Maine Continues To Be Such A Lovely State

I need to be a little more particular about my lodging. I knew the motel I stayed at last night was sketchy, but it even got worse. As I was laying down, ready to turn the light off, I noticed, for the first time, that the mirror on the wall was hung horizontally ... just about at bed level. Earlier I had noticed it was not tall enough when I was going to comb my hair, but I didn't figure it out until I was lying down. I must be in the rec room. I immediately got up and used the chain to lock the door, which I never do. When I am making my reservations for the next day, I always do a sort on price, from lowest to highest. I might need a new strategy.

This morning I left sketchy hotel early without incident. My first stop was a bike shop to replace my repaired chain with a new chain. It turns out my chain was stretched. I thought a chain should last longer than 1800 miles, but maybe I can expect more wear with a heavier bike. After the bike shop, I found a diner and fueled up the engine with a couple of eggs and a huge blueberry pancake, with more blueberries than I thought could possibly fit in a pancake.  And then it was off to Wiscasset.

Today was a good day, no mechanical mishaps. The route I have been following through Maine generally follows US 1, a main thoroughfare. But Adventure Cycling Association routes me off of US 1 whenever it can, and still keep a generally southerly direction. When I get routed off of US 1, the route is always much more scenic and rural, but usually without bike lanes and the rural roads do not have grade restrictions like federal roads must comply with. So I can cruise 'boring' US 1, with gradual declines and inclines. Or I can enjoy the rural beauty while going up and down through hill and dale, valley and vale (are those real words?). The rural roads are a lot more strenuous.

There are a lot of pretty coastal villages in Maine. My favorites today were Waldoboro, Damariscotta and Wiscasset. Wiscasset seemed to be everyone's favorite coastal village today. All the sidewalks were crowded and so were the roads. I got to my motel (nice and clean, not sketchy at all) at around 3:30pm, did a wash, posted pictures, had dinner across the street (not two miles away) and got the blog out. My original plan was to ride three days and rest one, but I plan on riding tomorrow, my fourth day, because the weather is so good. But it will be a shorter ride, only to Freeport, home of LL Bean.