyway. Auburn, which is just a 1 mile bridge over the Androscoggins River away from Lewiston, is completely different. It reminds me of Boone, North Carolina- small, basic signs of civilization like Wal-mart and Applebee's (YOU KNOW WHERE I'M SPENDING MY FRIDAY NIGHTS!), and some really beautiful natural landscape. Rolling hills, dense forest, clear lake area (as seen below), a lovely river. I'll live in Auburn once I find an apartment. I'm still looking.

It's strange to see a place that is economically stable just 1 mile from a place that seems completely rattled by economic depression. My initial impressions will surely change as I spend more time in L/A (as it's called by Mainers). I've only spent a very short time in L/A at this point because I have been all over Maine since I got here. 

While mom was still here, we drove all over the place. We had a sweet afternoon in Freeport, which reminded me a lot of Blowing Rock, North Carolina. 

Where we ate lunch.

I love fall beer. Shipyard seasonal ale. Tasted like wearing a sweater and boots in an apple orchard.

Bruschetta mmmmm not very Maine-y but so delicious.

It was very quaint and cute. We even got to make a pilgrimage for my mom.

L.L. Bean. Yes.

From Freeport, we went stopped by Mackworth Island to make sure I knew where I was going the next day when I had to drive there to begin Americorps training. 

 A small bridge connecting to the island. Dying, dying, dying.

 As always, Asian tourist.

I had great visions of what Maine would be like, and to be honest, having my first impression of Maine be L/A left me a bit deflated and my mom very upset to be leaving me behind in this place. It was good to see these beautiful places, and even better to visit Portland. 

Portland; where we really should have eaten lobster, but instead went to have more delicious beer at a microbrew called Gritty's.

View from the bar.

Portland reminds me of an Asheville-Raleigh hybrid. I'm just hoping all the connections I'm making between Maine and North Carolina are because I feel easily at home here. This is a good thing to hold onto, especially when remembering the moment my mom left me at the hotel to go catch her flight at the airport. That was an absolutely surreal feeling, being alone, homeless, and friendless in a strange state 800+ miles from home. So far, this experience has challenged my conceptions of just how adventurous I actually am. It's nice to think you are a free-spirited vagabond who won't stress about the logistics of survival. I think action wise, that's what I've done- lived like the net will appear- but I didn't feel that sentiment until a few days into this journey. It's still nerve-wracking. I keep thinking this:

"If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!"

What a comfort. Already here, making me at home.

JB