Woke up to day 14 bright an early on the 30th after a good night sleep...finally! The weather is so much more tolerable and very pleasant. Packed up the tent and the gear as usual, Cheryl is so organized ...thank GOD! We are masters at unpacking, setting up and breaking down now. That is what this trip is also about, getting to know what works and what doesn't. We headed out for another Food Network restaurant for breakfast at the A1 Diner, 3 Bridge Street Gardiner, ME 04345 (207) 582-4804. Another small dive but great food!
Started to head north to Bar Harbour with our bellies full. Finding good food has not been too hard on this trip. As we were riding along on this beautiful morning I made a comment to Cheryl that she has been doing such a great job being creative with the GPS and about 5 minutes later...a "dead end" sign appeared.
Not far out of Boothbay our GPS took us off road. We first thought it was going to be a short cut but then realized after we started down this "road" it would soon be a mistake. It was a really rough terrain ATV of some sort road. Turned out to be a really uneven, boulder ridden muddy single track road. My bike was smacking up against rocks and bottoming out. Needless to say I stopped and after an hour of Cheryl and me trying to turn our bikes around we got out and headed back to pavement. Cheryl said I wanted more off road. Well, she gave it to us.
After getting back on the right track we rode and saw some beautiful scenery on the way to Bar Harbour. Cheryl kept asking where the ocean was because we were not seeing it from the road. Another great weather wise day and we got to Bar Harbour early enough to go up Cadillac Mountain, drive the loop, walk around downtown Bar Harbour and have dinner. Very quaint town but both Cheryl and I are feeling a bit partial to our own west coast especially for fun riding. In any case, this has been an opportunity of a life time and to see the Atlantic shore New England style has been an awesome experience.
Got back to camp and roasted marshmallows and took a walk around the campground. Everyone has their dogs with them. That makes me miss ours but to tell you the truth, they are in such good hands with our house sitters, Taylor and Dave it is bearable. All tucked in around 2200 hrs and off to sleep we went.
July 31st 2010
Our day started once again really early. I woke up at 0540 and took a walk around camp and watched the sunrise. When I came back Cheryl had camp almost entirely broken down. We were packed up by 0700 this day and we headed it. Great night to sleep yet again, and a cool start to the day. Had a bite to eat, what I can say we need to eat, and headed towards New Hampshire. Leaving Maine was sad just because it meant we were really heading home. I think the both of us are truly appreciating what we are able to do and just enjoying being able to ride together like this. We work well as a team and we are so glad we got new intercoms because it just wouldn't work without them. Cheryl is amazing with the GPS and today we were able to ride some beautiful back country roads and even got on some dirt. Our tires we happy.
Once we got into NH, I saw a sign for Mount Washington. Although we did not plan riding up this massive North East mountain we did. $28 for both bikes to ride up an 8 mile road to the summit of Mount Washington in the White Mountains. The road has 35% unpaved and no shoulders whatsoever. Tight for cars and challenging for bikers as we had to keep control at very slow speeds all the way up. These mountains are near and dear to my heart. I worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club while in University in their Hut system. http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/whitemountains/huts/index.cfm
Being back after so many years was so good. Just wish we had more time to explore the National Forest but at least we got on top of the world in the Northeast. This little detour put us behind schedule. We rode and rode but did not make it to Lake Placid and our itinerary is changing day by day. We ended up in Morrisville, VT at a motel. Before turning in for the night I was starving. So desperate I almost had Cheryl buy us food from a gas station where their burger meat was gray not red. After Cheryl pointed this out to me we walked out. Did not feel like we should kill ourselves with food poisoning. Some nice lady outside heard us trying to figure out where to get a meal in the middle of nowhere and she pointed us in the direction of the Mooselook Restaurant. BIG home cook meals and cheap! Nice dinner we both had and some very weird and interesting folks eating at this dive.
Thought we would give ourselves a break but to be honest motels or hotels are not worth the money. We are showered again and getting ready to head out to Canada tomorrow. Goal is to get to Ottawa so we both can see the capital of Canada and where the RCMP headquarters are located. Once again, great riding and I think today was the best as far as scenery and weather combined.
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