Today was not my favorite! Bad things happened – peppered with amazing tidbits.
I woke up super excited to take my Stephen King tour. I boiled kettles of water to take a “bath” – living off the grid poses certain challenges. I even left for our meeting location an hour early just in case.
OF FUCKING COURSE!!! I’m driving down a highway and a man pulls alongside me and starts yelling. My steps were out. WHAT? That shouldn’t technically be possible. RVs are equipped with certain fail safes. For example, the stabilizer jacks automatically retract when you start the engine. Steps accidentally left out should retract when you start the engine – or else you can’t drive. Same with the slide out.
BIRD has none of these protective features! I shut the door and assumed the steps went in. Bad on me. So now what? I pull over and try everything. I thought part of the magnet mechanism was missing so tried to engage it with a magnet I bought. Nope. So I turned on my hazards and went on to the meeting place. I got there a half hour early so started calling RV shops. I was freaking because it’s a Saturday on a holiday weekend. RV places are impossible to get into under perfect circumstances.
On my 5th call I must have sounded desperate – because the service guy felt sorry for me and told me to bring it by right now. SHIT!!! What to do? I’d been planning the SK tour for weeks. But – if I didn’t get Bird fixed I could be stuck in Bangor for who knows how long? I decided to skip the tour.
While making phone calls I noticed some people gathering. I took a chance that they were also waiting for the tour – I wanted to let someone know I couldn’t go. Yep. They were all the way from Germany. They were so cute and so excited and were going on and on about wanting to meet Stephen King. I thought “yeah, right” but then suddenly knew they would – because I wouldn’t be there. I wished them well and went on my way.
The RV place was like 15 miles away and I had to get there with my steps out. Awesome. I put on my hazard lights but still every other car pulled up and yelled at me. It was super fun. I seriously can’t believe during all this I never saw a single cop. Good thing #1.
The RV guy fixed Bird with a spare part he had lying around and refused to charge me. It took him 20 minutes. Amazing thing #2.
I then took myself on my own SK tour. First up his house. The house next door is for sale. Mine. Someday I want spiderweb iron fencing with bat and dragon gargoyles.
Next, Mount Hope Cemetery. It’s the one in Pet Semetary where you see Stephen King as a priest presiding over a funeral. The cemetery is 182 years old.
On to Thomas Hill Standpipe. It was the inspiration for the haunted and creepy water tower in It. Stephen King wrote the majority of It on the bench which is under the tower in a little park.
Paul Bunyan statue next. Remember when he came alive and went after Richie Tozier in It?
Finally, the corner of Jackson and Union streets to check out the drain pipe where Pennywise ripped off Georgie’s arm.
Then, I punched in I-95 into my gps and head south. What I didn’t expect was that my gps would take me right back by Stephen King’s house again. And, wouldn’t you know it? The SK Tour van was there. Nobody was in the van and they weren’t outside the fence taking pictures. The gate was open and they were nowhere to be seen. In my imagination they were all inside sitting down with the man himself. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
It ruined my day. So I headed south back into New Hampshire where I immediately drove to the movies. I went in at 7:35 and bought a ticket to the 7:30 showing of Girl on the Train. I bought popcorn and a beer and sat down in my recliner with one preview to spare. PERFECT timing – with no timing at all. Just dumb luck. Good thing #3
The movie was ok. I read the book so knew what most of the audience did not (based on their reactions). If you’ve read the book, wait for it to come out on digital. It’s not worth it. If you’ve not read the book, it may be worth a look just so you won’t hear about the twist on a talk show.
Tomorrow, New York.
Onward ♋+♊
The Lolo Down 