01-May-2004 -- This visit was state/confluence number two on my six state/confluence trip the weekend of May 1st, 2004.

First of all, I'd like to point out that New Hampshire has no sales tax on groceries! Kudos, NH!

The confluence before this one, Maine's 45°N 69°W, was near Bangor, and I figured I could get to New Hampshire's 44°N 71°W with enough daylight left to tackle Vermont.

Unfortunately, it was taking a little longer to get to this confluence than I thought it might, but I still held out some hope for making Vermont's 43°N 73°W.

I drove back down to Newport, Maine and headed across the state on US Highway 2 which looked like it might take me almost all the way to the confluence. There were a lot of towns along this highway with 35 and even 25 mph speed limits, and since I didn't know how bad the Maine "fuzz" were about speed traps, I kept it legal.

I took US Highway 2 all the way to Bethel, Maine, near the state border, and headed south on State Highway 5 into Fryeburg, Maine. I then took US Highway 302 into New Hampshire and about 30 seconds after crossing the border, I was right on top of the confluence. It came up on me so fast that I had to U-turn and backtrack east towards the spot.

This area is very touristy and has a lot of little craft shops and cabins for rent. The confluence is located in someone's backyard area, behind a house for sale that doesn't sound like it was there during the first two visits to this confluence. A couple cars were in the driveway, so I jogged across the kind-of-busy highway and took the pictures from the side of the road, about 80 meters from all zeroes. The confluence is approximately 30 meters to the northwest of the house, which is to the back and left as seen from the photo.

With little chance of making it to the Vermont confluence before dark, I drove into Concord, NH and called it a day, planning to get up nice and early (5:00a!) the next day to take on Vermont, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.