quote:Originally posted by TheWatchman:
I've been to Maine 4 or 5 times within the last year and a half but never been that far east of Bangor. I bet I drove 220 miles or so north of Bangor to get to Fort Kent. Once you get past the 95 and 11 junction, you know you are a little spec in the middle of a wildneress. God forbid you break down at night because there is so little traffic and most places have no cellular service. You'd have to sleep in your car like Joel Fleischman did on Northern Exposure. Hopefully, the great chef and pathological liar, Adam would not find you! 
I bet there are strip malls etc. on the way to Calais. It's really not all that far from Bangor and I am sure the population is significant along 9. Maybe not.
In Presque Isle, there is a nice little shopping area with a Wal-Mart and some other decent shopping available. But that's the exception, at least from what I have seen. Once you get west of 11, I bet you won't find much of anything at all except trees.
It's just a beatiful place to live your life and like a local to told me, "to live life as it was intended".
Oh, you took Rt. 11. That's a scenic highway. I assumed you went straight up Rt. 1 or Rt. 1A. Rt. 1A is also a nice drive, along the St. John River and right on the border of New Brunswick and Canada.
Presque Isle is truly the only urban area in Northern Maine. To us, it's a city, but in actuality, it's really Small Town America. About 12,000 people, I think. They do have a nice mall and even Walmart. Walmart has been a bit of a controversity, though. It's a Super Walmart, so they sell just about everything you'd ever need. A lot of our smaller businesses can't compete and have gone out of business, which kind of ruins the small town charm.
Caribou, Madawask and Houlton are the only other towns with populations over 5000. Limestone, where I live, has a population of only 2200.
Our motto is: Maine... The way life should be.
I don't always agree with that, especially when I have to drive 9 or 10 hours to see a Lightfoot concert. Even driving to Portland to see him was a long drive, about 6 hours.
Cathy