(Near the top of Mt. Washington. A tense seven miles. The road – unpaved in some places – was narrow and steep. We got close to sheer crumbling edges. And lots of cars were going up and coming down. But thousands of people have been making the trip for a long time. I wonder what happens in the winter with the staff at the weather station at the top of the mountain. Do they ride the cog train up and down every day?)
(The cog train up Mt. Washington was the first in the country. This was an older version.)
(We noticed several streams with rock cairns spaced periodically down the middle. Once boom chains were attached to guide logs downstream to saw mill operations.)
(Typical of places Bob and I have been calling "compounds" - houses, barns and outbuildings all attached - so the people don't have to go outside in the winter - the fact of life up here.)
(Some little town in northern Maine. There is a lot of empty country up here, but some development too. Most is old and run down. The question still comes to mind - what do people do for a living? What is the base of the economic pyramid?)
(Going down one of several back roads, working our way across north central Maine, we encountered a number of shacks. Hovels covered with raw insulation board, tarpaper, plastic – yards littered with trash. It’s as bad as anything I’ve seen in the south except that here there are the winters to contend with. Based on unscientific observations from Bob’s open car, economic conditions in the rural north generally seem poor. There are a lot of for sale signs and abandoned houses. I wonder if the population is declining in some of these places.)
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