I drove down the western side of Maine several years ago, starting from Gilead and ending in Fryeburg. I saw the same thing as you. Rural, simple, unspoiled area with a lot of people who looked like they were old school working class types. Scenic, too.

Would do again. That area of the state is definitely red. But there's not much population, and the population centers (what few there are) definitely lean strongly D. Maine isn't going red anytime soon, though they do have that weird split electoral vote thing.