All The Towns All the towns in the proposed Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit, except for the town of Chelsea, are in this long, skinny unprofessionally produced map cut and pasted onto the wall in the Wiscasset Newspaper office. Chelsea was one of the last.

When I told School Superintendent Jay McIntire Tuesday morning that it took me two hours and nine minutes to go to North Palermo, he said, "That was round trip, wasn't it?"

No, it sure wasn't. That was one way.

Because it was a holiday on Monday, and there would be scant news from closed town offices, I had planned to drive the entire distance between the tip of Westport Island and the northernmost town in the proposed Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit (RSU), just to see how long it would take. The Maine RSUs are the result of a state mandated order for school districts to consolidate - not so hard for some parts of the state - but most of Maine is rural, and therein lies the problem.

It was nearly a "You can't get there from here" scenario when I got out my DeLorme Maine Atlas and Gazetteer and started planning my route. First I had to look in the front to see what different kinds of lines meant - I thought I should stay away from the "Other Passable Routes," "Unimproved Roads," and "Trails." Definitely the trails.

As luck would have it, however, my only options were "Other Passable Routes." There were no "Secondary State Routes" or "Primary Routes," and of course, absolutely no "Limited Access Highways."

Just as I was getting ready to leave the office, our friend Police Lieutenant John Allen stopped in to say hello.

"You don't need to go all the way to the end of Westport Island - I can tell you right now, it's 14 miles." So this was good.

"You're not going in this fog, are you?" he asked.

"Sure, it's a good day for it - a holiday - not many cars on the road." So I left the office with my DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteer tucked under my arm, my camera and my hand scribbled directions.

Up Route 27 to Cathy's Quik Stop, take a right onto Hooper Street and down the hill to Federal Street, also known as 218. I knew I would be taking 218 to Alna, a little town of slightly over 600, then right on into Whitefield. Both of these towns are in our proposed RSU. Alna, like Westport Island, has no schools and pays tuition for most of their students to go to Wiscasset, which has a primary school, a middle school, and the only high school within the proposed RSU. Westport Island high school kids are used to riding the 14 miles into Wiscasset, but, I wondered, how many miles would it be for the North Palermo kids.

The first noteworthy sight was Crookers, on the left. So that's where all the Crookers trucks came from. Next, on the right, was Whitefield Cemetery, a lovely gray and white misty scene with the only color being an American flag, flapping softly in the breeze. As the fog continued to get thicker, and the frost heaves started to appear, I dropped it back to 25 miles an hour. I knew my first turn would be a left on Route 32. This was territory I had never ventured into before. Just never had any reason to go to Whitefield, I guess.

Before I left the office, I had asked John where the Whitefield School was. He said something like, "Oh, you'll see it, it's right there on the main road." But I didn't see it, and before I knew it, I was in Windsor (turns out, it's on Route 26 - I should have taken a right onto Route 26 and gone about a half a mile).

Meanwhile, back on Route 32 there was a Getty Gas Station, a company with a big building called Bridgecorp (couldn't tell if they were still in business) then the lovely Windsor Fair Grounds, which I had heard about for years, but never been there. This was followed by the Resurrection Hair Salon, which I had never heard of, but looked quite nice.

Suddenly in the mist, a long angular building appeared, with its sign nearly hidden from the 6-foot high dirty snowbanks: "Windsor School." So I drove in, snapped a photo in the fog, and went on my way. Like the Whitefield School, this school is K-8, and will stay open under the new RSU. The superintendent's office is planned to be located in Whitefield, which is about halfway between Westport Island and North Palermo. Perhaps they'll take the Wiscasset superintendent's building and make a hair salon out of it.

At the intersection of Route 32 and Route 105 there's a yellow blinker, and Hussey's General Store, which advertises "TOYS, APPLIANCES, HARDWARE, FOOD." Down Route 105 I go, passing Maple Lane Farm, Wingood Road, and then a particularly nasty icy curve, which slows me down to about 10 miles an hour, even with my studded snow tires.

The next sign is County Line/ Somerville. The road then turns to something I can't read in my shaky handwriting, but I think it said "road turns to shot" only it's not shot. You know what it turned to. French's Pond Road, which I do not have to take, I notice is glare ice as I inch by it, feeling sorry for anyone who has to drive on it.

"Reduced speed - 35 mph" the next sign says, which, if you were driving more than 20 mph, you would have been in the ditch by then. I know from my scribbled directions that I am looking for Turner Ridge Road. The fog is so thick now, it reminds me of trying to get up the Royal River in Yarmouth about ten years ago, when there were lots of red buoys, but none of them were numbered, so they did us no earthly good.

I spot a sign that says "Controll Room - Pot Luck" (no idea what that was) followed by an orange "BUMP" sign, followed by a hand-lettered on plywood "FROST HEAVE" sign. I am back down to 15 mph. I start to feel car sick - too many bumps, too much fog, too much eye strain.

At long last I get to my next road - Route 3. Traffic is moving quite briskly on this road, which is good in terms of making time, bad in terms of trying to get out on it because you can't see more than 50 feet. I open my car window to see if I can hear anyone coming. I floor it, and hope for the best.

The next sign is - yes - a "SCHOOL AHEAD" sign. Could it be the Palermo School? Yes, indeedy it is, so I pull in, take a photo, and get ready for the last leg of my journey - Palermo to North Palermo.

For the first time, my DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteer seems to have failed me. I cannot find the North Palermo Road. At the next yellow blinker, I pull over, and see that I have arrived at Dirigo Corner, which I had no intention of going to.

The only road that's where I think the North Palermo Road should be is one next to Tobeys Grocery, called the Branch Mills Road. So I take it. "School Bus Stop Ahead," the sign says.

This is followed by Dragonfly Gardens, the Town Fire Warden, a huge hill, the Carr's Corner Road, Country Loft Upholstery, and North Palermo Self Storage. The road I am looking for, as the official end of my journey, is Chisholm Trail, according to my DeLorme. This time my DeLorme was only a little bit wrong - the name of the road is actually Chisholm Pond Road, according to the sign, and the road across from it, labeled Back Road by DeLorme, is now called Arnold Lane.

I continue on until I find a safe driveway to turn around in, and chose Neal Pottle's house at 2725 North Palermo Road.

Back up to Tobeys Grocery I go to get $20 worth of gas at $3.04 a gallon, which is not bad. This store is big, friendly, and seems to have nearly anything you could want - groceries, videos to rent, newspaper clippings of local kids hung up on the register, a jar where you could donate to the snowmobile club, prepared meals all ready, pizza, lottery tickets, brooms, plus a really clean, nice restroom which I needed after my drive which had lasted exactly two hours and nine minutes.

It was 3:18 p.m., so I decided to take a different way home - to Augusta on Route 3, then 95 back to the Topsham exit, to Brunswick, and home to Orr's Island.

And so what was the length of this trip - taking into account John Allen's 14 mile estimated, the distance from the Westport bridge to Wiscasset, and my odometer reading? About 77 miles…

Again, I get out my trusty DeLorme to look at a mileage chart - looking for some comparative distances between Maine towns - Kittery to Brunswick is 76 miles; Brunswick to Belfast, 77 miles. Anyway you look at it, it's quite the drive.

I'll concede I probably could have cut ten minutes off it without the fog.

Then I found out on Tuesday, I didn't really drive the whole route, because the town of Chelsea is in the proposed RSU. We'll save that drive for another holiday.

Alna - population 683

about 105 students

no schools

70 attend Wiscasset schools

Chelsea- population 2,688

Chelsea Elementary

School (K-8) 252 students

Palermo- population 1,358

Palermo Consolidated

School (K-8) 149 students

Somerville- population 537

Somerville Consolidated

School (K-8) 41 students

Westport Island - population 821

approximately 95 students

no schools

87 attend Wiscasset schools

Whitefield- population 2,234

Whitefield Elementary

School (K-8) 225 students

Windsor - population 2,297

Windsor Elementary

School (K-8) 276 students

Wiscasset - population 3,871

Primary (Pre-K thru 4) 277 students

• Alna 27 students

• Westport Island 29 students

• Wiscasset 217 students

• Other towns 6 students

Middle School (5-8) 215 students

• Alna 21 students

• Westport Island 25 students

• Wiscasset 155 students

• Other towns 14

High School (9-12) 281 students

• Alna 22 students

• Westport Island 33 students

• Wiscasset 187 students

• Other towns 3 students