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John Lippincott, owner of the Farmstead Bed & Breakfast, located in Eliot, Maine, sits in one of his guest rooms. Amy Root-Donle photo

Besides bacon and eggs, John Lippincott offers his guests at Farmstead Bed and Breakfast eight kinds of pancakes. Blueberry pancakes are his speciality. He even picks his own berries. He shakes his head and laughs at his transformation from the former Pease Air Force Base pilot to hospitality entrepreneur in southern Maine.

"I never thought I'd ever be cooking breakfast when I was flying B-52s," he says.

Since launching the Eliot bed and breakfast in1986, Lippincott, 78, and his wife, Marian, have weathered the ups and downs of the travel and tourism industry by working hard and having fun with the daily challenges of putting, as they say in the business, "heads on beds."

"We've been down since 9/11," says Lippincott. "Primarily, we're not getting Canadians and overseas travelers."

Lippincott next to the sign outside his bed and breakfast. Amy Root-Donle photo

The 2000 seasons were the boom years for the Farmstead Bed and Breakfast. Lippincott estimated they booked 850 rooms that year. Business is still good, with the Farmstead Bed and Breakfast greeting guests visiting from the nearby University of New Hampshire and from around the globe.

But, seeing a section of Route 101 that once included four other bed and breakfasts, the Farmstead proprietors are always examining how they can increase attendance, improve the ambience, or customize a guest's stay.

Building one's knowledge of the area, from its history to its eateries, also makes a big difference, according to Lippincott, who grew up on a dairy farm in New Jersey. He offers another trade secret: Learn to tell a good tale.

At the Farmstead Bed and Breakfast, a building dating back to the late 1700s, Lippincott likes to tell the story of how he discovered shoes beneath a floor board. He says an expert estimated the shoes are circa 1835, a time when people were known to leave shoes beneath floor boards to ward off the bad spirits.

Lippincott recommends keeping an up-to-date list of activities in the region. His Web site alerts guests to the proximity to the beaches, Old York, historic Portsmouth, and the ample shopping at the Kittery outlet malls.

"They're always looking for things to do," he says of his guests. Tourism is an economic giant in Maine and New Hampshire. In 2003, tourism generated $549 million in tax revenue for Maine. It represented more than 1 in 10 jobs, with an estimated payroll of $3.8 billion. The Maine Innkeepers Association represents more than 600 lodging properties.