It was fittingly a rainy day for the last day of the tour. When I was coming through the tiny town of Surry I had to stop and dig my phone out of its waterproof home to take a picture of the sign below. For some reason the sign reminded me of my friend Stu. I wondered where his sense of humor would take this sign. Is it only Surry selectmen that can’t take alewives? In case you didn’t know, Alewives are a kind of fish.

I stopped at a waterfront park in Ellsworth and had lunch under a picnic pavilion with a view of the river.

In the last few miles before Bar Harbor, there was a roadside stand in front of someone’s house with gorgeous bouquets of Dahlia’s for sale. I picked out one for my wife and managed to figure out a way to carry it on my bike.

When I crossed the bridge onto Mount Desert Island, where Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are, I felt like I should be done but I still had 11 miles of riding on a busy road in the rain. I finally made it to the edge of town but I wanted to end at the harbor.

So I rode across town to the harbor. I asked a young woman if she could take my picture and of course we had a lovely conversation. I hope she can find a better work/life balance and a more rewarding job.

My wife had been driving 10 hours by herself and she was almost to Bar Harbor. By the time I rode across town to the bed and breakfast we were staying in, she had arrived. It was wonderful to see her. Spending this much time apart (the most since we were married) was hard but it made me appreciate her more than ever. She was so thoughtful and generous to let me go on this 3 1/2 month tour. Thanks Honey.

That was it, the Odyssey was over. I had ridden over 5,176 miles in 84 days of riding, averaging to over 61 miles per day. It was a magnificent experience. I am very grateful that I was healthy enough to do it and am fortunate enough to be able to arrange my life to be able to dedicate the time needed for this adventure.

Thank you for coming along.

PS: I do hope to add to this blog in the future. So make sure you stop back sometime.

I packed up a wet tent and headed back to the Belfast Community Co-op for a cup of coffee and some breakfast.

While crossing the (don’t laugh) Passagassawakeag River on a pedestrian/bike bridge, I stopped to admire and take a photo of the Belfast harbor. A guy on the bridge asked if I wanted him to take a picture of me with the harbor in the background. I said yes since my selfie game hasn’t improved all that much on the tour. I ended up talking to the guy for a while. He was interested in what I was doing and shared that he had suffered with addiction for a number of years and was clean now and was on the right track. I don’t know why it is that folks seem open to talking to me on a deeper level than small talk but I am thankful they are.

A little way up route one, I came to a bridge on a much grander scale.

Sometimes you have to eat desert first on a bike tour, you are at the mercy of when bakeries present themselves. That is what I told myself when I went in Sweet Cheeks bakery for a treat before lunch.

Eventually I ate lunch at Naiad Country Brewery. Pairing PB&J on a bagel with an IPA was rather avant-garde but it worked.

I was grateful to turn off route 1 in favor of the lightly traveled little roads on my way to my Warmshowers hosts, Erin and Paul. Erin had explained that her parents were visiting and that I could stay in their homemade tear drop trailer. I was thankful that they were willing to host me when they already had house guests. I took a shower, got some laundry started and headed down to Morgan Bay behind the house. The tide was out and I walked around the intertidal zone. It was greatly different than the intertidal zones near me on the Atlantic, the Chesapeake bay and the Delaware bay. This was way more rocky and the tides were much bigger up here. The high and dry seaweed beds were striking.

I really enjoyed hearing about Erin and Paul’s 2023 bike tour through Europe with their daughter who was 5 at the time. They were on tour for 80 days and met up with family. Their daughter had her own bike and would ride some then either ride on a bike seat on Erin’s bike or her bike could be hooked up to the back of Paul’s bike and she could keep pedaling along.

I really enjoyed being included in a family dinner and game night. And sleeping in their tear drop trailer was perfect, especially since it rained. Thank you Erin and Paul for your hospitality in your warm home.

The sunrise over the Rockland harbor and a cup of coffee was a great way to start the day. I said fairwell to my Warmshowers hosts and headed up the coast to Rockport.

The little harbor at Rockport had work boats and pleasure craft. There was a picnic table next to a little beach where I decided to eat lunch and an apple tree at the edge of the beach with apples falling off of it. I had one with my lunch and packed 2 more.

Riding through Rockport, I passed two major historical industrial sites. The first was the lime kilns that converted the high quality limestone from 15 local quarries into lime to be shipped to other ports. “In 1817, three hundred casks of lime from Rockport were shipped to Washington DC for use in rebuilding the United States Capital, which had been damaged by the British during the War of 1812.” Wikipedia

The other one was Lilly pond. “The annual harvest of Lily Pond produced 50,000 tons of clear ice that was shipped worldwide. Rockport Ice Company became known for its “Lily Pond Ice,” which was so clear that one could read a newspaper through a thick slab of it.” Wikipedia

The roads to Camden, the next town North, wound along the wooded coast. I passed what I assumed to be a father and son biking the opposite direction. It looked like the son might be out on a short tour and the Dad was riding for a day with him. I should have stopped and talked to them.

I went in a store in the next town, Camden and came across a bag of peanut brittle. It was quite expensive but I had to buy it because Ron, the Warmshowers host I stayed with last night, told me he works in a candy factory and makes the peanut brittle. He made this peanut brittle! We had talked peanut brittle recipes and techniques because I make peanut brittle for family Christmas presents like my grandfather did. Ron, you make a marvelous brittle.

I arrived in Belfast and was waiting to hear back from my Warmshowers host, Thumbs, when to show up and what the address was. So I made the most of my time and went to the Belfast Community Co-op for lunch and then crossed the street for a fine coffee and a treat at Chase’s Daily.

Then after walking around town appreciating the architecture and places of business, I went down to Marshall Wharf Brewing Company for a libation. It was there that Thumbs, yes that’s his name, got back to me and said they were having some friends over for a cookout and if I wanted to throw something on the barbecue I could. I went back to the Co-op to pick something up and rode out to the address he gave me. It turned out I had rode by it coming into town.

Thumbs welcomed me and showed me where I could set up my tent and gave me a quick orientation. The house is yet another co-op! I have stayed in three on this tour. I joined the cookout and was introduced to everyone. The place had great energy. Thank you Thumbs and the rest of the Co-op for being part of my journey.

Thomas started my day off right with his waffles and coffee.

After breakfast, we said our goodbyes and I headed down the road.

I stopped for a cup of coffee and a pastry at Laural’s Dulce Vita in Thomaston. Crescent Beach was where I first caught sight of the Atlantic and I had to stop for lunch and a swim. I had smelled the salt water and caught glimpses of some bays and tidal rivers but this was the first time seeing the ocean. It was magnificent.

I headed up the coast a bit to see Owl’s head Lighthouse.

From the lighthouse I could see a lot of boats, which is logical because lighthouses are supposed to be seen by boats.

I rode past a number of harbors today but Owl’s Head Harbor was the most picturesque.

I rode the six miles to Rockland, Maine. It was a nice coastal Maine community. Then I climbed out of town to Ron and Denise’s house. They were my Warmshowers hosts for the night. Ron was just finishing mowing the grass and showed me where to park my bike and the outdoor shower.

Denise is a internist physician and works as a hospitalist, she had just gotten off of work and was unwinding from a long shift. So Ron and I went out to a Thai restaurant for dinner.

Ron has been bike touring for a long time and took a bike tour in 2017 across the country on the Southern Tier. Ron and I connected on many things. I appreciated his philosophy of being present to experience life and his commitment to not getting stuck in a mind numbing routine by challenging himself to try new things. This made me think of my wife, she has told me something similar. This bike tour was definitely trying something new for me and I did a pretty good job staying present in the moment, good or bad, to experience life. I will have more memories from this tour than if I stayed home in my daily routine.

Ron graciously picked up our bill for dinner and we headed back. I got to talk with Denise about her switch from being a primary care physician to being a hospitalist. My wife is a primary care internist and I appreciate the pressures on them. She had to go through an evolution in how she practices medicine to be able to stay in medicine. Please be kind to your doctor they have a lot of responsibilities. Can you imagine being up to date on hundreds of patients and responsible for keeping all of them healthy?

Thank you Denise and Ron for being so kind and generous.

I took my time fueling up at the Hampton Inn’s breakfast bar. Then picked up second breakfast from Labadie’s Bakery to be enjoyed somewhere down the road.

Heading out of Lewiston there was a bike lane. I could hear someone say “I told you I could fit in a bike lane.” Really, look at it, the parked truck’s mirror is halfway across the bike lane and the stencil that designates the bike lane didn’t even fit.

I would be on United States Bike Route 1 (USBR 1) most of the day. Both USBR 1 and the East Coast Greenway go from Maine to Florida. They share the same route in places but in others they diverge.

The Greenway was established by the East Coast Greenway Alliance and they wanted the route to be all off roads. Because of this, they consider the greenway to only be 35% complete with road segments connecting the off road segments.

USBR 1 was established by the Adventure Cycling Association and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The route primarily uses existing roads making it more direct but at the cost of having to ride with cars.

Crossing the bridge from Topsham to Brunswick on a busy road, I found the shoulder completely taken up by a construction sign. They could have put the sign a little farther down the road just past the turn off to the bike path along the river. I called the Brunswick Police Department and they sounded like they cared and were going to do something about it.

Halfway between Brunswick and Bath I smelled salt water for the first time in a while. And on the way into Bath, there was a Bicycle Friendly Community sign (photo below). It is a designation given by the League of American Bicyclists to communities that support the use of bicycles. There is a whole application and approval process they have to go through.

Bath was a cool town. It was hard to decide which bakery to patronize but I made a solid choice going to Solo Pane e Paticceria. They were kind enough to let me eat my own lunch at one of their outdoor tables if I bought a pastry and a coffee. I had a sourdough bagel and an excellent free farm stand tomato for lunch.

I could see the Bath City Hall just up the street while eating my lunch.

I had lined up Thomas and Katie as Warmshowers hosts for tonight. Thomas is a retired soil scientist and Katie is working as a nurse. I loved getting to know them. They heat the house with a wood boiler and had prodigious piles of firewood. They also make their own maple syrup. They made a spectacular spread for dinner and waffles were promised in the morning. I liked hearing about Thomas’ experience working trail crew in the Adirondacks and how he still gets together with some of the folks he crewed with. We also discovered my wife and I had ridden with them across North Carolina last year in the Mountains to Coast ride.

Thank you Katie and Thomas!

I stopped in Bethel at a bike shop to see if they had a nine speed chain. I no longer had confidence in the one that broke. They weren’t open.

The locals were descending on the convenience store/gas station in their pickups next door picking up their provisions for the work day. I snapped the picture below of one of their trucks with a tail pipe of quite impressive diameter. Have you noticed that full size pickups are getting to be gargantuan? I think the driver could have fit this one a little better in the parking spot but it really is too big to fit.

This morning I discovered that cucumbers (this one is from yesterday’s free veg stand) are a great riding snack.

25 miles into the day, I made a bad choice. I could have kept to the bigger road I had been riding on, all the way to Lewiston and gotten there in time to visit Forage Market for a sit down lunch. I was excited to try their wood fired oven, sourdough bagels. But instead I told myself I had plenty of time to take the scenic route to Lewiston. Sure it would be a little more miles and climbing but what am I out here for? I was lured into this route but the farther I went, the more I regretted it.

The roads were supposed to be paved but after a while, they went to gravel, not terrible gravel but steep. Eventually I was on some truly terrible gravel roads that I had no business riding a loaded touring bike on.

At one point I saw a man doing yard work in front of his house and I asked how much longer I should expect this suffering. Many more miles was his answer. He was wondering why on earth I was on his road riding a bike. Eventually I hit some blessed pavement.

This route did take me past the fetching Lake Auburn.

I was worried that I wouldn’t make it to Forage Market before they closed at 1:00 so I called them to see if I could make an order and possibly pick it up after hours. They were sweet and said they could accommodate that. I was able to walk in their door 10 minutes before they closed.

On the way to a park to have a picnic lunch I noticed Rainbow Bicycle and went in for a replacement chain. The owner helped me and we talked about bicycles, touring and the best route out of town. I noticed some old pictures on the wall that had people with penny farthing and safety (modern style frame) bicycles. He told me it was a local Lewiston bicycle club.

I was tempted to eat in the park by Great Falls but there was no shade so I went to another river side park that had some.

Really, I was going to ride out of town and camp but I couldn’t find a campground and my electronics needed to be charged. I went to the public library and charged them a bit. While I was there I texted my friend Jim who is an airplane pilot and had offered to put me up in a hotel using his frequent flyer points. I told him if he was serious, I would take him up on his offer. It wasn’t long till he texted me back with a confirmation code for a room at the Hampton Inn a few blocks away. Thank you Jim!

It was great to be able to clean up and go out for dinner. Besides the time my wife came out, this was the first stay in a hotel on this tour.

Even dropping my rear view mirror and having to look for it for 15 minutes didn’t make this a bad morning. Being camped down on the river and watching the sun come up and the mist slowly lift while the river rolled on was an outstanding way to begin the day.

I didn’t get very far down the road when the White Mountains of New Hampshire came into view. They would be putting on a show all day. I was so lucky that it was a clear day going through the Whites.

I think the three tallest peaks in the picture below are (left to right) Adams, Jefferson and Washington (The Presidential Range).

Eventually I picked up an excellent gravel road that paralleled the Presidential Rail trail and was a little faster to cover the miles on. By the way, the Cross New Hampshire trail uses the Presidential Rail Trail through the Whites and they don’t let ATVs on it and it was marvelous.

The bridge below allowed ATVs to cross the Androscoggin River from Gorham to a bunch of trails. After I went into Gorham and came back out so I could cross it, I changed my mind because the trail on the other side was reminiscent of yesterday’s ATV fest. What I didn’t know was I only had to go just a little farther and the route didn’t allow ATVs. But I turned around and went back through Gorham, with ATVs driving up and down the Main Street, and went out of town on route 2 which was a terrible choice. I managed to survive the three and a half miles before I could turn off and pick up North Road on the other side of the Androscoggin. It was a wonderful road to ride.

After a little while on North Road I came to a free Vegetable Stand, it improved my opinion of being on tour in New Hampshire.

When I got to the state border with Maine, there was an appropriate welcome to Maine sign in the form of a granite stone.

I was thinking I might spring for a campsite tonight but the only one near by was going to be expensive and I would have gotten there just before dark. So I started looking along the Androscoggin as I rode along it on North Road. I found a spot I was happy with, set up the tent and walked down to the river in my bathing suit. It was magnificent to take a dip, cool off and rinse off the road grime.

Then I put the vegetables to good use in my deluxe ramen dinner and went to bed.

The Cross Vermont Trail continued to deliver mile after mile of bucolic splendor. I crossed paths with a bike packer heading the opposite direction at Marshfield Pond.

I wasn’t the slowest thing on the road.

I crossed the bridge over the Connecticut River and I was in New Hampshire and on the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail (xnhat).

When I was researching the xnhat, while making my route, I should have been more thorough. I did read on the xnhat website, there were some sections that allowed ATVs. And they did state it was not a good trail for bikes with skinny tires, they recommend tires on bikes should be 32 millimeters or wider. But I discovered on the first section it was going to be rough going for me on a loaded touring bike with 38 millimeter tires trying to cover 50+ miles a day. The surface of the trail was a lot of loose gravel that made it more work to ride and to keep the bike under me. I assumed the ATV traffic, which was plentiful, was why the trail had so much loose gravel on top. The Cross Vermont Trail didn’t allow ATVs and didn’t have loose gravel like this.

I was rewarded with a gorgeous view of the Historic Bath Covered Bridge, the longest in New Hampshire.

For some reason, there were a lot of these gates that had chunky gravel dumped at them. I guess maybe the ATVs would have created muddy spots so they thought this would be better? 

Eventually, I got tired of the trail conditions and sought an alternative route on the roads. Not sure it was a better choice.

My glass half empty afternoon was turning into an empty glass evening. I got to Littleton and decided to fill that glass at a brewery (Shilling Beer Co.). I was weighing my options for places to stay over pizza and a beer. The bartender and some wait staff were trying to come up with a place to recommend. I decided I was going to just ride out of town and camp along the Ammonoosuc River. I did get an offer from a young person while I was unlocking my bike. She had done some touring and used to live in town. Tonight she was back in town visiting friends and she asked them if I could camp in their yard. I should have said yes but I thanked her and headed out of town.

Just out of town, climbing a hill, my chain broke. The sun was setting and it would be dark in about 45 minutes. I dug out my repair kit and proceeded to replace the broken link with a quick link (always carry a quick link). When I was done, I scanned Google satellite view for where it might be possible for me to set up my tent. I was considering behind a church but it had a good number of houses close by and it was a newer church and I was worried that they might have security cameras. I saw there was what looked like an old railroad grade down by the river and decided to head for that figuring there would be some flat ground down by the river. There was but there were also a ton of trees. I managed to squeeze my tent in a space that really wasn’t big enough for it with a leaning spruce hanging over it. The sound of the river sang me off to sleep.

I had decided when I was planning my route that I wanted to try to ride the Cross Vermont Trail to the the Cross New Hampshire Trail on my way to Maine. I had emailed the organization that established and maintains the Cross Vermont trail and asked if it was a good option for someone on a loaded touring bike. They said the trail is a mix of rail trails, gravel roads and low traffic paved roads and I should be fine on my bike but the miles might take a little longer to cover.

It turned out to be a fantastic option. Sure it was slower going and the gravel and secondary roads could have more elevation gain but it was a pretty direct route across the state and had gorgeous scenery.

I’m not sure where I had heard of Red Hen Baking Company but I knew they are well regarded and had to stop. The place was dynamite. I had a very tasty lunch and headed down the road.

The next town was Montpelier, Vermont’s capital and riding through I could see the gold dome of the Capital building. I also stopped at Hunger Mountain Co-op to see if I could pick up a loaf of bread from Elmore Mountain Bread, a bakery in the area that I have been following online for many years. It was an excellent co-op but unfortunately they didn’t have any Elmore Mountain bread.☹️

Les and Lori were my Warmshowers hosts this night. Les and his dog Carly met me coming up their driveway we parked my bike on the front porch and walked to the garden out back to meet Lori.

Les and Lori live on a land Co-op that they started many years ago. They own their house and there are two other houses with folks living in them on the property that is owned in common. I enjoyed hearing about how they started the land co-op and what their experience has been living this way. They also told me about the business they run growing micro greens in a barn across the driveway. They deliver the micro greens to their customers by electric car and E-bike. I got a tour of their production facility the next morning and it was very impressive. They have really worked out efficient systems to have the right amount of micro greens ready at the right time. Les is currently working out a new system to produce and market a new product, freeze dried broccoli micro greens.

Thank you Les and Lori for hosting me and sharing the way of life you have thoughtfully developed.

I forgot to mention that stone mason Jon, my Warmshowers host, had built a masonry heater in their house. I have always liked the idea of masonry heaters and this was a fine example of one. He also built a handsome stone shower in their bathroom which was the original dream project that launched him on his journey to becoming a stone mason.

After a quick stop at Cedar Run bakery & market in Keene I was ready to get started on the climb that 9-N offers on the way to Elizabethtown. I had driven this road many times before but this morning, I was appreciative of its climb in elevation like never before.

Coming down the other side I stopped at a place called Craigarden Farm Store. It is also an artist retreat and apparently a bike tourist haven because the two people I talked to there had done bike tours.

While eating a sandwich for lunch on the front porch of River and Rails Market and Deli in Whallonsburg, NY, I noticed the sky becoming ominously dark, and the wind picking up. I decided to seek shelter for myself and my bike. I had just ridden past the Wallonsburg Grange and a place called Whitcomb’s. To get my bike under cover at the Grange would involve carrying it up a flight of stairs I opted to ask at Whitcomb’s. It turns out that Whitcomb’s is a community arts center that is housed in an old auto shop/ gas station. The kind folks who were there let me roll my bike inside, sit in a comfortable chair and eat my desert while the storm blew over. Thank you for the shelter.

I don’t remember the guy’s name I met on the Essex to Charlotte Ferry across Lake Champlain but he thought he remembered my cousin from North Carolina staying at his mountain biking/ Skiing base camp business called Madbush Falls in Waitsfield, Vermont.

If there was a welcome to Vermont sign when I got off the ferry, I missed it but I had made it to my 11th state! When I crossed into New Hampshire two days later, I cheated and took a picture of the welcome to Vermont sign.

I wasn’t riding long in Vermont before I came to a covered bridge.

The rain caught up with me the last 15 miles and I showed up at my Warmshowers hosts’ house in Burlington soaked. My hosts Sue and Charlie welcomed me and gave me some rags to wipe down my bike before rolling it inside. Sue and Charlie are snow birds that live in Burlington in the warm months and Florida in the cool months. They were terrific hosts and I enjoyed spending time getting to know them. Thank you for hosting me Sue and Charlie!