Joe and Nic’s Road Trip YewToob channel is a rara avis. They do the most useful thing you can find on the intertunnel. They go places, point the camera at what they’re looking at, tell you what they’re looking at, and report as much information as they can find about where they are. If the news media ever did this, they don’t do it now. Joe and Nic do.

They kind of specialize in going places others don’t, and for good reason. They favor abandoned places, and rundown places. They have the stones to go places like Gary Indiana and Detroit, and do not appear to be carrying sidearms, so they’re braver souls than me. They’re also brave enough to visit Belfast, Bangor, and Augusta, Maine, and tell the truth about them: i.e.: they’re pretty pleasant places to be.

It’s fun to hear them scratching their heads over crime stats in Belfast. They’re accustomed to crimes per thousand citizens, and Belfast has 47 crimes last year. Total. Welcome to Maine, kids.

We’re fairly familiar with Belfast, although it’s quite a ways away from our hovel in western Maine. Our children performed at the Belfast Harbor Fest one year. It was held in a giant circus tent in the park by the harbor.

Joe and Nic travel down the road to Bangor. Bangor’s a bigger town, and has a history of being a bit rough and tumble, all the way back to when it was lumber central for Maine exports. But it’s still a plenty safe place. The downtowns in these towns are mostly made up of handsome brick structures. They’re fascinated with the second best writer in Maine, who dwells there, but they’re from way out of town, so they’re forgiven. They mispronounce Orono, where the largest campus of UMaine is located (OR oh no). Our son attends UMaine, although it’s the campus in Augusta where he lays waste to the President’s List.

They mosey on down to Augusta to finish up, or Ogguster as we call it. It’s the state capital. We go there from time to time. We mostly press on down the road to Hallowell, which is an offbeat little strip of shops and restaurants. Ogguster has a handsome downtown, but truth be told, most of the burg is the usual gutbucket stripmall wonderland.

They visit the capitol building, which from the exterior looks like it belongs to a state with more people in it. When they get inside, they notice that it’s got a spare, no-nonsense Mainer vibe.

Joe and Nic sound like pleasant people. They should stay in Maine. But buy better books.