I can't believe I said July! Forgive me, Friends of Fort Edgecomb! They still need a volunteer safety boat for the 1812 Battle of Fort Edgecomb the weekend of JUNE 14 and 15, times dependent upon tides. Anyone with a small boat who is willing to hover on the outskirts during the two days, just in case an invader or defender goes overboard – so far no one has, but... – please call FFE president Matt Dunn at 377-5335. And come to their meeting at the Sheepscot River Inn, 7 pm Wednesday, June 4. Plans are crystallising for the Battle,. Special features will
include a Sundown Salute for our troops, in which all available ordnance will be fired. (Idea: Could we design some FFE earmuffs?) The Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railroad is going to run a shuttlebus from their depot in Alna over to the Fort Edgecomb site and back, thus saving folks parking hassles and park fees. For more information, call the Friends of Fort Edgecomb president, Matt Dunn, at 377-5335.

The Schmid Preserve Committee announces the Second Annual National Trails Day on Saturday, June 7! Come hike the newly laid Haggett's Loop and Southern Loop trails! Quiz for the day: Define "graminoid swale." Answer will be given next week.

Now, where were we when last we saw Bob and Cindy Brown? From Las Vegas they headed for Benson, Arizona to visit the legendary town of Tombstone, then up a gruelingly loose dirt road some 6,500 feet up to the Coronado National Memorial. If you remember your 4th grade history class, Coronado is the guy who was chasing down the 7 Cities of Gold. The top of the National Memorial gives great views of the Sierra Valley on one side, and of north Mexico on the other. From heights to deeps, in Bisby AZ, a copper mine museum which gives its tours in mine carts, each visitor equipped with a hard hat and headlamp. The Browns' guide had worked for years in the copper industry, well versed and informative on the history of copper in this country.

When the Browns returned through Texas, they camped in League City, a suburb of Houston not far from where Bruce and I used to live, in La Porte! They took in Space Center Houston, a disappointment, and the boat trip around the Houston Turning Basin, unexpectedly fascinating. When they went down to Galveston, they discovered a museum had been set up in an off-shore oil rig! Well worth the visit! They took in the Moody Mansion and the Moody Gardens (Moodys are a great philanthropic family in that area). The Gardens have several theme gardens which were just being created while we were living there, and three pyramids devoted to aspects of natural history.

In Louisiana they traveled over the long long suspended highway over Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans. The scenic bus tour was a great way to be introduced to this remarkable but parking-challenged city! Bob recommends Mardi Gras World, which houses past parade floats and costumes as well as a workshop for building or re-building new ones. You may be comforted to know that parade floats contain a tiny privy for the convenience of the various
floatriders! The Destrehan Plantation, 20 miles west of New Orleans, gave them insight into the lifestyle of the antebellum South. A 15-member family and over 200 slaves worked 8,000 acres, originally in indigo, then switched to cotton. Today, of course, the family's interests are in oil.

By this time, the Browns were ready for home. Northward bound through Jacksonville, Florida where there is an outstanding zoo, and the Anheuser Busch bottling plant tour, monstrous stainless steel tanks like something out of science fiction! In Bennettsville, South Carolina, they were treated to a private tour by the curator of the Jennings-Brown House. This building and Bennettsville's courthouse were the only structures spared by General Tecumseh Sherman in his March to the Sea, probably because he put up his troops in them and it is bad manners to burn the home of one's host! From there the Browns scampered up the Eastern Shore just ahead of 20 inches of snow, arriving home April 1. They invite suggestions for neat places to visit their next venture out.

Hardening off the tomato plants at 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@midcoast.com. This column appears in The Boothbay Register, The Lincoln County News, The Wiscasset Newspaper, and at www.Edgecomb.org.