Tangle With a Turkey and Other Adventures on a Maine Day Trip

Yesterday morning I headed out for the two and a half hour drive to Lewiston. My only goal was to pick up the puppets I had in The Maine Craft Association's Biennial Show. Little did I know the adventures and misadventures that would fill my day.

Despite the driving rain and high winds, I made it to Lewiston without any trouble. Turning into the road that leads to USM, I noticed rte. 9 went to Lisbon and Topsham. So after picking up my puppets, I headed down rte. 9 on a whim, figuring I'd stop at Target in Topsham and get some shopping done. (Target, why do I love thee so? Let me count the reasons. 1. Your Iams dog treats are way cheaper than Hannaford's. 2. You aren't quite as evil as Wal-Mart. 3. I can find Stylin' clothes on your sale racks...)

The drive through Lisbon (the birthplace of Moxie Soda--it's a Maine thing!) was quite lovely and truly a Maine experience: everything from green parks to old empty mills to trailers to gentrified ranch homes; antique dealers next to self storage units. Lisbon has a kind of retro feel. Main Street looks like it hasn't changed much since 1965. It's REAL and not all spiffed up and fancy. I liked it! Enroute I decided I might as well go to Freeport and stop at arguably the best bead store in Maine, The Beadin' Path. So after a quick spin through Target, I hopped back onto 295 and was soon picking out lovely beads at The Beadin' Path to resell at The April Bead Show I organize in Ellsworth (the lucite beech leaf beads above are going to offered for sale at the Ellsworth Show). Beadin' Path has a great selection of vintage and contemporary lucite beads and also beautiful Czech glass beads. Also stopped in at the hip Horny Toad outlet on Bow Street.

For the long trip home I decided to take 95 to Augusta, then rte. 3 to Belfast. Just outside of Belfast, while listening carefully to a story about the new iPad on NPR, I suddenly noticed a HUGE wild turkey out of the corner of my eye. It was fluttering rapidly towards me, perhaps flustered by the heavy wind and rain. In a flash it smashed its 50 to 60 pound body into my driver's side, sheering my rearview mirror right off. With my rearview now hanging by two skinny electrical cords and a pounding heart I drove into Belfast. Amazingly, the rearview was the only thing damaged. I survived the incident shaken, but unscathed. The turkey, I fear, wasn't in very good shape. Having stopped in Belfast, I figured I might as well stop into the retro-chic store Yo Mama's Home, where I hopefully didn't bore the salesperson too badly with my woeful turkey tale. Feeling grateful to be alive and unhurt, I pulled my smashed rearview into my car and headed out, through the ongoing wind and rain for HOME, always the best place ever after adventures big and small.