It’s a Maine Thing - Hezzy’s Sidewalk Talk

Maine is filled with so many notable and interesting landmarks natural and manmade. They can be vestiges from another era like the lighthouse on Munjoy Hill in Portland that we use as a beacon to guide us around that section of town. Or the awe inspiring perspective of Mount Katahdin in Medway on Route 95 that tells you that you are approaching Millinocket. And we can’t overlook the well-preserved Sardine guy in Prospect Harbor that helps you set your compass on Downeast Maine. Or the catching the first glimpse of the toothpick place on your way to Sugarloaf when coming from the north. It’s these recognizable and popularized landmarks that we use as markers along the way to guide ourselves and others to wherever we are going. Mainers know where they all are. It’s just part of the experience of living here.

So here’s a new one to add to the list that deserves consideration, but has not received the attention that it has earned. It’s amazing that nobody ever talks about it. But for those of us who travel on Route 295 around Richmond you know about it. It’s the dip….the Big Dip in the road at mile marker 46, heading southbound. South of Augusta.

We all have the same, collective experience at mile 46. Our recent weekend trip to Portland reflects that. The toll booth of Gardner, where the coin currency was tossed in the basket, was already a distant memory. The cruise control was set and we’d settled into the easy ride down to Portland and points beyond. A wetland area, resplendent in its tranquility and peaceful beauty, was on the right, where we have occasionally spotted a heron or woodpecker in the past. On both sides of the road it’s an undeveloped landscape, so common along this stretch. The road is a straightaway. NPR’s All Things Considered was set on the radio dial. The guy we just passed  had his iPod is cranking out his favorite tunes. The climate control was set just right. The hamster wheel of over-processed thoughts in our mind was starting to settle down. Calm now had set in. We were in the groove for a nice relaxing ride for the next 40 miles before we hit the suburban sprawl of Southern Maine.

Then we vaguely spotted it in the distance, but at 72 miles an hour registered on the speedometer it always comes up real fast and sudden. No matter how often we drive this section of road it’s always forgotten about until it’s too late. All of a sudden the front end of the car was at that particular angle. That dangerous angle. Then it was too late. The rear end of the car followed through throwing the stuff on the back seat onto the floor. It’s like encountering an unexpected wake when you are on the water. Then we hit it. Ugh! Luckily the speed of the car combined with the over-all physics of the situation prevents any car we’ve ever been in to bottom out on the Big Dip at Mile 46, but it’s a Mainer’s wake up reminder to drive defensively.

Sure, it’s early spring and all, but don’t chalk this one up to a random, cyclical, pot-hole, frost heave experiences that annually plague Maine. This is a Maine DOT engineering matter and we know they earnestly spend time dealing with it. Our guess is that there is a stream that runs under the pavement that makes the ground soft which in turn creates a situation that creates the Big Dip. All we know is that The Big Dip is there all year and has been for the many years that that section of road was built in the late 70’s or so.

So add the Big Dip to your list of notable Maine landmarks. Boston has the Big Dig. Maine has the Big Dip. Go figure! (Mainers know our Big Dip cost less.)