Photo of the Week

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.....

OK, she didn't really live in a shoe. She lived in a luxury motor coach.

But what kind of story would that make ...?

Leaving Acadia NP, Arriving Bean Town (Freeport, not Boston)

We had planned to get moving early and make a dash for Freeport and LL Bean. However, the weather had cleared and it was a beautiful day. We had not been to the top of Cadillac Mountain this trip, so we decided to spend a little more time on the island before heading south. There were a ton of people on the summit, thanks to the cruise ships, but it was worth it. The views were stunning. Later we walked on the waterfront at Bar Harbor for a while. We finally got on the road and enjoyed the fall foliage down scenic US 1. I have come to the conclusion that the porcupine is to Maine as the 'possum is to the southeast and the armadillo is to the southwest. The roadkill of choice. There was one on the side of the road about every other mile. When we arrived at Freeport in late afternoon, it had started to rain heavily (great shopping weather--Dorcas). We visited the North Face and Patagonia outlets and then went to LL Bean. This is my fourth trip to LL Bean since 1986 and it is bigger every time. The first time I went it was all in one HUGE store. Now it is in four HUGE stores. There is the "Flagship" store, the Hunting and Fishing store, the Bike, Boat and Ski store and the Outlet store. We shopped until after midnight and spent the night in their parking lot. We were actually very frugal. We only bought a handful of sale items.

Acadia Park Loop Road

We had planned to bike another day, but it was overcast and dreary. We just weren't in the mood. We went into Bar Harbor with the intentions of eating a seafood brunch at the Thirsty Whale. The librarians had turned us on to the Whale. It turns out that there were two large cruise ships anchored in Bar Harbor. When one cruise ship is in, it doubles the population of Bar Harbor. When two ships are in, you guessed it: quadrupled. We couldn't get a table at the Thirsty Whale; we couldn't even get in the restroom. We decided to drive the Park Loop Road instead. The good news is that cruise ship passengers don't have cars to drive on the Park Loop Road. The bad news is that the cruise lines charter buses to take then around the island. You couldn't cross the road without getting run over by tour bus. All of the most popular features, such as Thunder Hole were clogged up with tourists, so we spent a lot of time walking on the rocks near the water and poking into the tide pools. Dorcas was fascinated by what she called "skunk ducks". The skunk ducks were black and white, with a skunk-like pattern, and would flock in rafts just off the rocks. In short order, we figured out they were Eider ducks. After our Park Loop Road tour we ended up back at the Thirsty Whale for a late lunch/early dinner. This time the place was nearly empty, and we enjoyed lobster rolls, fish sandwiches and clam chowder. We came back to camp and enjoyed some of our free fire wood.

Biking Acadia

Acadia has many wonderful features, but perhaps the most unique are the carriage trails. John D. Rockefeller built the carriage trails and their stone bridges prior to giving the land to the park. Today they are used primarily for biking and walking. One of our objectives for this trip was to spend some time biking on the carriage trails. I had convinced Dorcas that the trails were flat, but it turns out that they are hillier than I had remembered. Nothing terribly steep, but definitely rolling terrain. Today was a great day for biking: sunny and clear, with temperatures in the 50s. We put in at Jordan Pond, headed north on the Around-Mountain trail, went by Aunt Betty's Pond, around Eagle Lake, and south back by Bubble Pond. When he came to Day Mountain I coerced Dorcas into going up. Day Mountain is the only summit with a carriage trail to the top. While it is only just under 600', it does offer good views of the island. When we returned to Jordan Pond, we had biked almost 17 miles. After biking we went into Bar Harbor to check our e-mail. We have had great success in New England accessing the internet at public libraries, and Bar Harbor was no exception. In fact, Bar Harbor's Jesup Memorial Library is the most impressive library we have been in. The exterior is brick with intricate carved stone highlights. Inside it is an open space with two levels of balconied book stacks along the outer walls with oak and walnut paneling. Very majestic. The librarians at New England libraries have been very friendly and accommodating, Additionally, they have been a font of information about the locale.

Touring Acadia National Park

It rained a bit last night and it was a good morning to sleep in. Eventually we got up and cooked pancakes and sausage. It was overcast and cool, so we weren't anxious to start biking too early. We decided to go out on a wood scavenging run, thinking that since many folks are going home, maybe they would leave their firewood. We had picked up a few pieces near our site in A loop, when a guy pulls up in a van and asks if we want some kindling. Sure! Thanks! He was a contractor and had a large box of wood scraps that he gave us. He said they were closing B loop today for the season, and everyone is checking out there. He had just left there and said folks had left a lot of wood on the sites. We got in the car and drove to B loop and hit the jackpot. We found a ton of dried split wood. We filled up the back of the Honda, went home and dumped it, and returned for another load. We have enough wood now to last a week or more. After lunch we drove to Ship Harbor for a ranger-led walk along the coast to explore the tide pools. Big fun! Then we drove to Bass Harbor to see perhaps the most famous lighthouse in Maine. Normally one must shoot into the sun when photographing Bass Harbor Head Light, but today was cloudy, and we could take pictures without looking into the sun.

Acadia National Park

Today we drove a whopping 30 miles to Acadia National Park. We had planned to stay at Blackwoods Campground, one of two campgrounds in the park. The other, Seawall CG, is closed for the season. However, when we drove onto the island, we saw a sign that said Blackwoods CG was full. Dang. Normally on a Sunday, campgrounds begin to empty out, but this is a holiday weekend. It was early yet, about 10:00, so maybe there would be spaces later. We went to the visitor's center and it was a zoo; you could barely get in the door. Screw this, let's see the park! We avoided the Park Loop Road as a route to Blackwoods CG, because there are four bridges on that route between 10' and 12' high. Faithful readers will remember that our coach soars to 12' 1". We took route 3 to the CG. When we arrived at Blackwoods, the ranger said they were just finishing their morning sweep to see what was available. She was certain that sites were available, but was concerned about the size of our coach.. They have a size limit of 35' long and 11'8" tall. Our coach is a 33' model, but she said we were almost 35' long. I didn't quibble, because we did fit in the 35' lines they have on the pavement at the check-in station. They apparently rigorously enforce the length rule, but not the height rule. I told her our height was 12'1", and she said they only prune trees to 11'8", but she would let us in if we wanted to risk hitting or brushing tree limbs. Cool! By this time, they had completed their sweep and she offered us two sites that she thought would suit us. Most of the sites in Blackwoods are pretty small, but there are two rows with pull-throughs designed for trailers and motorhomes. We walked in to check out the sites to make sure we could get through without hitting any vertical or horizontal obstructions. A-48 was perfect, so we took it. We will probably stay until Thursday before leaving and turning south. We spent the rest of the day driving around the eastern section of Mount Desert Island. We went to Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor and back up to Bar Harbor. We looped back to the visitor's center about 4:00, and it was nearly deserted by then, so we watched the park orientation video and talked to a ranger about some things we wanted to do. There are many things to do at Acadia, but I was particularly looking forward to riding our bikes on the carriage trails. After dinner we attended the very last campfire program of the season: "All Things Furry" about mammals in the park. The ranger was very entertaining and it was a fun program.

A Visit With a Friend

Dorcas here, filling in for the “vacationing” Myron…Today we woke to a beautiful clear day with promises of mild temperatures in the mid to upper sixties. We had made plans to visit with a good friend of mine, Margaret, from North Carolina who now lives in Maine. We were meeting for lunch in Belfast, about 40 miles down the coast from Ellsworth. Since it is Columbus Day weekend all the small towns were having celebrations. We checked out a Flea Market, several yard sales and some retail stores having sales. We also enjoyed the sights of a scarecrow competition (scary); the sounds of a German brass band (lovely); and the smells of sausages and onions being cooked for a Boy Scout fundraiser (yummy). We took several opportunities along the way to walk down to the waterfront and view the number of boats of all sizes moored in the bays.

At Bucksport we crossed a newly opened bridge with an observation tower The Penobscot Narrows Bridge. This is one of only three such Bridge Observatories in the world. We didn’t take the tour today since there were lots of tourists and decided to wait until a weekday.

In Belfast we parked a few blocks from our meeting place, the Belfast Coop Store, in order to walk around town. We arrived at our lunch spot just as Margaret arrived. I had not seen Margaret for about 8 or 10 years. Of course, neither of us has changed a bit in all the years and we both look great! It was wonderful to see her and be able to catch up on her travels, our travels and future plans. Margaret is thinking about adopting a small pup and we told her about Izaak and how much we miss him and how we have to pet other peoples’ dogs to get our “fix”. In fact, this morning I got to visit with our neighbors’ Siamese cat that looks very much like Yum Yum with a similar personality. She was great.

After a lovely lunch we said our goodbyes to Margaret with hugs and kisses. Before leaving town, Myron and I walked a nice footbridge across Penobscot Bay. Afterwards we headed back to camp with a stop by the LL Bean outlet just to make sure we hadn’t missed something when we were there yesterday.

Movin' on to Maine

This morning we left New Hampshire and drove about 200 miles east across Maine. It was an extremely pleasant drive, as the leaves are near peak in this part of the country. We resisted the temptation to visit Stephen King's house when we passed through Bangor. We also resisted the urge to visit the Old Town Canoe factory in Old Town (been there). We are camped at Hospitality Woods RV Park in Ellsworth, ME. We will stay here two nights and move a short distance to Acadia National Park on Sunday. This evening we did some grocery shopping and went to the L.L. Bean outlet store in town.

Summitting Mt. Washington

Today we hiked to the summit of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the northeast. Mt. Washington has the distinction of having the worst weather on earth. That is not the experience we wanted to have, so we watched the summit forecast very closely for several days. There is a major weather observatory atop Mt. Washington and great weather data is available. This day looked like the best: clear, sunny, mid 50s, 30 mph winds. While watching the forecast this week one day was predicted to be "clear but undercast" for the summit. This was a new one for me, but I think it means the sky is clear, looking up from the summit, but there is cloud cover below the summit. The highest surface wind ever recorded on earth was 231 mph on Mt. Washington. I expect that that record is due more to the fact that they have all that fancy monitoring equipment, than having higher winds than other peaks. Shoot, Grandfather Mountain probably gets winds that high, but their Radio Shack weather station blows away when the wind exceeds 125 mph.

We chose to hike up on the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail and return on the Jewell Trial, forming a loop about ten miles long. The trialhead is at EL2560', near the parking lot for the Cog Railway. The summit is at EL6288'. If you do the math, the gain is 3728, a fairly respectable climb. The hike actually was much easier than I expected. The Ammonoosuc Trail connected with the Crawford Path about a half mile below the summit. The Crawford Path is the oldest mountain hiking trial in America. It was laid out in 1819 and ends at the summit. As far as I could tell, only one other person hiked up the Ammonoosuc Trail this day. However, when we reached the summit, we saw perhaps a hundred other hikers. I assume they all came up the east side from Pinkham Notch. There were also about a gazillion tourist who came up on the Cog or on the Mt. Washington Auto Road. It is always disheartening to crest a significant summit and then have a tourist in flip flops take your picture and ask if you actually walked all the way up here. We stayed at the summit almost two hours before heading down. About 1/4 way down Dorcas turned her ankle. It wasn't very serious, but it caused her some discomfort and slowed us down a bit on the descent. We took about 4 hours going up and four hours coming down. It was a very rewarding hike. As forecast, the weather was great and the views were fantastic.

Quote of the Day

"Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoe makers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men."

Daniel Webster speaking of the Old Man of the Mountain.

Franconia Notch State Park

On our windshield tour yesterday the one place we saw that we really wanted to return to was Franconia Notch State Park. Franconia Notch State Park has a number of remarkable features, including the Flume Gorge, Old Man of the Mountain, Cannon Mountain aerial tram and ski area and a multi use recreation trail. Franconia Notch State Park is unusual in that an interstate highway, I-93 runs right up the middle of the park. When they were planning I-93 there was much debate and controversy about its route through the park. Finally, a compromise was reached that the highway would be built, but it would be more like a parkway than an interstate highway. Consequently, the section through the park necks down to two lanes and has a 45 mph speed limit. On/off ramps access the park features. It is actually rather nicely done.

First we toured the Flume Gorge, a 700' long 90' deep slot gorge of the Pemigewasset River through solid granite. It was a bit reminiscent of our earlier visit to Watkins Glen State Park. One can walk up the gorge on wooden walkways affixed to the walls of the gorge. Later we rode our bikes up the multi-use Recreational Trail which runs almost 9 miles from the south end to the north end of the park. The trail is paved, and, while there are a few steep sections, the grade is relatively mild. The trail passes by the viewpoint of the former Old Man of the Mountain. The Old Man of the Mountain was an iconic face profile consisting of five slabs of Conway red granite suspended in a cliff 1200' above Profile Lake. Unfortunately, on May 3, 2003, the Old Man fell, after his chin slab gave way. We also toured the New England Ski Museum, at the base of Cannon Mountain ski area. Much of the museum was dedicated to the 10th Mountain Division of the Fifth Army, which fought in the latter part of WWII. The idea of the 10th, a division of highly trained mountain soldiers, was proposed to the War Department by Charles M. (Minnie) Dole, the founder of the National Ski Patrol. The 10th waged a very successful campaign in the Italian Alps in 1944 and 1945. After the war many veterans from the 10th returned to the US and pioneered the development of recreational skiing and mountaineering in this country. We finished our ride in the near dark. Another full day, however, no moose sighting.

White Mountains Windshield Tour

Today we slept late and had a late brunch. Then we struck out to reconnoiter these parts of the White Mountain National Forest. We drove east on Route 302 and found ourselves at the base of Mt. Washington and the station for the Mt. Washington Cog Railway. The Cog first summited Mt. Washington in 1869. The average grade of its ascent is 25%, and it achieves 37% at its steepest point. Tickets are $59 each, so we elected to pass on a train ride. I rode the Cog in 1986, and Dorcas didn't feel strongly about it. We did hang around the station for a while and watched the trains depart. The engines are specially designed for this hill and the boilers are tilted forward about 30 degrees so that they are nearly level while pushing the car up the hill. They put out a lot of coal smoke. The folks back at DAQ would be appalled.

We continued on Route 302 and found ourselves in Bartlett, NH. There we found wi-fi at the public library at Josiah Bartlett Elementary School. In TV's "The West Wing" Martin Sheen played President Josiah Bartlet, from a small town in New Hampshire, who was a direct descendant of the real-life Josiah Bartlett, a New Hampshire signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Fact meets fiction in the shadow of the Presidential Range. After checking our e-mail and conducting other internet chores, we left Bartlett and cut over on the Bear Notch Road to Route 112, the "Kancamagus Highway". The "Kank" is a very scenic road that runs about 34 miles from Lincoln to Conway through a very undeveloped section in the heart of the White Mountain NF. We had been told that this was prime moose habitat, but we couldn't find Bullwinkle. Leaving the "Kank" we drove north through Franconia Notch State Park just as it was getting dark and closed the loop on our circuit drive through the White Mountains.

At many of the trailheads and other parking areas the National Forest charges a parking fee. This is not unique to the WMNF, but it is more prevalent here than I can recall in other NFs we have visited recently. On the up-side, the money appears to be wisely spent. The parking areas and overlooks were paved and had ample space. The NF also had a large number of very nice interpretive displays.

The fall foliage is splendid. It has probably peaked for this area, although with the warm temperatures and dry summer, it is not as colorful peak as other years.

A Mouse in the House

We have had an unfortunate wildlife encounter. No, we didn't run over a moose. One night about a week ago we heard a scratching sound from somewhere near the rear of the coach. Dorcas thought it was a mouse in the coach. I was in denial and disagreed. I thought the sound was coming from outside, perhaps branches or leaves brushing the side or top of the coach. Our fears were confirmed however when we found tangible signs of a mouse. Under the galley sink he had nibbled on some apples and potatoes and in a drawer he had shredded some dish towels and a pot holder. There were also some more disgusting signs. Dang. He was apparently settling in for the winter and building a nest. Having had mouse invasions in our previous coach and our travel trailer, I was prepared with mouse traps already on-board. I set up traps under the sink and in the towel drawer. Since we knew he liked apples, that was our bait of choice. It turns out this particular rodent was a worthy adversary. For several nights in a row, he took the bait in both traps, but never sprung either one. Then last night I heard the trap spring under the galley sink. Yes! When I looked, there he was. Unfortunately, he wasn't dead. He wasn't even injured. It seems that he had sprung the trap, but the wire snapper had missed him entirely. He was sitting on the trap munching on the bait looking at me. I looked at him, he looked at me. I blinked, he blinked. Before I could whack him, he scurried away. Dang. Now he was probably trap-wary, and we would never catch him. However, we were persistent and continued to set the traps. Sometime this evening Mr. Mouse's luck ran out. He got nailed in the towel drawer. I just hope his family is not on board. We are keeping the traps out, just in case.

Arrival in New Hampshire

This morning we broke camp and drove the Veteran's Memorial Highway to the summit of Whiteface Mountain. The summit offers excellent views of Lake Placid and the High Peaks. On a clear day one can see Montreal, Quebec. Unfortunately, today was not a clear day. There were no clouds, but there was a thick haze. Still a great view.

We have now left New York and the Adirondacks behind. It's nearly impossible to get from Wilmington NY to Vermont. That pesky Lake Champlain gets in the way. We could cross on one of several ferries, but they charge by the foot. With the coach and the Element, including about 4 feet of canoe sticking off the rear, we are about 60' stem to stern. The toll would have cost almost 80 bucks. Our other options were to 1) use the bridge 30 miles to the north at Champlain, or 2) use the bridge 30 miles to the south at Port Henry. The ferry would be the quickest route, but, hey, we're retired. We're in no hurry. We used the Port Henry bridge. We zipped across Vermont in no time. Tonight we are camped at Apple Hill Campground, a private campground in Bethlehem, NH, north and west of the White Mountain National Forest. For the first time in two weeks we have external electrical power and are doing some laundry and running the heat pumps, the microwave and the stereo. We will probably stay here 3-4 nights and hike in the WMNF, before heading to Maine.

Quote of the Week

"You're playing worse and worse every day and right now you're playing like it's next month."

"You know, Willie Wonka said it best: we are the makers of dreams, the dreamers of dreams. "

Herb Brooks, coach of the gold medal 1980 Men's Olympic hockey team.

Olympic Venues, Lake Placid

Today we returned to Lake Placid and toured some Olympic venues. Lake Placid hosted the third winter Olympic games in 1932 and the 13th winter Olympic games in 1980. The Olympic Sports Complex hosts the skating events and is near downtown. We toured the Olympic museum there, which had a number of very interesting exhibits. One exhibit had a continuous, uncut televised showing of the 1980 USA vs. USSR men's hockey match aka "The Miracle On Ice". We didn't watch the whole match. Later we toured the Olympic Jumping Complex. We rode the elevator to the top of the 120 meter jump, which had thrilling views of the countryside around Lake Placid. We also watched future Olympic hopefuls honing their skills at freestyle jumping. The skiers would slide down a plastic coated ramp, launch off the end, do flips and twists, and land in a swimming pool. It was very entertaining.

When we returned to our campground, the weekend crowd had departed and the place was nearly empty. There were only about eight sites occupied in the 54 site campground. That's one of the good things about camping during the week. It's slack time. Another good thing about being able to stay at the same place for a good while is that you get to know the people running the place. Mike here is a great guy, and climbs a mountain almost every day before work. One of his first duties each morning is to clean out the fire pits. He has been bringing us abandoned firewood from other sites. We don't even have to pilfer it ourselves! We have had a fire every night that we wanted one, and will leave with more wood than we came with. Cool! The only camper who has been here longer than us is Ron. Ron has been camping at Wilmington Notch Campground almost continuously for two years. He says he wants to die here. Technically there is a 14 day limit, but they usually do not enforce the limit except during peak periods. They asked Ron to leave during the busy 4th of July and Labor Day weekends, but he returned shortly thereafter. He will have to leave when the campground closes for the season next month, but will likely be back when it reopens in the spring. Ron wins the contest for the most frequent camper points.

I keep a log of when and where we have stayed in the motor home. Tonight I summed things up: On September 30, the year is 3/4 gone, and we have been in the motorhome for 107 nights this year so far. It will be about three weeks until we get home, and we have some other trips planned before the end of the year, so that number will rise. Additionally, we have spent at least 45 nights in a tent this year: backpacking on the Chatooga in Georgia, canoing the Withlacoochee River (north) in Florida, biking the KATY in Missouri, canoing the Current and Jack's Fork in Missouri, backpacking the "Bob" in Montana and canoing the BWCAW in Minnesota. I think we have earned some serious frequent camper points ourselves!

Oktoberfest

Today we attended Oktoberfest at Whiteface Mountain. If you have never attended an authentic Oktoberfest, the objective is to drink German beer, eat German food and listen to German Music, all to excess. We managed to accomplish all three quite well. Luckily the event was within walking distance of our campsite at Wilmington Notch. Musical headliners were die Schlauberger, said to be "America's #1 German Festival Band" (that must be an impressive honor) and the Schwarzenegger Connection. When we attended the Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia a few months ago, someone said that a little ragtime goes a long way.
The same can be said of traditional German dance festival music, which is a kissing cousin to the polka. In the afternoon we rode the gondola to the summit of Little Whitemface Mountain. The temperature there was in the low 40's with 30-40 mph winds. I'm considering re-thinking my commitment to wearing only short pants for the duration of this trip. From Little Whiteface we had great views of Lake Placid to the west, Lake Champlain to the east and the Adirondack High Peaks to the south.

Mt. Marcy

Today we conquered Mt. Marcy. Mt. Marcy is at EL 5344' and is the highest peak in the state of New York. We approached on the Van Hoevenberg trail from Adirondak Loj. That trail is 7.4 miles to the summit with an elevation gain of about 3300'. A pretty fair day hike. As is typical for most summit trails, the first third is flat, the second third is moderately steep and the final third is the steepest. While it is a long hike, almost 15 miles round trip, it's still not as steep and tough as is Mt. Katahdin up the AT from Katahdin Stream access. The weather was not great, but it could have been worse. The temperature was mild, in the mid-50s at the summit (with +40 mph winds!), but it was overcast and spitting a little drizzle all day. Unfortunately the views from the summit were obscured by fog and clouds. For a while we thought we would be the only ones on the mountain this day, but shortly after leaving the summit, we met two young soldiers, who apparently had trotted up the hill. Show offs! At the trailhead was a pile of rocks with a sign asking hikers to carry a rock to the summit, for use in cairns and trail markers. Dorcas and I, being noble and dedicated to the cause of wilderness preservation, each carried a rock to the summit. I bet the soldiers didn't carry a rock!

After the hike, we were bushed. We headed for town and had pizza and beer at Mr. Mike's Pizza.

Lake Placid and Wilmington Notch, NY

We are camped at Wilmington Notch Campground, at the base of Whiteface Mountain, about 8 miles from Lake Placid. We signed up here for five nights. When we pulled in the lady asked if we were looking for the KOA. Wise ass. I guess they aren't used to seeing the big rigs. On Sunday we will probably head for New Hampshire. Yesterday the temperature rose to very unseasonable 90 degrees. It stormed a bit last night, and, after a day or two of unsettled weather, it should get cooler. Today we are poking around the village of Lake Placid. Lake Placid was the site of the 1932 and 1980 winter Olympic games, and is rich in Olympic history. Except for the Olympic venues and some good bars and restaurants, the village of Lake Placid is basically a shopper's tourist trap. Parking is tight in the village, but we found a metered space where the meter stopped counting down at 1:30 hours. Free parking! We have left the prime paddling area of the Adirondacks and have entered excellent mountain hiking terrain. Tomorrow, if the weather is not too bad, we may hike to the summit of Mt. Marcy, the highest point in New York.

Paddling on the Bog River

Today we paddled on the Bog River, between the villages of Long Lake and Tupper Lake. The Bog Flow is a well known canoe camping area. One can put in at the Lower Low's Dam and paddle a few miles along flat water through Hitchen's Pond to the Upper Low's dam. After a short carry around the dam the river continues to Low's Lake, where there are about 50 established campsites. The ranger reported 95 cars in the parking lot (actually strung out all along the access road) on Saturday night. People were still coming out on Monday morning, but we saw few people after noon. At the upper dam we hiked to the Hitchen's Pond overlook, a high rocky outcrop that has excellent views of Hitchen's Pond and the Bog River. It was a very leisurely and enjoyable day trip.

This area was developed by Augustus Low, who was into about everything, including maple products, lumber and wine. When he built the upper dam in 1907, the state of NY claimed he flooded public land and levied a fine. He disagreed and ignored the fine. The state later re-fined him and he paid the fine under protest. About 60 years later Low's son, Augustus, Jr., filed suit on the the old fine and won. The state returned the amount of the fine with interest. Justice prevails!