Day Five: Rain Insurance Works!

Sometimes when I am writing my blog, I have more to write than I am willing to record, because I don't want to go on and on. There was a funny story that happened in Bar Harbor that I will include in this blog at the end. How is that for a teaser?

Last night I went to bed tired, not looking forward to this morning which was forecast to be wet and rainy. Sure enough, during the night, I could hear the rain pounding on the roof, and pouring off the eaves. It was forecast to rain until one PM. I would have liked to just have stayed in my room all day, but accommodations are not cheap in Freeport, so I was going to have to ride. I was not in a hurry getting ready. I put everything in zip lock baggies and then I used a trash bag to line my panniers to keep everything dry. I put a motel shower cap over my helmet, a trick I leaned from Jim McGurk, to keep my head dry, and I had a rain jacket and riding gloves for the rain. However, I just had leg warmers and riding shorts, so I was worried that my legs might become wet and chilled. So I decided that I would ride back into Freeport, go to LL Bean and buy some rain pants. In fact I became convinced, that if I bought rain pants for the rain, then the rain would stop. I would actually be buying rain insurance. So I started pedaling towards Freeport in a light rain. On the way I stopped at a very, very crowded diner for breakfast. I always consider restaurants with a lot of cars in the parking lot to be a good bet. All the tables but one had people eating, when I walked in. So I saw a guy sitting by himself getting ready to order and asked, "Do you mind if I share your table?"  I must have looked harmless enough in my Corn Pops riding jersey, because he said, "Sure." He was wearing a fly fishing T-shirt, so during breakfast I entertained him with fly fishing stories and cycling stories. I think I was interesting. After breakfast, I was putting on my rain gear and getting my bike ready to roll, and a couple walked across the parking lot to talk to me. This was very different from the general east shore cycling indifference I had been experiencing for the past few days. They said, "Hi. Where you coming from? Where are you cycling to? We really like cycling? Wow, you have disc brakes, how do you like them? Tell me about your bike." And then they asked, "What's it like cycling out here?" And I replied, "Interesting and a bit different. Where are you from?" "Oh, we're from Sacramento, California." It figures, it just seems the west is a bit more inclined to open up, to show curiosity than our eastern brethren.

So, I started rolling in the light drizzle, heading to LL Bean, convinced I was going to be buying rain insurance. I rolled up to one of the many LL Bean front doors, and locked my bike to a light pole and asked the LL Bean employee that was outside pitching skeet shooting and fly fishing tours that if they saw anyone that did not look like me messing with my bike, would they ask that person why they were doing that? He replied, "You don't need to lock your bike, this is Maine." Well yeah. LL Bean might be located in Maine, but I am sure 95% of the people going through the front doors of that LL Bean outlet were not from Maine. Anyway, I went inside and bought my rain insurance that looked an awful lot like a pair of rain pants to anyone else. And sure enough, when I went outside, the rain had stopped. And by the time I was ten miles down the road, the sun was shining and I was shedding rain gear before I turned into a puddle oaf sweat. Now I am at Sebago Lake Lodge, and I plan on staying here two nights and taking a rest day.

And now for the funny Bar Harbor story. I think it will be worth the wait. On my last full day in Bar Harbor, after I assembled the bike, I was walking around, buying a few last minute things, shipping a box of stuff I was not going to need or carry to my brother in Philadelphia, and taking some pictures of Bar Harbor. One of the pictures I took was of the harbor from the top of a small hill with a park between me and the harbor. In the bottom left of this picture are two very large, very old cannons. Well right before I took my picture, I was waiting for the crowd to clear a bit and in particular, I was waiting for two men taking pictures to get out of my picture. Then I noticed they were taking pictures of their wives, one each straddling one of the cannons. And I thought the picture would be so much better if the men were also straddling the cannons and I would kind enough to take their cameras and take pictures for them. So I quickly went down there and made that suggestion. And of course, the ladies are saying, "Yes, yes!", probably because they are already straddling cannons and everyone is looking at them. And the men are being naturally reticent. I also, after I heard their accents, found out they were from Australia. As I was telling this to Dennie, I told her, "and they were kind of old. Well, not really old, probably about my age." To which Dennie says, "Then they were old." That's what I get for marrying a child bride thirty three years ago. Anyway, back to the real story. One of the men, probably the one with more common sense, stands beside his wife, next to the cannon. But the other man, perhaps the more adventuresome one, proceeds to mount the cannon. And he is behind his wife, on the wider part of the cannon, that has probably been polished smooth by the rear ends of thousands of kids, and he starts to rotate off the cannon, like the second hand on a clock. And he is straddled on the cannon with nothing to grab onto ... except his wife. So he grabs on to her ... and now they are both rotating off the side of the cannon and they hit the ground. And I am running to try to catch them, unsuccessfully. And Mister Common Sense is looking at me with a look that at best could be called disdainful. And the wife on the ground, in a pitiful voice, while rubbing her wrist, is saying, "Why did you grab me? Why did you pull me off?" And he is saying, "I didn't want to be alone." And I am saying, "I am so sorry, I am so sorry", and wishing I was invisible. I know all four of them probably said later, "I wish the bloody Yank would have just kept his nose out of our business." So much for international relations.

So tomorrow is a rest day and wash day and then Tuesday I will continue heading to my brother's place in Philadelphia. Maybe tomorrow, based on my current progress, I will be able to come up with a Philadelphia ETA. 

          View from my motel window in the morning. Rain!

       Sky ten miles after I bought my rain insurance. It worked!

       I could have taken this same picture a hundred times today.

       This family has a very nice view.

       This will be where I will stay for the next two nights, at $62 a night. Nice!

        My room, twice as big as my room in Bar Harbor and half as expensive.

       Good night. Sunset on Sebago Lake.

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.

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.

Just Another Beautiful Ride, But I Hope Trouble Does Not Come In Three's

After a delightful breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (do not eat the oatmeal at Dunkin Donuts, it's not oatmeal), I rolled out of Rockport at about 0930. The bike was rolling nice. It's a wonder what a brake adjustment will do to reduce rolling resistance. The ride out of Bucksport to Belfast was mostly coastal with some nice ocean views. The bike was rolling so nice, I thought I had a tailwind, but then I noticed the flags were being blown right back at me. Sweet! When I got to Belfast, my route map took me off of the highway and it appeared I was going to be needing a ferry to cross the bay. What a pleasant surprise to discover I was being routed over a footbridge.

After Belfast, my route took me inland and I did some climbing in the hills of Maine. These were some of the rollers that Jim McGurk was looking forward to ... NOT! The farms were beautiful. I chuckled when I saw a large hand painted sign that said 'LOUD PIPES, RIDE SAFER - IMPEACH OBAMA'. I did not expect to see that in Maine. Maybe the Carolina's or Georgia, but not Maine. After about 20 miles of hilly rollers, I came back out on the coast at Camden. I was trying to stay in Camden, but I could not get a room for less than $159 and that is way above my budget for this trip. After I saw Camden, I understood why the accommodations would have been pricy. It is one of the more upscale, charming  tourist attractions.

After cruising Camden for a while, I headed down to Rockport, towards my sub $100 a night accommodations, which turned out to be pretty much a dump. Dennie would have made me drive on, if she was on this trip. But I digress. A couple of miles south of Camden, it sounded like my bike was missing a shift, and then I was free wheeling. I looked back and my chain was lying in the middle of the road. I hate it when that happens. Actually, this is the first time this has ever happened to me, so I got to figure it out by myself. Where is Jim McGurk when I need him. I had a chain tool, so I was able to remove the bad links. But then getting the pin back I the links took me an incredibly long time.  It was late afternoon and I was wondering if I would get it fixed before the sun went down. But finally, I got it solved. And THEN (I probably shouldn't confess this part) once I got the two ends joined finally and the chain back together, I noticed I had it routed OUTSIDE the front derailleur. Crap! So I had to break the chain again, route it through the front derailleur, and join the two ends again. The second time went much faster than the first time, now that I had some practice.

Then I was on my way again. My motel was just a mile and a half down the road. I checked in and could tell it was sketchy, but I had reservations (and now I was having different reservations) and they had my money. So I took my room and asked, "Where is the closest place to eat because I will be walking?" "Oh sir, the closest restaurant is two to three miles away because we are outside of the town limits." Yet another note to self: When making reservations in advance, always find out how far a place to eat is.

     

Day One on the New England Adventure

I rolled out of the Moseley Cottage Inn in Bar Harbor at a comfortable 0930 this morning. I had hoped to roll out earlier, but the Moseley is a B&B, and everyone at breakfast wanted to talk about my ride, and get my contact information and follow me on my ride. And it was fun; I enjoyed the attention. I got lot's of, "If you're ever in 'blah-blah', look us up and you have a place to stay." I enjoy B&B's for that reason, Loy's of shared experiences. Alas, that is probably my last B&B for the trip. And after I rolled out of the Moseley, rather than head out of 'Bah Hahbuh', I rode down to the pier so I could get the traditional picture of my bike with the rear wheel in the ocean at the start of the trip. "Excuse me ma'am, are you in a hurry?" "Yes, kind of. Why?" "Never mind. I can get someone else. I just wanted someone to take my picture." "Oh, I can do that." After she took my picture and found out why I wanted the picture, she was telling complete strangers, "He's riding his bike to Philadelphia! He's riding his bike to Philadelphia!" They were less impressed  than she was. But she and I were impressed.

Then I started my trip for real. My Garmin 810 has two ways to guide me down the road. One way is to just follow a track the I plotted out before hand based on the downloaded gpx files from Adventure Cycling Association. And the other way is to not plot the tracks out, but use the gpx files as a route and then my GPS indicates when I need to turn ... but between turns it does not indicate if you are on or off course. I never used the routing capability before, so I tried it out leaving Bar Harbor ... and quickly got lost, or at least off track. The heck with routing, and back to my plotted tracks.

The weather was fantastic today, and more tailwinds than headwinds. However, six miles out of Bar Harbor, I had already climbed about 600 feet. I was going to be riding about 50 miles and if that rate of climbing kept constant, I was in for 5000 feet of climbing. That would not be too bad on myroad bike, but I don't think I was up for it on Surly with loaded panniers. I slowed down and climbed everything in granny low to conserve power. My fears were not realized. The climb for the day was just about 2500 feet, which was still more than I expected. Dennie told me on my phone home, "Yes, Marvin. I remember the hills in Maine. Don't you remember? And you have a lot more in front of you." I am struggling to find that to be encouraging, but at least I am forewarned.

At about mile 20, my front fork started making a funny noise when I would turn sharply to avoid road debris or catch my balance.Yesterday, when I was assembling my bike, a bearing fell out of my headset. I was kind of teasing when I wrote my blog wondering if I got the crown race in right side up or upside down. Now I was wondering, "Maybe I did assemble it incorrectly. Well, I am not going to take it apart on the road. It is not going to fail while I am riding. This is when I need Jim. Maybe I can google 'assembling headsets' in my motel tonight." The climbing was getting more tiresome. But I also was not coasting down hill as fast as I thought I should. And then on a moderate grade I found myself pedaling a lot harder than I thought I should be pedaling, even if I was at mile 42. So I stopped the bike, turned it over and gently spun the front wheel. Rather than spinning, it came to a stop before it even made a full revolution. Crap! I didn't have a headset problem, I had a brake problem. Sure enough, my brake calipers must have got misaligned during shipping. They had been rubbing, maybe for 42 miles. Yeah, I know what you all are thinking. Don't say it. Note to self: Test ride the bike after you assemble it. Don't wait until you actually start your ride. And another note to self: When a hill seems tougher than it should be, don't always assume it is just your tired imagination. Anyway, after a bit of roadside maintenance, I was rolling free and easy again. It is too bad I missed a comment on yesterday's blog from a Malaysian friend of mine, New Bill. Yesterday he commented, "Great pics already! Hope you got the brakes properly aligned!" How did he know, half a world away.

I plan on about 40 miles tomorrow. 48 was a bit more than I was up for today.

T minus1! Launch Tomorrow!

So today was my first day in Bar Harbor, Maine, one of the most charming tourist traps I have ever been to. Tourist trap might be a little inaccurate. None of them seemed to be trapped, but there sure are a LOT of them; all ambling down the sidewalks at about 1 mph ... unless they are dead stopped in front of a shop, in deep discussion whether they want to check out the same stuffed lobster they saw in the last ten shops or just move on. I have sometimes described Old Town in Albuquerque as the ten shops selling the same painted, howling coyote. Bar Harbor is more than ten shops selling the same stuffed lobster; major lobster theme in Bar Harbor. Dennie and I visited this area eight years ago for our twenty fifth wedding anniversary. But we stayed in Northeast Harbor, which is about 10 miles further out on the island. That was a good move eight years ago, but would not have worked for me on this adventure.

Apparently it is between tourist seasons right now in Bah Hahbuh, end of summer and just before fall colors. I landed at the airport at 7:45pm last night and I thought the shuttle into town ran until 8:15pm, per the schedule I had. Nope, that is the 'before Labor Day' schedule. The last shuttle to the airport was at 7:15pm. So instead of a $5 shuttle, I had the personal pleasure of my very own $35 cab. Darn! Just started and I am already over budget. I hope this is not a trend. I had booked the cheapest room in the Moseley Cottage Inn. With this room, I had to share a common bathroom and shower. Well, not exactly share. There was a lock on the door, so I could have the use of the facility by myself. And my own room was quaint and small. I think if I stood up in it and stretched my arms out, I could touch both walls at the same time. And last night it was cold. Too bad I found the little space heater this morning, next to the bed. I wish I would have found it before I went to bed. At least I had a warm room to return to after I finished my "shared" shower.

I spent most of the morning on the Moseley Cottage Inn front porch, assembling my bike. "Hmmm, I don't remember that bearing. Lets see, it sure looks like it goes to the headset on the front fork. Yeah, probably right there ... or should I turn it over?" Anyway, the bike is assembled, and I am pretty sure it is done correctly. I could have used my buddy Jim a few times. Lunch was spent mingling with tourists, finding a lobster roll, and shopping for a few little things I forgot, like a toothbrush and some ibuprofen. 

Then the afternoon was spent organizing, packing, and shipping some stuff to my brother in Philadelphia. I think I am ready to roll. T minus one day and counting!

Bye bye, ABQ. See you in a month.

The trip has started. I am in 14E on an American Airlines flight heading to Bar Harbor, Maine. I hope I have everything I need, and at the same time, I hope I am not carrying more than I need. I packed the bike more than a week ago and included most my riding gear in the bike box. But of course I did not actually write down and inventory the contents. I knew I would remember what was in that box and bring the rest of my necessary items in my carry on luggage when I flew out. Note to self: next trip make sure I have a written inventory of any box I am about to tape up, before I ship it, for future reference. 

At the moment, I am flying to Dallas and there I will catch a flight to Boston, and then a hop to Bar Harbor airport, which is about 45 minutes away from Bar Harbor. I am not sure how to close that 45 minute gap right now. I am hoping the shuttle is running, otherwise I get to pay for a taxi. Yesterday was Andrew's birthday, so we celebrated that event. "Andrew, Happy Birthday! Oh Dad, are you leaving tomorrow? Guess we'll see you later. Be safe." 'Be safe' always causes me to think, "I have my helmet, my flashing lights, bright and visible clothing", but I remain mostly at the mercy of that driver that might be texting, finishing getting ready for work while driving, paying attention to a misbehaving child in the back seat and not paying attention to the cyclist right off their front right fender; thump, thump! Fortunately, my experience has been, that driver is very rare. Just about everyone I encounter usually slows to pass and pulls out and gives me wide berth, when they can. I try to give them an appreciative 'thumbs up' in their rear view mirror, hoping they are not mistaking it for one finger salute.

Travel update: I am now sitting in Logan Airport in Boston, waiting for my flight to Bar Harbor, my last stop today. I just finished a terrible meal in the food court, yech. It was below average airport food. Oh well, here's hoping for a marvelous breakfast in Bar Harbor tomorrow morning. TSA in Boston wanted to know what the SPD clips in my shoes were for. "These are riding shoes ma'am, and those clips attach to my pedals." "Oh." I hope we land in Bar Harbor Airport before the shuttle stops running. And I hope my bike is waiting for me at the lodge. More tomorrow.