Day 10: Bucksport

Day 10: Bucksport

June 22, 2016

Miles: 38

Camden to Bucksport

Breakfast at the Inn was fantastic. I ordered oatmeal and Steve had a deep pan blueberry pancake that he thoroughly enjoyed. After breakfast we lounged around the room for a while. We weren't in too much of a rush getting out. We had decided the night before we would ride to Bucksport about 38 miles. Steve finished reading his book and I looked at the maps and made reservations for the next three nights. We needed to secure something in Bar Harbor because we plan to stay an extra day. Arcadia National Park is just a few miles from town center and we want to explore it on our rest day.

Number 3 Pan

The ride today started off hilly, but initilly not that steep.   As we continued to ride, we hit one 14% grade hill after the next.

Ready to Climb

The first 18 miles were gruelling, though, it is all good because we need to be in good shape for Nova Scotia.  Apparently, some of the hills on the island are between 14 % - 18%. 

Steve always seems to snap me dragging behind

Steve's pushing lots of weight up that hill

Tough one

At the top and happy

About 2 miles outside Belfast, a little port town, and where we wanted to stop for lunch, we saw lawn sculptures that were very interesting looking.  The artist, Norman Tinker, happened to be sitting on his porch at the time.  We said hello and asked if we could take pictures.  He asked if they would be published in the New York Times?  Sadly, we told him no, just on our blog.  Norman was a very interesting man.  For twenty years, while at this home (orginally from Connecticut), he has been make his art.  He showed us around his yard to look at other sculptures that were in the back yard too.

Sculptures made of ordinary junk Norman got from the junk yard

At least 50 scultures

I liked this one on the left

We stayed a bit to talk to Norman.  He was enjoying us admiring his art, and we found him interesting as well.   Norman asked Steve to give him a hand.  This piece he finished 15 years ago, then one day decided he wanted to modify it.  That day was today.

 Here is Norman and me.

Making use of old Bed Springs

We were hungry by the time we rolled into Belfast. Steve ordered a Piggy Burger.  Yes, a Piggy Burger for $6.99.  It was a bacon cheese burger with pulled pork and cole slaw on top.  He loved it!

Very good value meals

 I order chicken breast sandwich minus the bun.  It was very good and hit the spot.

Yummy!

When we left Belfast the rain rolled in.  Light at first, but shortly after it started raining hard.   We stayed the course and rode through it.  Luckily we had the wind in our favor and oddly, the hills were much gentler.  Other than it being a bit nippy, the rest was doable.

Foorbridge leaving Belfast

After about 13 miles, we noticed an opening in the sky behind us so we decided to stop at a convenience store to warm up and grab a hot coffee.  We were hoping the storm would pass us by, which it did.

Rain is slowing down as predicted

Here is Jennette, the store owner.  Steve was interested in her coin dispenser, so she dismantled it to show him. She was really into it, and coins in general, so she and Steve had a lot to talk about. 

We had about 7 miles remaining and two bridges to cross.  We rode over this bridge in the distance to get to the Island of Verona, which is the way to Bucksport.

This is Fort Knox in the distance, built for the Civil War, but never used.  It was the first fort built of granite, and not wood, in Maine. 

Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970

Here I am at dinner.  This restaurant was conveniently located across from Fort Knox Motel where we are staying.  I ordered haddock fish tacos with corn tortillas and Steve salmon and squash mashed potatoes.  Both meals very good!

We are off to Bar Harbor tomorrow.  About 48 miles from Bucksport.  We are planning an early start. Weather forecast looks good - 75 degrees and the wind sould be blowing from the SW.  We are not sure the grade of the hills, but if they are like the past two days, it may be a slow ride tomorrow!

 

Day 9: Camden

Day 9: Camden, ME

June 21, 2016

Miles: 33

Average Speed 9.4 mph
 
Damariscotta to Camden


Today we had planned to ride 53 miles to Belfast.  We didn't make it.  Instead, we rode 33 miles to Camden.  The hills did us in.

We got up this morning and made it to the dining room by 8am.  Minnie served us fresh fruit, scones, an omelet and sausages.  And coffee, of course.  It was a great breakfast and we were quite full.

Di ready to dig in

We wanted our breakfast to digest a bit before riding, so we went back to our room to relax and read.  Yesterday, I finished the book Marianne gave me when we stayed at her house - The Immobile Man, by Dr. Lud Gutmann.  That book was a fascinating collection of cases Dr. Gutmann, a neurologist, has worked on.  I really enjoyed his problem solving approach - he looks beyond technology (CAT scans, MRI, etc.) and often learns more from observing and talking with his patients.  It was an interesting and informative book.  Now I am reading Anne of Green Gables and it is just a delight.  I wish my imagination was as fertile as Anne's.  Anyway, but the time we finished lounging and reading and then packing our bikes, it was already 10:30.  But, we weren't concerned because we knew we could ride the 53 miles in five hours.  If we add in two hours for breaks and lunch, that means we would arrive in Belfast at 5:30pm.

Leaving the the B&B (at 10:30!)

The B&B is located on High Street.  Yes, another bad name for bicyclists.  I don't know if it is easy to discern the hill from the photo above, but the hill proved to be a bad omen, because all we saw today was hills.  There were no level stretches of road, just rises and drops.  After 2 hours of riding we had gone only 12 miles.  We stopped at Moody's Diner and ate a bunch more food.  Di had a chicken salad platter and I had a second breakfast of blueberry pancakes.  We learned that Moody's Diner is an institution in these parts, having opened its doors in 1927 and remaining in the same family ever since.  My pancakes were awesome!

Di at Moody's Diner

Moody's Diner from the outside

We resumed riding and it was tough going.  Also, we were back on Rt. 1, which isn't that nice of a road.

Sometimes we went up long, gradual hills

Sometimes we went up long, steep hills

Our steepest climbs were of a 16% grade.  That's is distressingly steep on a touring bike with a full load.  At the 28 mile mark we stopped at a market in Rockport  to get some snacks and make an assessment of our situation.  Our situation was that it was 3pm, we had 25 miles to go, our legs felt like jelly and we were quite tired.  We figured if we pushed on and rode steadily, then we could make Belfast sometime between 6:00 and 6:30.  It would be tough and we would be pretty much wiped out by the time the ride was over, but at least we would have made it.  Or, we could ride 4.5 miles to the town of Camden and call it a day.   If we ended our ride in Camden, we would have plenty of time and energy to explore the town, find a nice place to eat, relax, have some laughs, get a good night's rest, and be rejuevenated for the next day's ride.  Our assessment complete, we decided to end our ride in Camden.  We got back on the bikes with big smiles on our faces and truly enjoyed the remaining 4.5 mile ride to Camden.

Resting at the 28 mile mark after too many hills

View of the Rockport harbor

 With two miles remaining to get to Camden, we came across a public beach and took a short rest.  Now that we had plenty of time to get to our destination, we wanted to make sure we enjoyed as much of the day as possible.

View of the beach from a park bench

We arrived at the Hartstone Inn at 4:30.  We were tuckered out and agreed we made the right decision not to go on to Belfast.

Our room has enormous windows

We had dinner at Fresh, which, thankfully, is not pronounced Flesh as I thought Di had.

Seafood stew for Di and haddock for me

We walked around the town after dinner:

Hanging out at the docks

View down Main Street

View down Elm Street

Back at the Hartstone Inn

We had planned to be in Bar Harbor tomorrow, but now we won't be there until Thursday.  Bar Harbor is about 80 miles from where we are now, so we'll split the distance over the next couple of days.  This plan should give our legs a chance to recover (I hope!).

Day 8: Damariscotta

Day 8: Damariscotta

June 20, 2016

Miles: 61

Average Speed 9.7 mph

Ascending in Feet 3989
   
Portland to Damariscotta

We wanted to get an early start this morning because we had 55 miles to ride to Damariscotta, but we didn't.  Last night, I secured a B&B for lodging because Damariscotta only offered B&B lodging and no motels or hotels.  It did have a campground close, but after some thought I figured - why sleep on the ground when you can sleep in a bed.  This makes sense - right?  I thought it did!

Let me first highlight the day for you, we had beautiful weather; we rode through the cutiest towns; we stopped for lunch at a deli in Bath that was gluten free friendly; we took a wrong turn and adding 6 miles to our ride; we climbed almost 4000 feet; we checked into the B&B after 7:00p.  Here are the details.

Leaving Portland this morning was easy. Portland has a bike trail that hugs the coast.  It was right on the water, so close that you could have jumped in.  The bike trail out of the city was a nice way to travel. You didn't have to fight traffic. Very few people occupied this bike trail; this morning included this young, and rather eccentric looking, roller blader.

A beautiful view taken from the Portland bike trail.

Still on the bike trail in Portland.  It was about 10:15am and about 2 miles from the Hampton Inn. We essentially got a late and very slow start this morning leaving the Hampton. Before we knew it, it was after 10:00am - crazy how that happens!

Today we did not have a Garmin route programmed.  We thought - lets just go for it.  It was only about 18 miles to Freeport, which was our first stop, but more significantly, the town that intersected with the AMA East Coast Bicycle Map. We bought this map from the same company that we bought last year's maps.  As you may remember - these maps are amazing.  We really wanted to get back using these maps because they are easy to read and we never, never seem to get lost using them. 

And can you believe it.  To our surprise, we past by Garmin corporate office.  In hindsight, we probably should have programmed a Garmin route for today, but we didn't.  Note though, at this point in the ride, we had not gotten lost.  

We stopped at a Starbucks in Freeport for a coffee. We used the gift certificate Nannie gave me for Christmas to make our purchases.  Thanks Nannie!

Right after we left Freeport, the first cute town we visited, we faced the unfathomable.  Rolling hills, one after the next.  We knew it would be a tough day riding, but we never expected to climb almost 4000 feet with most of these hills between 12% and 16% grade.  This is just one of many steep hills that followed.

It was about the 30 mile mark here.  We found ourselves on another bike trail.  The trail was beautiful as it hugged the Merrymeeting Bay.  It was a peaceful place to rest and the sun shined perfectly.

We stopped to eat lunch in Bath, another cute town.  It also had the best deli.  The woman who owned it was a gluten free eater, so she of course had a lot of gluten free options on the menu.  I had bok choy soup and a roasted turkey breast sandwich with spicy mustard.  Steve had the Florence Wrap, which was hummas, feta chesse, and a variety of greens.  We had rode about 39 miles at this point, so lunch really hit the spot.

As we left Bath, we had to cross this bridge.  In fact, we crossed at least 7 bridges today.  There are lots of rivers, bays, and ponds in this area.  All so beautiful and clean.

It was between 45 and 50 miles of riding at this point; we started seeing open fields and farm land - really plush and green.  It was during this stretch that we added 6 miles to our ride.  Route 1 is the official East Coast Greenway.  The route basically recommended for bicyclists. Route 1 is sometimes a really nice road to ride on, and at other times, not so nice.  Meaning lots of loud cars and traffic.  We were actually on Old Stage Road, a stretch where we were paralleling Route 1. It was a less travelled road, so a good road for cyclist.  Some where between Bath and Damariscotta we put on an extra 6 miles. The AMA maps are so reliable, usually.  We just didn't know what happened, until we stopped to look at the map and we saw that off of Old Stage Road we were supposed to have taken a left onto Old Bath Road.  This is what was written in the map 'take left on an unsigned Old Bath Road'.  Well!  Do I have to say any more.

At this point we were at 50 miles and we determined that we had another 11 miles to go.  It was getting late, but it was still light out so we just had to grind and do the miles.  I stopped to call Minnie, the innkeeper at the B&B to tell her we would be checking in late.  Of course Minnie thanked us for calling to let her know.  We then ran into two older gentleman about 1 mile down the road; we asked them if we were on the right track and if Route 1 was up ahead.  After about a 5 minute chat with one gentleman who acually gave us detailed directions to Darariscotta, the other said 'let me tell you something, I really want you to think about this now (pause), did you know that there is something called an automobile'.  He was trying to be funny, and he was.  His delivery was just perfect!  Made us laugh!

We finally reached Damariscotta at about 6:30p.  We picked up dinner before we headed to the B&B.  We knew that we would not leave the B&B once checked in, so we bought take out in the town.  Damariscotta is such a cute little town.  It resembles a fisherman town in a way.  For dinner, I ordered a gluten free pizza that I had to fold up like quesadillas because I really couldn't ride my bike with a big pizza box strapped to it, and Steve ordered a Lamb Gyro.  Both pretty decent.

We plan to ride to Belfast tomorrow - about 54 miles.  Another long and hilly ride.  When we told Minnie we encountered a lot of steep hills today, she simply said, 'we are in Maine'.  That told us we need to expect this type of terrain going forward!

Day 7: Portland Rest Day

 Day 7: Portland, ME

June 19, 2016

Miles: 0 (we rested)


Its Father's Day, so I had the day off.  Instead of riding, I got to do some of the other things that I really enjoy.  First, I got to sleep in.  We didn't get up until 9am, which is not as late as I would normally consider sleeping in, but late compared to the time we typically arise on our bike trips.  Then we headed downstairs for breakfast, which was the usual Hampton Inn fare - good, but not great.  But  they do have coffee!  By 10am I had already done three of my favorite things: sleeping, eating and drinking coffee.

Breakfast at the Hampton Inn lacks pancakes

After breakfast, we decided to do some laundry.  This is not one of my favorite things, so Di offered to do the laundry this time.  Actually, she does the laundry every time.  I'd like to say that I perform other tasks for her in return, but nothing is coming to mind right now.  I probably should have made something up that I do in return, but probably no one would believe me.  Anyway, this is really another one of my favorite things, which is having such a wonderful person in my life.

Thanks Di!

At least I strung up the line and helped hang the clothes to dry. 

Di makes laundry look like fun.

I called my Mom to say hello.  Its always enjoyable to talk with my Mom because she is so upbeat and funny.  We talked for a while and then Andy came on the phone to wish me Happy Father's Day!  He was at my Mom's to do some work and he filled me in on what he's been up to.  I always enjoy talking with Andy and even though I've only been gone a week I already miss our conversations.  He is coming with Jen and Ben to visit Di and me in Nova Scotia in a couple of weeks and I can't wait to see them.  It makes me very happy just to see my children.  We talked for a while and then my Dad came on the phone and we wished each other a happy Father's Day.  Every time I talk with my Dad I am reminded how funny he can be; he really knows how to deliver a zinger.  Well, there is another favorite thing of mine: family.

We then went walking around Portland.  We came to a small park with a musician with a folk guitar and I asked Di to pose for me.  This is another of my favorite things: taking pictures.  Di used to be reluctant to pose, but now she is a natural and readily gets in position for the shot.  I think she just wants to get it over with quickly.

One of the many thousands of pictures I have taken of Di

Now it was time for more coffee.   As I said earlier,  coffee is one of my favorite things and corollary to that enjoyment is:  coffee good, more coffee better.  We went into Bard Coffee and we both got the Nitro Iced Coffee.  This is an iced coffee that is infused with nitrogen and served from a beer tap.  It is advertised as being much smoother than your typical iced coffee.  I found that it was smoother, but for me, it wasn't worth the additional money.  I'd rather save that money and use it to by more regualar coffee.  Also, do I really want to ingest nitrogen?  Anyway, there I was, happy with more coffee.  We went back to the park to listen to more music.  Listening to music is definitely one of my more favorite things to do.  As a bonus, the musician played some Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan and Billy Joel!  He also sang Let It Go from the movie Frozen and instead of being annoyed, I was shocked to find myself singing along.  I didn't even know I knew the words, but I guess that's what happens when the world gets saturated with a song.

What, me, worry?

We finished our coffees and it was on to another favorite thing: a bookstore!  I love going in bookstores and feeling all the potential great stories I can read.  Today I knew I needed to find a certain book recommended by Bethany.  She said I had to read this if I was going to Prince Edward Island.  Bethany has never steered me wrong before, so I had to follow up on her recommendation to read Anne of Green Gables. I probably should have read this book by now, but hey, so many books, so little time.  The bookstore had two different copies of the story, so naturally I made my selection by lowest weight.  It also had the benefit of the nicest cover.

This is the cover of the book now in my possession

It was now time for another favorite thing: eating.  I know I listed this activity before, but the truth is, I don't really have that many favorite things.  Its just that I deeply enjoy those things that are my favorites.  And, I'm not giving you a comprehensive list of my favorite things either.  Some parts of me must remain a mystery. (That's another of my favorite things - thinking I'm mysterious.  Please don't burst my bubble.)

Di and I went to Duck Fat restaurant.  I thought it a strange name for a restaurant because it might give the impression that they cook everything in duck fat.  But that is not the case, they just cook some things in duck fat.  Di and I started our meal off with an order of Belgian Fries cooked in, what else, duck fat!  Despite their obsession with duck fat, the fries were awesome!

Those fries were made with genuine duck fat!

Di ordered haddock and I the pulled pork panini.  I don't know if duck fat was used in the making of either of these meals, but odds are it was.

Ready to eat (notice the fries have been consumed)

We finished eating and went back to the hotel to take a nap (more sleep!).  I napped for about an hour and shortly after I woke Jen called to wish me Happy Father's Day!  Jen had sent me a Happy Father's Day! text early this morning instead of calling because she didn't want to wake me in case I was sleeping (smart!).  I knew she would call later in the day and it was great to hear her voice.  Now that Jen is living in Providence I get to spend a lot more time with her than when she was in Philly and I love that.  Ironically, it makes me miss her more when I'm away, so I was glad to talk with her.

Di and I then decided to go to the outdoor showing of the film Manhatten.  Going to the movies is another of my favorite things and I particularly like Woody Allen.  We knew the showing was on Congress Street, so we started at the downtown end of Congress and started walking.  After 20 minutes of walking we hadn't yet found the outdoor theater and the street appeared to stretch on for quite a distance.  We decided to abandon our search and go to a bar to watch the finals of the NBA championship.  We were looking forward to seeing the movie, but we ended up having a lot of fun in the bar.  I was rrooting for Cleveland, the underdog, and they won in a very exciting game.  So, I was able to experience another favorite thing of mine: having things go my way. 

Veggie burger, Lake Trout Stout, NBA finals

I had a great Father's Day and I hope everybody's day was as much fun as mine.

Tomorrow, we are off to Damariscotta, where we will learn how to pronounce Damariscotta.  It is around 55 miles from Portland, so we'll have a full day of riding.