Unplanned Detour

Tuesday night my BP just kept getting higher so we went to the ER.  The doctor there had no reason why all of a sudden I was having BP issues but they got me stabilized and sent home with a prescription for medicine with directions to see my doctor.  A bit hard to do!  We are paying diligent attention to this and will adjust our travels as needed including heading home if necessary.  It was high again this morning so we will see what the pills do before making a decision.  In the meantime we are moving to Georgetown.  Ted has come down with a cold and isn't feeling great either.  Friends of Tom and Eileen's will be at the next campground so they can run with them while we chill for a few days.

After getting to bed at 3 am, we were up and rolling about 10 or so.  We didn't have far to go and were settled in our new spot a row behind Eileen's friends.  I took the afternoon easy but then helped get a burger dinner on the table for the six of us.  The new friends are nice and companionable.  We stayed outside visiting until almost 10 before we called it a night.

My BP has been doing fine so that's a welcome relief.  If I continue to do okay we think waiting until we get home to see Dr. C will be all right.  We got a good night's sleep but it was raining so we opted for the movies.  Eileen chose Ted 2 since I didn't see anything that interested me.  Ira, Lee, Ted and I were shell shocked when we came out!  We all said had we been alone we would have walked out.  Just terrible, trashy language!!  If a story is good you don't need to do that. Anyway, Eileen doesn't get to choose anymore.

We ate at a Mexican restaurant and came back to the park and played cards.  It was quite late when we got to bed.

Friday was rainy, rainy, rainy!  We had plans to go to Pleasant Hill (Shakertown) and waited until it looked clear on the radar.  We visited some of the housing dwellings which now are hotel rooms and joined a walking tour about the Shaker lifestyle.  The young man told us of the demise of the Shakers as technology cut into their seed and jam businesses.  Their numbers dropped and today there are only four alive in Maine.

Then it started to rain again.  Everyone ran into an artist's studio but I had an umbrella and two ponchos so Ted and I were fine.  I even wore my white crocs so getting my feet wet didn't matter.  The others were soaked and went into the restaurant where we had almost an hour wait.  While they tried to dry off I chose to go back to the previous house and see the exhibits that included journals, belongings and items that had been stolen by outsiders and eventually returned.

By the time we had lunch everyone was more or less dry so we went to the woodworking shop and learned all about barrels.  But we learned they are all not "barrels" but have different names based on their size.  They worked well to transport heavy loads by rolling them but they were inefficient for shipping because so much room was wasted versus square pallets so eventually their cooperage business failed too.

Our last stop because of the weather was an overview of their music which was a big part of their worship service.  A young man with an absolutely gorgeous voice described their services and would sing the songs.  I am not sure why he isn't singing somewhere with more exposure.  Maybe he does! But we did learn Lord of the Dance is a Shaker song.  However, Ted said he knew this because it says Shaker Origins In our church hymnal, something he noticed but I hadn't!

It was thundering and getting dark so we headed to the car and we drove home in the worst storm.  Poor Ira could hardly see to drive.  Despite the weather folks poured into the park until almost 10 o'clock!  Setting up in the dark and rain is a bear and I felt bad for those that had to do it.

We had all gone to the gazebo to play cards and in between hands I was doing my laundry.  It was another late night.