Enthusiastic welcome!

I've arrived in Presque Isle - which is not an island at all - which appears to be not just bigger than Houlton, the town I just left, but many more people of color are visible here.

I pull over on Main St in front of the place where I will be reading (hopefully tomorrow) but as I jump out of the truck to check it out, I see a very big, tall man is behind my truck, camera in front of his face, filming and a very short broadly smiling womon is rapidly approaching me.

"We've been following you" she exclaims. "We're so happy you stopped. We LOVE your truck!" and she proceeds to hug me.

They are both from Canada, crossing the border to join in ceremony with her Nation outside this town, Sharon waves her hand toward the river and woods on the other side of Main St. She tells me the name of her people and her husband's people, but I don't catch it and am too ashamed to admit my ignorance.

They must be in their 50's but when I ask them how they met, their smiles are still fond and loving as they describe the ceremony they both attended as teenagers. They've never left each other nor this land where their people first thrived for 10's of thousands of years and then figured out how to survive the assault of white men. They both talk about the racism they've experienced all their lives. They talk about the uptick in violence since tRump and caution me with how this is tRump territory.

Some white men on loud motorcycles roar by as we're speaking and Vern looks knowingly in my direction. I invite them to come to my book reading but they're heading home after ceremony.

I continue across the street to the empty storefront, leave my card in the door, and decide to head to check out the walmart situation just in case that's my only option for tonite. I would have parked in front of my reading venue but every 10 or 20 feet there's a sign declaring "No Overnite Parking" so I'll check out both walmart and the campground.