Coffee by the seaside

Even if the hour is late, if you have friends in a place, give them a call.

I navigated Moose Alley and got to Portland, Maine around 9:00 p.m. I found another classic road trip motel, the Admiral Inn, on U.S. 1 in South Portland. Once I got the stuff off the bike and into the room I called Rob Gips. I knew Rob had daughters, and wasn't surprised that the line was busy the first several times I called.

I persisted, and I'm glad I did. Rob invited me to come over to his house early Wednesday for coffee. The company and the house alone would have been worth the visit, but there was coffee and just out of the oven pop-overs.

Rob is a highly regarded attorney for Indian tribes, particularly in the area of tribal gaming rights. With a practice like that Rob is on the road a great deal, but I was lucky to catch him at home. Rob's wife Karen, on almost no notice and with few ingredients in the house baked the pop-overs. I'm not sure I had ever had them before, but they were tasty.

My impromptu visit came at the end of a hectic weekend with one daughter graduating from college and the other coming home for the summer. In addition there was a cousin in town. None of that bothered Karen or Rob, or if it did, they are superb actors.

We sat on the porch looking out over a rocky cliff at the Atlantic. The lobstermen in their small white boats were pulling their traps at the base of the cliff while out on the horizon oil tankers waited to unload their cargo. Since 9/11 the tankers remain off shore until their time to unload. No more waiting in port with a volitile and potentially dangerous cargo.

The house is set in Cape Elizabeth which is a planned community established in the late 1800s. The house, known as Overledge because it is built directly on a granite ledge, was designed by noted architect John Calvin Stevens. In its early years the house was a summer cottage, but it is now home year round for the Gips. Overledge was built in 1885, and has weathered many an Atlantic storm. Rob showed me a photo taken of a wave crashing against the cliff in front of a house 250 yards away. The spray from the wave was 75 feet high and towered over the house.

I put in the picture of Rob and me sitting in the purple chairs to offer proof that after almost 10,000 miles on the bike, I can still sit still. Aspirin.

Fortunately I had a GPS on the bike or I might never have found the house. For some reason Portland and Cape Elizabeth don't label all of their streets. The GPS would instruct turn on Cottage Lane in 200 feet. At the appointed spot I would turn having faith that the GPS knew that the unmarked street was Cottage Lane. It working getting from the motel to the house and from the house to the Interstate to head toward Hyde Park.

As pleasant as the visit was, I hit the road. I was glad I called and doubly glad that Rob and Karen were up for a drop-in early morning guest. I hope they call me if they come near Columbia.