190 MAINE, USA: Blueberries and Pickled Sea Snails The Radio Vagabond

Greetings from Maine, USA!
After leaving the scandalous and oh-so-intriguing story of Belinda Rathbone and The Boston Raphael behind in Boston, I jumped back into my trusted steed of steel and headed for Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a 2-night stay with a Couchsurfing buddy. I needed to visit a medical clinic here to get my blood pressure checked after consulting my doctor back in Denmark. The saga continues...
UNDER (BLOOD) PRESSURE
After a thorough examination from a friendly physician, I was advised on how to improve things in my life to better my situation, like diet, exercise, etc. I was also given some medication to assist, which turned out to help me tremendously. Portsmouth was great, despite my stay being short and my medical tests taking up most of my time. Not one to dwell, my spirits remained high as I hit the road on the way to Maine for another Couchsurfing experience – this time on a farm.
THE MAINE PRIZE
Every single day since then – and probably for the rest of my life – I’ve been taking a small pill every morning to keep my BP levels in check. So, it was a “new me” with low blood pressure that was heading North towards a state with a lot of forests. 
In fact, 89.5% of Maine is covered in forest. That puts them at number one on the list in the US, and actually, number two on that list is where I am right now… New Hampshire with 84%. Both of the two states have a population of around 1.3 million – but Maine is around four times as big as New Hampshire.
I then drove from Durham, New Hampshire to my next Couchsurfing host Ben’s Blueberry farm in Burke Hill Farm in Cherryfield, Maine. It’s a drive of 240 miles/386 kilometers, so I made a stop on the way at the iconic Portland Light Head (not to be confused with Portland, Oregon that was actually named after this Portland here in Maine).
FUN FACTS ABOUT MAINE
The official state animal of Maine is the moose. The state is home to approximately 76,000 moose, the highest moose population in the lower 48 states. The official state insect of Maine is the honeybee. The Maine Beekeepers Association was founded in 1976 to promote understanding of the insect’s importance.  Maine is the only state that shares its borders with only one other US state. That state is New Hampshire. The rest of the border is to Canada in the north. Maine is the only state in the United States whose name has one syllable. Maine is the single largest producer of blueberries in the United States. In fact, Maine produces 99% of all the blueberries in the country. So, very appropriate that I’m heading to a blueberry farm to learn more about this. BEN’S BLUEBERRY FARM
The reason why I chose to stay in the Northeastern corner of the USA in the countryside is that when I travel Southwest from here I will pass the Arcadia National Park, nestled on a small island. It is described as a beautiful ‘must-see’ part of the area so I planned to spend a full day there.
The drive up to Ben’s farm is really beautiful, with lots of farms and lakes and nature. He told me that it can be tricky to find his farm as it is really secluded, so he’d given me a long description on how to find it. We’re so far away from anything that I can’t rely on getting a signal and use Google Maps like I normally do.
His directions included this special note: “You just need to aim the sextant at the North Star and go from there… you'll be fine.” It had been a long time since I used a sextant...
My alpha male innate sense of direction didn’t let me down and I eventually managed to find the farm and met Ben and his dogs. He welcomed me into his newly built wooden house and I was welcomed with a fresh cup of coffee made by Ben’s friend, Jezebel. Nothing like a good cup of coffee to forge new friendships over.
A bit later, I met Ben’s right-hand man, Jason, who impressed me with his limited handle on Danish numerals. Ben’s farm is called Burke Hill Farm and it’s a cer