One Misty, Meisty (or is it Micety?) Morning

Five days of Mainely sun finally came to an end today. Today was supposed to be a rest day, but Sunday looks like rain, and I felt good, so I rode; Wiscasset to Freeport. I couldn't get a cheap room, even a sketchy cheap room in Freeport, so tomorrow won't be a rest day either. But tomorrow night I stay in a $62 cabin on Lake Sebago, so maybe I will stay there two nights and take a rest day. 

As I said, today was a gray day, plus I had a chill headwind most of the day, about 10 mph. I just put it in low gear and slogged along. I need to keep the energy up and my immune system strong. I often have a tendency to push it, but I really don't have a lifeboat on this trip, so I have been erring on the side of slow versus pushing it.  When Jim, Bill and I rode the Pacific CanMex coast ride, we saw lots of other touring riders. Most of them were not going border to border, but all of them were touring significant distances, and we had a camaraderie. I made the choice to do this trip alone, but I was expecting to find other riders and the same camaraderie. This is not the case at all. I have been out four days and I have seen ONE other touring cyclist. And he was heading north while I am heading south. I stopped and yelled out to him, "Hi! Where are you coming from?", and he did not slow down. He just kept on going. All in all, I see very few cyclists compared to what I see back home. Today I was routed onto a very nice bike trail, going into Brunswick, for about three and a half miles. In that three and a half miles I saw one kid on a cruiser bike, six joggers, five walkers and zero adults on any kind of a bike. I find that very surprising. On the Pacific coast, there was lots of signage indicating you were riding the coast trail. In Oregon, they did not call it the Pacific coast trail, it was the Oregon coast trail. And that was understandable, the Oregon coast is awesome. But there was lots of signage. Nothing at all, so far, on the east coast.

As I said, it was overcast and chill today. But I still could not fail to appreciate the beauty. The colors are starting to change. I was hoping to not contend with everyone that heads to New England to see the fall colors. I did not want to compete for accommodations, and I do not want to be run over by someone looking at fall foliage to their left and hitting me off their right front fender. And tomorrow it is supposed to rain. I am planning on a short day; about 35 miles to my room on Lake Sebago.