New Castle, ME to Rockland, ME 50.4 miles

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.