My furthest trip with my bus since we replaced the engine. I woke up and decided, “You know, I really want to explore the upper east coast.” After getting over the, “What if’s,” “I told my boyfriend Jon, “Let’s go! We are headed to Maine.” I packed up my bus, picked out a few outfits, grabbed my hiking boots, said a small prayer, gave my mother a hug and kiss, and off we went.

After my first break down in 2017 and finding out that my best option would be to replace my motor. I found myself constantly doubting myself and my bus. I was scared that I wouldn’t make it to where I wanted to go without a breakdown. After we replaced the engine I would constantly second guess everything thinking “what if this is going to happen again, what do I do?” It took a while and a little down the road I started to get my road confidence back. Once the new motor was in I would constantly take my bus for test runs whether it was down the road or an hour away to a park to make sure everything was flowing correctly. After working out all the kinks and fixing all the little things that are destined to break on a 30-year-old bus, my little bus was ready to hit the big roads.

I stopped at my local gas station, filled my tank and started my hour-long drive to the Cross Sound Ferry. Upon loading my bus on the boat and walking up to the upper deck, I sat down looked at Jon and said, “I can’t even believe we are doing this right now “he looked at me, laughed and said, “Oh this is going to be fun!” After a 2-hour boat ride across the ocean to New London CT, we arrived around 11:30 pm and called it a night at the 24-hour Walmart ten minutes away from the New London Ferry terminal.

On day 2, we woke up early and started our 7-hour ride up to Maine. Making our way through Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire and taking small breaks in between, we arrived in Trenton Maine around 6:00 pm. After a long day of driving, we decided to park at the local Walmart, grab some snacks and recharge for the next day’s adventure.

On day 3, we headed to Mount Desert Island. Our day was spent exploring all of Mount Desert Island, taking pictures of the amazing views, and enjoying the morning through early afternoon shopping and walking around Bar Harbor. Out of all the places I have been to, I have to say Bar Harbor is the sweetest small town! The town is filled with tons of boutiques, small shops, and restaurants at every turn. After spending the day exploring Bar Harbor, We headed to the Bar Harbor Oceanside KOA where we made reservations for a campsite for the night. The check-in staff were so friendly and brought us to the site where we would be staying. My bus was backed up to the ocean and I swung my back door open to enjoy the ocean view right from my bed. Each campsite that is along the ocean side gives you your own little spot to sit on the rocks and watch the wave’s crash. The camp store was only a short walk away and we were able to get drinks and snacks just in time to watch the sunset.

On day 4, we checked out of the Bar Harbor KOA at 10 am and made our way to Acadia National Park. The views were unreal and my favorite part was being able to drive the bus and park along the roads to get out and take pictures. It was a foggy day so the misty haze on top of the mountains was a great touch for photos. Acadia was a bit crowded which was expected for a holiday weekend, so we decided to go explore the Schoodic Peninsula which was just as amazing but had less of a crowd.

On day 5, We started heading back to New Hampshire to explore the coast and stop at the beaches along the way. We met a few other people with vans that were spending the day surfing the rough tide. The day was spent relaxing and searching the beaches for sea glass, shells, and driftwood to keep for memories. Upon sundown, we parked at a 24 hour Walmart in Portsmouth and called it a night.

The next few days were spent exploring Boston, Salem Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and all of Rhode Island. I made sure we stopped at every possible Thrift and Antique store that I could find to purchase something unique that I can always remember this trip by. A keepsake of mine is finding old license plates for each new state that I get to explore, luckily I found one for each state we landed in! 

I am so happy that I took the leap and trusted my gut to make this trip happen. The memories and smiles were endless, and the confidence I have for my bus is sky-high. Throughout the whole trip, there were no hiccups and the views we were able to see left us speechless. Maine had so much to see and do that I am already planning a trip to head back to explore some more. But until then I have a few other places in mind that I want to visit!