September 15, 2013

September 15, 2013 - Rest day in Searsport, ME

Had breakfast with Randy, then saw him off on his way to Augusta today en route to Syracuse. Happy/sad again. We had a good time in Bar Harbor and I will miss him these last few days of my ride. Perfect weather for riding today - clear blue skies and cool temperatures.





I spent the rest of the morning working on the blog, doing laundry, cleaning my bike and performing basic bike maintenance, and working on potential routes and places to stay for tomorrow. My goal is to ride 77 miles to Brunswick tomorrow, which would leave approximately 55 miles to Kennebunkport on Tuesday. My legs got another good day of rest today, so I think I will be good to go tomorrow.

I went downtown to the market for a few items and stopped by the town park on the coast. It was very quiet down there, and I sat for a moment before hiking out on the sand bar and picking up a few pretty shells to take home. Next I stopped by the maritime museum for a few minutes before heading "home" to rest and be quiet.








Watched a little HGTV and looked for places to stay in Kennebunkport. Found an intriguing place called the Franciscan Guest House right near the downtown area. There is a monastery next door with all sorts of neat trails and gardens. I called our long time family friend, Mary Jean Tarr, who originally hailed from Kennebunkport. She now lives in Tampa, Florida. We had a nice chat and she made some suggestions for my time in Kennebunkport. It will be fun to see Kennebunkport after all the stories my sister and I grew up hearing. Visiting Kennebunkport is on my sister's bucket list, so I am doing a little vicarious visiting on Donna's behalf as well.

Had a good dinner and settled in for the evening. A very pleasant rest day.

September 14, 2013

September 14, 2013 Bar Harbor --> Searsport, ME - 50 miles

We left our motel in Bar Harbor at approximately 9:30 a.m. and headed for Searsport. It was a bright and mostly clear, calm day, which made me feel fairly lighthearted after two cloudy and sometimes rainy days. My legs were feeling a little better as we began the up and down hills around the coast of Mount Desert Island. Under the sunlight and blue skies, the marshes and coast provided some calming and peaceful views.


We made the 18 miles to Ellsworth in good time, only to find the main road into town blocked off because of a parade honoring Maine firefighters. Once again, being on bicycles proved to be an advantage as we were waved through and allowed to ride down the street opposite the parade. There were all sorts of different fire engines in the parade, some quite old and interesting looking. Also, various firefighters dressed in formal attire were marching in formation, some carrying ceremonial "fire axes". I stopped to take a picture of one such group which was led by two young children, also dressed in formal ceremonial attire. A couple of women standing nearby started a conversation with me, enthusiastically asking all the familiar questions regarding the bike ride. I told them a little about the ride and that it was a vehicle to raise awareness regarding ALS, and gave them my "business card." Once again, they had had some experience with a friend or family member afflicted with ALS.









It had become increasingly cloudy and cool and, in fact, we stopped to put on jackets. However, the ride to Bucksport was very enjoyable. It seemed to me that we encountered more downhill than uphill, or maybe I was just more rested and had fresher legs on this return trip. We passed by a man on a fully loaded touring bike obviously headed toward Bar Harbor. As I may have mentioned before, Bar Harbor is the end point for the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier Route.

At Bucksport, we stopped for a lunch snack at a lovely park from which you could see Fort Knox across the water in the distance. We took our time and sort of savored the moment. From there, we crossed the impressive expansion bridge I had crossed over on Thursday and continued on to Searsport. We arrived at the Yardham Motel at approximately 3:00 p.m. and had some time to clean up and relax on the comfortable porch. There was a pleasant breeze and it was sunny again.





For dinner, we biked into town and returned to The Brick House, where I had eaten dinner last Wednesday. Had the pasta dish I liked so much but, unfortunately, they were out of that exceptional strawberry shortbread. Randy and I had a wonderful time reminiscing about our various travels together, and plans for our separate routes this coming week. We also talked about other topics and our lives in general - both past, present and future. Randy picked up the tab to make up for missing my birthday dinner in June. I definitely came out ahead on the birthday dinners!

Tomorrow, Randy will head out west towards Syracuse. I am staying in Searsport for the day, and will start my journey towards Kennebunk on Monday.