In Memory of Warmer Summers

September 4 through September 5

Belfast, Maine; Bar Harbor, Maine

Total miles: 4,693

Northern Tier (coast to coast) Data:  4,533 miles; 79 days riding; 9 days off (two for medical reasons)

We rode into Bar Harbor on Monday afternoon, September 5th.  Each day we routinely go through a discussion about directions as we conclude our day that involves locating the particular camping spot for the evening.  Sallie usually has the information about our campground and I have the daily maps and routes, so it becomes a collaborative effort to get us to our final stop for the day.

This time was different.

The maps take us right to the wharf where the ride officially ends and as we wound our way into Bar Harbor I was headed directly for our end point at the water’s edge.  There was a moment when Sallie became confused and started asking about why we were not going to our hotel.  I responded, “If you want to do ‘high-fives’ in the parking lot of some hotel maybe we can find a someone to take our picture, but I have another idea.”  On to the water’s edge we went.

My map case on the handle bar bag of my bike

First smells of tidal salt water ... getting close!

Penobscot River Bridge

We stopped for lunch on Monday in Ellsworth, Maine at the Flexit Cafe & Bakery.  As we were looking over the menu and waiting in line to place our order, a gentleman was wrapping silverware in napkins and asked us about our cycling.  Once he heard about our adventure, he wrote our order down saying one of the cash registers was out of order.  This was a ruse.  He was actually Paul Markosian, the owner of the restaurant and he was buying our lunch in celebration of our soon-to-be accomplishment.

Thank you Paul!

A few folks are beginning to ask about future ride plans.  Although it is way too early to have anything definitive, I’ve been hinting at a European journey for some time.  As luck would have it, we met these two cyclists (below) in Conway, New Hampshire.

Meet Hermann and Christiane.  They are from Germany and were riding from Niagara to Portland, Maine.  They were very encouraging about a ride in Germany and promised to send some information our way to help us determine if that is something we’d like to do.  Bucket list that?  Maybe…

I’ll have another post or two as a wrap-up to this trip, but my time has been consumed by cleaning and packing bikes and gear along with getting all the preparations completed to fly back to Florida.  In the meantime, thank you for following and check back soon for final thoughts.

Beauty Break:

Waves at Thunder Hole, Mount Desert Island

Read Full Post »

September 1 through September 3

Freyburg, Maine; West Poland, Maine; Wiscasset, Maine

We made into our final state on September 1st, conquering our last and final mountain pass.  Here’s what the map elevation chart shows for what we’ve been doing:

The actual climb up Kancamagus was not that difficult as the steepest grade was 9% and for New England, that’s very mild.  Elevation is certainly not an issue either as there is plenty of oxygen at these levels.  The pass had a number of false-summits as well so it was not much of a grinder.  Heck, we were in Conway in time for lunch, and across the border into Maine before the afternoon got too long.  That’s not a pass!

This sign is in the above photo

The White Mountains of New Hampshire

Maine continues the New England way of having roads that have nearly impossible grades, but unlike New Hampshire (steep grades) and Connecticut (really steep grades), Maine doesn’t place a grade indicator on their road signs for the really bad ones, so we get no bragging points. 
You can probably guess what’s going on here:

A few years ago we asked some locals in Connecticut why the grades were so steep in an area of the country where ice and snow is not some minor issue.  We were told that first the oxen used to take a direct line from field to field, then the cows, then the buggies, and pretty soon the roads followed the same path.

Beauty break:

Androscoggin River

We have but two more days of riding left before we get to Bar Harbor.  Sunset is now pretty close to 7:00pm here.  The days grow short, and so does this journey.

Read Full Post »