What's the story with Maine?

[ScumRag]

I've heard mixed reviews- beautiful, excessively cold, affordable but socially isolating...

Any one got anything to add?

 

[Clem]

I come from Maine. Summer and Fall are nice, although it can get surprisingly hot in Summer (upwards of 100F, sometimes a degree or two over at the peak in July). Fall is a little chilly sometimes but nothing a good jacket and sleeping bag can't handle. Winter is obviously cold as balls, and Spring is just plain depressing - just a warmer, muddier Winter, really. Summer doesn't really start until late May. I left in early April and we were still building snowmen. It stops snowing around that time but takes a month for it to melt and another month for the mud to dry. I don't know how well it would work for a houseless traveler in terms of scoring free food, hitch hiking, social acceptance etc as I haven't been back since adopting the lifestyle. Portland is the only place even resembling a modernized city. I've only been there a couple times but my recollection of it is it's an okay place, not terrible but nothing special. Throughout the state, public transportation is either nonexistent or so practically useless it may as well be.

It is, however, very beautiful. Nobody can ever deny that. My favorite time of year was always the middle of Fall when the leaves have changed. Someone from California likened it to being in a fantasy land, or an altered photograph come to life. I grew up with it and it never occurred to me that many (most?) other places in the country don't look like that in the Fall. Fresh snow in the morning after an all-night storm is also a sight to behold. Everything is dead silent, everything is pure white and clean. I think everyone should experience that at least once. Then head back South for the winter.