Travel Tales - Moose Tails

Dig in the Travel Tales, Moose Tails Archives for more tales and adventures!

Our Hero Jim

The Moose With The Pointy Hoof by Brenda Marcotte

Yet Another Silly Story

The Memorial Day-Weekend Moose Legend by Brenda Marcotte

Moonlight Adventure by Warmtears

A Four Moose Morning by Brenda Marcotte

Our Greenville Trip by Brenda Marcotte

Moose Postcards and more from our many Maine moose pictures as seen on our site: Moose Postcards

Moose Are Fictitious Animals, Right?

Part One

(As you probably noticed it has been more than a few days since I wrote the lead-in for this story...)

Ok, so already you know I exaggerate. (But in my defense...) First I must tell you I had to look that one up in the dictionary...and while I'm at it I decided to share the meaning with you: to exaggerate..."to enlarge something disproportionately, to make something greater than is actually the case, to magnify the truth" and the part I like best " to pile up".

Now...When it comes to moose, I don't exaggerate. I take my moose seriously!! You can't enlarge a moose disproportionately...the Good Maker already did that! And there ISN'T anything greater than a moose as far as I'm concerned, and you certainly don't need to Magnify them...that is to say, if they are there at all. And finally, if I could have exaggerated on that September day I mentioned I WOULD have piled moose up all over the place!!!

Looking back on things with a brain now cluttered with all sorts of things to do with the holidays (and other catastrophes large and small) it seems to me where I went wrong was in the planning. Too much planning never helps anything. I'm telling you, it is a mistake to plan too hard!!

It was January when Garry first said, "Gloria and I are getting married in September and I want to surprise her with a special honeymoon trip..." This should have been my first premonition of things to come...surprises fall right in with "best laid plans of mice and men..." One thing in my favor, Garry knew Gloria actually likes moose, so we didn't have to drag her out there against her will.

The mind-numbing cold of our Maine winters didn't dampen my enthusiasm as I worked frantically on getting my business ready to open in April (but it turned into May without my even trying...) and after a miniature tornado (at the end of May) tore the roof off my storage unit, a virus had struck my computer and it took me a month to rectify the problem, and I wisely decided to start the tours next year....I was STILL thinking about our September trip. It was their honeymoon adventure, but it was to be MY vacation!! And plan I did.

Since they made reservations at a lovely inn in NH and we are in Maine, my plan had to involve getting to them in timely fashion. (Moose are neither timely nor fashionable...so again I should have known I might be in trouble here. Early morning and late afternoon, early evening are best times to go; but hey, 3,000,000 moose tracks can't be wrong...some of them venture out during the day, right?)

Getting to NH from Maine ain't easy. "Not from here it ain't." There's only two ways to go, and they are both LONG!! And neither one of them is too direct. In Maine most of the roads run north and south (or south and north, depending on where you're going) and DARN FEW of them go east and west (or...you get the idea!) Anyway, I decided that while there was no shortest route, the most direct route would be through every town in western Maine and through Tourist City, NH. (If I went the other way though Upton, Errol and Berlin I might have been waylaid by a meandering but well-meaning moose...one can never be too busy to stop and take a roll or two of film when a moose is willing to model.)

I went over and over all the routes, roads, and mud holes in my brain during most of my wake-full moments through June, July and into August and looking over a map or two once or twice, I decided to drive through Tourist City and on up through, picking them up and driving up through Gorham and Berlin...and maybe (only if I really had to, time allowing) all the way to Errol. This would mean I would have to take them back to their inn of course (I was pretty sure Gloria would balk at walking that far) but I never mind "back tracking" through moose country...and BACK AGAIN on the way home I could go through the rest of moose country, down through Upton and parts south!! Sounded like a plan to me.

Then, as is often the case, my spirit moved me spontaneously to announce to my other third (I'm twice as big as he is) right before closing time one night in August, let's drive up through to check out "our trip/plan". We eliminated the "all towns in western Maine and Tourist City, NH" part and went up through to Upton, Errol, Berlin, and Gorham.

I want to tell you that is one of the most scenic, most fantastic, most moosified trips I ever took and not being as familiar with the Errol/Berlin part, I was thrilled and thoroughly satisfied with the three moose we saw, watched, and yes, Gloria, even photographed. (My dang digital camera is suffering from a case of misplaced battery charger or I ....oh, never mind!) ANYWAY. Satisfied my plan was good I blithely informed Garry we were "Golden".

Didn't plan on not being able to find my cooler...then figured Wally-World would be good for one, but it was summertime so, of course, they had school clothes and halloween stuff out...so at the ninth hour I was shaking down every relative who lived nearby, trying to find a cooler. My brother was my hero for the day...and as luck would have it, the picnic lunch I ordered from a local caterer was ready, AND they actually had ice (in the summertime...go figure!)

We were off. Garry had promised me it wouldn't rain. He was right. It was a beautiful sunny day and we set off with high expectations, right on time, armed with food, water, cameras, film, maps...what more could you want? Did I mention that I HAD warned Garry my air conditioner had caved and I wouldn't have a chance to fix it in time? We both dismissed that little detail thinking "how hot can it be in September?"

(I am starting to think I should have made this into a book, but somewhere I warned you, none of my stories are short.)


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