Last year I branched out and drove to Maine for my
yearly bike trip (see Post No. 413). I
expected it to be a one-time thing due to the distance and cost of the
trip. The last day’s ride through
Kennebunkport and the other coastal towns was so beautiful that I started
thinking I would like to return. And
when the 2016 route was announced (The Bold Coast) I became more serious about
it.
Something about the water draws me in. I love everything – the sound, the smell, the
sand. I emailed my friends and told them
Maine was calling my name. As the
available spots shrunk, I made up my mind to go for it. I understood why my friends didn’t want to
return. However, the pull was too great
for me to resist.
After the thrill wore off and spring turned into
summer, I began to realize I had to get myself from Indy to Maine. I love driving, so that was not the
problem. The problem was a low number of
vacation days and that this time of year is busy at work. My plan of staying a few days to explore
Acadia National Park vanished. My new
plan was how to get there and back as quickly as possible. I admit that I got a bit stressed, but it all
worked out splendidly. Here’s the
story.
Day 1 (Sept. 8) –
Drove ~570 miles from Indianapolis to Rochester, New York. One of my
co-workers (Ty) saved the day on my drive to Maine. His sister lives in
Rochester and without ever meeting her or her husband, they said I could stay
at their house Thursday night. I left at
noon after working a half day and arrived just after 10 p.m.
Day 2 (Sept. 9)
– Drove ~650 miles from Rochester to Stonington, Maine. Ty’s parents happen to have a house in Maine
(I knew this after last year’s trip). I left
Rochester at 6:30 a.m. and arrived in Stonington at 5:30 p.m.
I had a fun time Friday evening with Ty’s parents and
their friends down the hill (Jeanette and Mike, and another neighbor, Karen). Despite knowing no one in the town, I still
enjoyed listening to the gossip while enjoying some wine, snacks and the
amazing view.
Day 3 (Sept. 10)
– Drove ~100 miles from Stonington to Schoodic Institute at Acadia National
Park (Winter Harbor).
Awoke to a glorious view from my room with floor to ceiling
windows. We ate breakfast at the HarborCafe, walked around town and then drove to Nervous Nellie’s Jams and Jellies. It’s hard to describe this place. Sculptures, jams and jellies (obviously), an Old
West-type village. Check out the website
and see for yourself. It’s worth a
visit.
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| My bedroom view at the Halpin's house |
After leaving Stonington, I detoured to Acadia
National Park to see the top of Cadillac Mountain. My visit wasn’t as quick as the Griswold’s at
the Grand Canyon (I did walk around a bit) but it
was close.
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| On top of Cadillac Mountain |
The main part of Acadia is separate from the Schoodic
Institute. The drive within this section
of Acadia is incredible. I arrived around
3 p.m. and after parking, realized I had followed Woody into the park. He is a native of Maine and I met him last
year on the ride. The ride is fairly
small (limited to 400 riders) and many are repeat riders.
After checking in, setting up camp and eating, I was
beat. Two 10-hour days of driving did me
in. I wasn’t feeling too social and was
in my tent by 8 p.m. listening to the entertainment in the nearby food tent.
Day 4 (Sept. 11)
– Biked 64 miles from Schoodic Institute (Winter Harbor) to Jonesport. The first 40 miles were fairly easy. (I had not trained much for this ride so was
initially pleased it felt “easy.”) The
rest stop lunch was at Darthia
Farm in Gouldsboro. Around mile 50 it rained HARD and was super
windy. I kept going until I heard
thunder and then ducked into a grocery store with some other riders. Luckily the sun came out after only 15
minutes. Our last rest stop was at a
local church and when I asked for a hot dog the woman asked, “Brown or
red?” Wha??? Apparently red
hot dogs are a thing in Maine. Pretty tasty!
Our camp was at Kelley Point. Pretty isolated and right on the water. Our baggage was wet from the downpour so lots
of folks spent the rest of day drying out their stuff. Thank goodness I packed all my belongings in
two-gallon Ziploc baggies! The sun came out later so that helped. Dinner was a lobster boil (lobster, mussels, corn-on-the-cob,
baked beans and cole slaw, blueberry crisp with whipped cream for dessert).
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| Kelley Point campsite |
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| Let's eat! |
Day 5 (Sept. 12)
– Biked 54 miles from Jonesport to Machias. The temperature dropped during the night so I
put on my sweatpants, hoody and socks. I
heard the lobster boats heading out at 4 a.m.
Today was sunny and in the 70s. Highlights
were Beals
Island, Great Wass Island, Roque
Bluffs State Park and Jasper
Beach. Lunch
was at the Machiasport Fire Station.
Sandwiches, salad, haddock stew, squash soup, kale soup and chicken
soup. I tried all but the kale. Have to leave some for the others. Tonight we camped at Middle
River Park along the Machias River.
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| Roque Bluffs State Park |
Day 6 (Sept. 13)
– Biked 59 miles from Machias to Eastport. Today was the hilliest day yet. Lots of rollers and some longer hills wore me
out. After lunch (tuna and egg salad,
pasta salad, lettuce salad with amazing cherry tomatoes, lemonade and a
multitude of desserts), I stopped at the Charlotte Town Hall. A cute older man gave a tour. All the items reminded me of my grandparent’s
barn/garage.
Eastport, the easternmost city in the United States,
was our layover town. You know you’re on
the coast when most towns are named “port”.
I enjoyed the town, which was a short walk from our campsite behind a
grocery store.
After setting up my tent I walked across the street to
Raye’s Mustard
to catch a tour. Raye’s is the country’s
last remaining traditional stone-ground mustard mill. The tour was very interesting and the mustard
samples were delicious. It was hard to
decide, but I did buy a jar. If I didn’t
have to load my bags on a truck I would have bought more. I was a little leery
of multiple glass jars in my already stuffed bag.
Being on our own for dinner tonight, I joined some
other riders for a short walk to the Eastport Chowder
House.
We sat outside and had a beautiful view of the water and sunset. The seafood pasta was great.
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| Eastport fisherman and pier |
Day 7 (Sept. 14)
– Layover day! We
stayed two nights in Eastport so could do whatever we wanted today. I had a quick breakfast and browsed some
shops in town, I then took the Eastport ferry to Lubec and rode the Franklin Delano
Roosevelt Memorial Bridge to Campobello
Island.
Our little group was Carolyn, her sister Peggy and Ellen. We “picked up” Joe on the way. The forecast called for rain but we timed it
perfectly. The day started out sunny,
turned cloudy and we made it back to our tents before the rain. We toured the Roosevelt’s summer home and
took a short ride to Herring
Cove after lunch at Jocie’s Porch. There is much to explore on Campobello; I
just wasn’t interested in riding that much since I wasn’t in top biking
shape. I topped out at 11 miles.
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| Playing croquet at Campobello |
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| Carolyn, Ellen, Peggy and Joe at Herring Cove |
Dinner in town with the bike group again was salmon,
potatoes, salad, blueberries and cream.
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| Eastport sunset |
Day 8 (Sept. 15)
– Biked 54 miles from Eastport to Lubec. We joked that instead of biking to Lubec, we
could have put our bags on the truck and taken the ferry again. But then we would have missed the reversing
falls in Pembroke Falls State Park. To get to the reversing falls, we had to bike
1 1/2 miles on a crushed gravel road.
The gravel was small and not dangerous, but dusty and annoying. Well worth it! Had a wonderful lunch at the Tide Mill Organic
Farm (chicken salad sandwich, salad, vegetable
soup and zucchini bread).
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| Reversing Falls |
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| This puppy was napping in town. I felt exactly the same way. |
Lubec is a cute town with a few shops. They also had live music downtown for us. Dinner was steak, cole slaw, potatoes, corn
and rhubarb crisp for dessert. The
nights got progressively colder. During
this night, I put on my bike leg warmers under my sweats. I later heard the temperature dipped to 38
degrees.
Day 9 (Sept. 16)
– Biked 74 miles from Lubec to Milbridge. We had camped on the grounds of a school in
Lubec. We were unable to use any showers
in the school (we had the shower truck), but this morning I changed in one of
the school’s single-person bathrooms. So
nice! I’m glad I was up early because
after I ate breakfast I saw a sign that bikers were not to use it anymore.
Today’s highlight was Quoddy
Head State Park and the lighthouse. Quoddy Head State Park is the easternmost
point in the United States. Today was a hard day. Lots of rolling hills and very windy. Despite the beautiful rolling blueberry
fields along most of the route, I did not enjoy today very much.
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| At the Quoddy Head State Park lighthouse. Very cool! |
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| Blueberry fields |
Lunch was in Whitneyville. Haddock stew, sandwiches, pasta salad,
blueberry pie with ice cream. I also
stopped at Wreaths
Across America, an organization that provides holiday
wreaths at Arlington Cemetery.
Dinner was at a downtown public building and catered
by Vasquez
Mexican Restaurant.
Chicken tamales, chicken and peppers, corn tortillas, rice, beans, chips
and pico de gallo.
Last freezing night!
This time I put on my bike jersey and arm warmers; with a hoody and
another jacket on top of that. On the
bottom I wore my leg warmers with my sweats.
And socks and ear warmers. I know
I looked ridiculous!
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| Milbridge campsite |
Day 10 (Sept.
17) – Biked 38 miles from Milbridge to Schoodic Institute (Winter Harbor). Drove ~570 miles from Winter Harbor to
Dunmore, Pennsylvania.
The best parts of this day were the low mileage and the view inside the
Acadia park. We rode through
Cherryfield, which, ironically, is the blueberry capital of the world. I made it to my car by 11 a.m. and, after
finding my luggage in a huge pile, I showered and ate lunch. I was homeward bound by noon.
My goal going home was to find a place in
Scranton. I saw a chain hotel on my
phone with a decent rate but when I pulled in at 11 p.m. it was full. I ended up at the Dunmore Inn
down the street. I was hesitant since it was a motel and the
doors opened to the outside. It was
cheap and clean, and it was late. It was
also nice to roll my bike right into the room. I was in bed by 11:30 p.m., said a prayer, and
fell asleep in my warm room.
Day 11 (Sept. 18)
– Drove ~644 miles from Dunmore to Indianapolis. I was on the
road by 8 a.m. My father trained me well
with all our family road trips. Don’t
dawdle. I stopped for gas and food and
was home by 6 p.m.
I can’t believe that I drove all the way to Maine by
myself. It’s not for the faint of
heart. I guess I’m so used to doing things
like that and I don’t think twice. (Well,
I think twice after I’ve already committee to going.) I wanted to go, so I did. I hadn’t done a bike trip by myself since
2009. I was a little nervous, but there
were many repeat riders and it’s so easy to talk to people on these rides. We’re all one bike family.
For those of you contemplating doing anything on your
own, DO IT. It’s nice to have a friend
(or friends) to keep you company, but when your friends are unavailable,
GO. You will meet other people with the
same interested and have more friends.
I’m thankful I made the effort to see the Down East
part of Maine. Many native Mainers on
the ride said they have lived their whole life in the state and had never been
to that part before. It’s truly
incredible.
Maine is no longer calling my name. At least not very loudly. Next year’s ride will be in the western part
of the state in the mountains – pathway to the peaks. I’m sure it will be pretty, but I want to
stay a bit closer to home. I’m sure I
will return one day. As I said last
year, Maine is wicked awesome!
