I woke up early on August 17, 2020 with my frosted tent pitched on the Pierce Bridge in Bethlemen, New Hampshire.  Today I’d ride east on 302 over Crawford Notch, take a stop to run up Mount Willard, see a friend at Davis Path, climb an abandoned water tower across from a gas station in the middle of nowhere and stealth camp after 90 miles on the bicycle.  Little did I know that this sunny day in August would change my life’s trajectory.  After making my way through the White Mountains, I stopped at the Whistle Stop on 113 in East Baldwin, Maine.  I posted up at the picnic table outside of the gas station where the afternoon coffee club gathered and asked whether they had any objection to seeing me climb the tower across the road.  “I’d love to see it!” exclaimed the gentleman from the Standish fire department.  I quickly darted across the road and performed the hand over hand 96 times to the catwalk which circled the tower above.  A crowd gathered below me, mainly locals who were concerned  with my decision to just stop by and climb it and curious as to what I saw from way up there.  Despite being in the Saco River Valley, the view was tremendous 100 feet above the road.  Interested as to who owned this beautiful patina-finished tower, I once again interrupted the coffee club’s daily meeting and got them to cough up the name of the individual’s name who had owned it for the last 20 years.

Upon finding “Verne Blake” and his mailing address on-line, I wrote to him and articulated my dream and vision to create an awe-inspiring place at an old water tower one day.  He called me back within the week and the rest is history.  Billy Blake is a dreamer like myself, he loves to provide experiences for people who he loves and those who he never will.  I feel so grateful that I can be part of the history making and future of the historic water tower in East Baldwin.