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Slideshow
Slideshow
A
slideshow
of photos of my travel up the Downeast Bold Coast in Maine can be found at
https://photos.app.goo.gl/whHBmumMkpMXKBsXA
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Missive No. 6: Bicycle Around Maine (BAM) II
Missive No. 6: Bicycle Around Maine (BAM) II
At the end of my last missive I wrote:
As my readers know, the ride to my home from the final train station takes 3-4 days, but perhaps this year I’ll choose a longer route? Perhaps my dreams did not die in Palmdale but only transformed? Stay tuned.
That's precisely what happened. I spent a week and a half with family and friends in Maryland and then took the train to Boston and onward by bus to Belfast, Maine. I spent a day there with my friend Ellen and then, on July 20, got back in the saddle and continued forward on two wheels with WoodsWoman. Instead of my usual route straight home, I rode along the Bold Coast of Downeast Maine. I went all the way to Lubec, the easternmost town in the US, and then crossed the bridge into Canada to Campobello Island where the Roosevelt family vacationed in the summers in the early 20th century. I had wanted to visit Campobello ever since, as a teenager, seeing the movie Sunrise at Campobello about how future President Franklin Roosevelt was stricken with polio while on the island in 1921. After Campobello I took US 1 through Calais to Topsfield, where I turned west on ME 6. I spent two nights at Pleasant Lake before continuing on to Lincoln. I reached Burlington and turned into my own driveway last Sunday evening, July 30.
So it turns out that my dreams really did not die in Palmdale but only took on a different form. There is a certain "circular logic" to this transformation. In 2020 I suspended my ride around the state of Maine (Bike Around Maine -- BAM) and went west all the way to Washington State. This year I suspended my ride in California . . . and in exchange continued my intended 2020 route in my home state of Maine. In sum, I'm content. I spent a wonderful week on the Bold Coast of Maine and on Campobello Island. Unlike in the California desert, here it was cool. The weather was perfect. Instead of cheap motels, I was camping again. I also spent a wonderful night with my WarmShowers hosts Larry and Tanya. It turned out that Tanya is from Ukraine, and the evening became a Russian language event for me.
Of course, it's hard to compare this year's bike-packing adventure with those of previous years. I traveled all of 3720km (2325 miles), whereas in 2021 I went almost double that distance. That said, this year I visited five national parks and monuments, Lowell Observatory, and Campobello Island. I am content.
There is only one song that properly captures the mixed emotions that one has at the end of a bike-packing journey. The emotions are mixed in the sense that there is happiness at completing the journey successfully at the same time that there is a certain sadness that one is not going to be in the saddle each day. But this song also hints that this may not be the last such journey. That song -- one that goes through my head at the end of each of these journeys -- is Last Time on the Road. Time will show what next year brings.
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В конце прошлого послания я написала так:
Как читатели мои знают, из последнего железнодорожного вокзала до моего дома, это дня 3-4 в седле. А может быть в этом году найду себе новый маршрут подлиннее? Возможно мечты мои не умерли в городе Пальмдейл а только и превратились, приобрели новый облик? Посмотрим.
Так и было. Я провела полтора недели с родными и друзьями в штате Мэриленд и потом села в поезд до Бостона и оттуда в автобус до Белфаста в штате Мэн. Я провела день с подругой Еленой и 20-го июля села в седло и поехала дальше на двух колёсах с ЛесНицей. Вместо обычного прямого маршрута до дома, я ехала по "Бодрому побережью" в районе Мэн, который называется "Внизу-по-востоку." Я доехала вплоть до самого восточного населённого пункта в США, города Лубек, и оттуда переехала мост в Канаду на остров Кампобелло где семья Рузевельт отдыхала в начале 20-го века. Я давно хотела посетить этот остров с тех пор как в молодости я смотрела фильм Восход солнца на Кампобелло о том, как будущий президент Франклин Рузевельт заразился детским параличом когда он провёл лето на острове в 1921. После Кампобелло я держала путь на US 1 через город Калис до Топсфильда, где я повернула на запад по дороге ME 6. Я провела две ночи у "Приятного озера," прежде чем продолжать путь до Линкольна. Я доехала до Берлингтона и повернула на дорожку к собственному дому вечером в прошлое воскресенье, 30-го июля.
Итак, мечты не умерли в городе Пальмдейл а только приобрели новый облик. Есть некоторый "круглый смысл" в том, как они превратились. Дело в том, что в 2020-ом я прекратила поход по штату Мэн (Bike Around Maine -- BAM -- БАМ), чтобы поехать на запад вплоть до штата Вашингтон. А в этом году я прекратила поход в Калифорнии раньше срока . . . а взамен возобновила намеченный маршрут 2020-го года в родном штате Мэн. В итоге, я довольна. Я отлично провела время на "Бодром побережье" и на острове Кампобелло. В отличии от пустыни в Калифорнии, здесь было прохладно. Погода стояла отлично. Вместо дешёвых гостиниц, я снова жила на кемпингах и отлично провела ночь с Ларри и Таней по программе "Тёплые души." Оказалось, что Таня из Украины, и так этот вечер оказался для меня русскоязычным.
Конечно, этот летний поход не сравнить с походами в предыдущих годах. Я проехала всего 3720 км (2325 миль), а в 2021-ом я проехала почти в два раза дальше. Но зато я посетила пять национальных парков и монументов, Обсерваторию им. Лоуэлла, и остров Кампобелло. Я довольна.
Есть только одна песня, которая правильно описывает противоречивые чувства при завершении этих летних походов. Чувства смешанные в там смысле, что есть радость от того, что поход удачно завершается а вместе с радостью есть некоторое горе от того, что больше не будешь каждый день в седле. Но эта песня тоже намекает на то, что возможно это не последний раз. Песня называется Последний раз на дороге. Посмотрим, что будет в моей жизни в следующем году.
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Daily Log
Daily Log
Monday-Tuesday, July 3-4, 2023 -- 9872 km cum - 0 km/day
This was it, my last few miles in California on this summer's journey. In Merced I spent the morning going to the grocery store for a few snacks and to the post office to mail a few things home. I now have some regret about that. I'm writing onboard the California Zephyr on Wednesday, and I am starting to think of a longer after-ride when I arrive back in Maine.
In Emmeryville I rode from the Amtrak station to the Hilton Garden Inn on Monday and back to the station on Tuesday morning. Three years ago on July 4 I was on Mackinac Island and on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Two years ago I was in Missouri. Last year I was in Fairbanks. This year I was on the California Zephyr.
On the Zephyr I have had a number of good conversations. Richard, a retired football coach from Dartmouth, is across the hall from me. This morning I spent several hours with Venus, a young trans woman, and two other women talking about LGBT issues. It's been a good train journey so far. I write as we enter the California Rockies.
July 5-17, 2023 -- 9940 km cum - 68 km/week
[Writing in Boston on Tuesday, July 18]
This 40+ mile total surprised me when I wrote it down. It's more than I expected but is, in fact, right. It mainly reflects 12+ miles from Union Station in DC to Matthew's in Silver Spring on Friday, July 7, and a 22-mile ride with Matthew and Rachel on Saturday, July 8. The rest is "little bits" in Emmeryville and some "walk the bike" short distances in Maryland and Boston.
It was a good, in fact excellent week in Maryland. I spent the first two night with Matthew and got to meet Rachel. Despite all my riding, they wore me out on our Saturday ride. Age!
I spent Sunday night at Irene's and the next three with John. We saw the new "Indiana Jones" movie, which also served as an age reminder. I saw the first one in 1981! Outdoors, we went on long walks in Frederick, Hagerstown, and Williamsport.
I was back with Irene for Thursday and Friday nights before returning to Matthew's for Saturday and Sunday. At last I got to spend time with E-J! Going on nine years old, she's no longer shy. I spent hours playing "house" with her and her dolls.
Yesterday I took Amtrak to Boston and overnight-ed at the too expensive Doubletree that I hadn't stayed at in years. Today I take the bus to Belfast for a couple of nights with Ellen.
Thursday, July 20, 2023 -- 10,005 km cum - 65 km/day
The after-ride has begun! Today's ride was an easy, pleasant 40-miles from Ellen's to the Patten Pond campground just short of Ellsworth. (At $48, the campground is outrageously overpriced, even more so then the one KOA campground I stayed at in 2019, but at least it's pleasant with free showers.) The weather was sunny and warm but nothing like the mid-Atlantic in 2021 or the California oven of this summer.
Most of all, it feels good to be riding again. This summer's adventure is nearing its end, but it's not over yet. There is more to come.
Friday, July 21, 2023 -- 10,087 km cum - 82 km/day
Saturday, July 22, 2023 -- 10,193 km cum - 100 km/day
These have been two excellent days.
Friday began with a diner breakfast in Ellsworth. Just as my breakfast arrived, so did Dave, a bike-packer who used a week's vacation from USFS to ride in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He stayed with me all through breakfast as we talked over our experiences. A young guy only fifty years old, he is scheduled for major cancer surgery on August 1 that will remove his large intestine. He worries what this might mean for his bicycling future. I will be thinking of him on August 1.
From Ellsworth I attempted to ride the Downeast Sunrise Trail but abandoned it for the road after ten miles. The gravel surface was meant for ATVs, not a loaded touring bike. For the rest of the day I had a very pleasant, scenic ride on USBR 1.
In Addison I had a wonderful WS night with Larry and Tanya. Larry is from Baltimore, and Tanya is from L'viv in Ukraine. They met and married in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Tanya and I spent the evening talking in Russian. She made dinner and set me up in the guest bedroom for the night.
Today started out in such a thick mist that I wore rain gear. Fortunately, the mist cleared as I was having a gas station breakfast in Columbia Falls.
I stayed on USBR 1 for another beautiful ride. It was also a mistake that added an extra fifteen miles to the day. Tom, my WS host for the night, had given me his address as 340 US 1. Well, Google maps told me this address is near the intersection of USBR 1 and US 1. Wrong. Turns out there are multiple addresses "340 US 1." The one I needed was some twelve miles away. If I had gone to the right address in the first place, the day would have been much shorter. Oh well, it was still a very good day. I'm set up for "indoor camping" in Tom's "screen house."
Sunday, July 23, 2023 -- 10,240 km cum - 47 km/day
I'm in Canada again, in New Brunswick to be specific, camped at Herring Cove campground on Campobello Island. I had wanted to come here for years ever since seeing the movie "Sunrise at Campobello" on TV when I was perhaps 10-12 years old. I already visited the FDR summer home on my way in.
The ride itself today was, as I intended, a short one. I had breakfast in Lubec where I got into a long and interesting conversation with John and Jane from Iowa. From Lubec I rode to the Quoddy Lighthouse, where I had another good conversation with Hannah, a young woman from Massachusetts who is working on a farm in Maine this summer. From the lighthouse I returned to Lubec, bought groceries, and crossed the bridge into Canada.
It has occurred to me that this ride up the Bold Coast is a continuation of my 2020 BAM (Bike Around Maine) ride. That year I abandoned BAM to ride across the U.S. on the Northern Tier. This year I curtailed the Sierra-Cascades ride and have resumed the BAM. There is circularity to this, a good sense of complementarity and completion.
Monday, July 24, 2023 -- 10,272 km cum - 32 km/day
Today's was just a fun ride out to the East Quoddy Light at the far end of Campobello Island. I got there as the tide was starting to come in, and thus I couldn't walk across to the sandbar to the lighthouse itself. Still, I lingered for over an hour and watched as the legendary Bay of Fundy tide came in and covered the sandbar completely. At the campground in the evening I met a couple from Rockland County, NY!
Wednesday, July 26, 2023 -- 10,364 km cum - 92 km/day
This was a good, pretty riding day from Campobello to a motel night in Calais. It was also much longer than I expected. I had planned to take the "water taxi" from Lubec to Eastport only to find that the ferry has not run in two years. Thus instead of a 30+ file water and road ride, I had to ride 57 miles totally on-road.
I may be at this motel for two nights. The forecast for tomorrow afternoon is a stormy one.
Friday, July 28, 2023 -- 10,443 km cum - 79 km/day
I did stay in Calais a second day, and it's good I did. It poured rain all afternoon. I was soaked after a two mile walk to a grocery store. My other task of the day was laundry, and I was lucky to meet and start talking with Scott at the laundromat. A motorcyclist from northern Virginia with a camp in Princeton, ME, he drove me back to my room at the International Motel. If he hadn't, I would have been soaked twice in one day.
Today's ride up Rt. 1 to Topsfield was an easy one. Turning west on Rt. 6 -- the trans-Maine Highway -- I felt I had entered into home territory.
As in past years, I'm holding on, delaying my return to "normal life" just a bit. Tonight and tomorrow night, I'm staying in a cabin at Maine Wilderness Camps on Pleasant Lake. This spot has significance in my life. I camped here in 2007 as I was finishing my driving/camping trip around Maine, The Maritime, and Newfoundland. In the morning, I met a couple in an RV who invited me to breakfast. Both were divorced but in the aftermath had found each other and a happier life. I opened up to them about my marriage and my fears that I did not have the courage to go through with divorce. It was that morning with them that gave me the courage. If it had not been for that morning, I might not have started down the road that led to where I am today.
Yes, this is a special spot, in its way another "Little Orleans." I'm glad I am here for this year's "Last Time on the Road."
Sunday, July 30, 2023 -- 10,527 km cum - 84 km/day
[Writing Monday morning, July 31]
Just three days short of three months since I rolled out of Tucson on May 2, I am home. As I sit with my coffee on my front porch this morning, I feel disoriented, bewildered, at loose ends. The feelings are familiar. I felt them after riding home from DC in 2019, after riding the Northern Tier in 2020, after riding the TransAm in 2021, and after last year's Alaska-to-Montana Northstar adventure. Their familiarity, however, does not diminish their intensity. It takes time to readjust to "normal life." It doesn't happen in one day. I'm still holding on to my life on the road. Today I'm dressed in my usual travel town clothes: red top and black slacks. Even my underwear comes from my panniers. If anything, I'm treating today as a travel rest day. That is, in a way, what it is. Tomorrow I'll be on WoodsWoman for a 45-mile Lincoln-Howland loop to do grocery shopping and to take some cash from my credit union. And so, I'm not quite done. I have one more day ahead of me that I declare is still part of this California Zephyr / BAM II summer.
Yesterday's ride was a hilly but good one. I had forgotten just how hilly Maine Rt. 6 is, in particular from Topsfield to Lee. I stopped in Lincoln long enough to get what I thought would be my most needed groceries. That added about fifteen pounds to my load. For the first time in more than a year, I had to push WoodsWoman up the two steepest hills on Transalpine Road. Perhaps I could have pedaled up, but I followed my rule. Once my speed drops below 6 km/hr, there is no point in suffering. I can walk up at 3-4 km/hr.
As I stopped to take a "selfie" at the Burlington town sign, Seb pulled up in his car to welcome me home. I stopped to say "Hi" to Kelly and Frank, and then I rolled up to my own porch. Inside, a Hawaiian pizza from Laurie waited in my refrigerator. I made a black Russian, went out on the porch, and watched the sun set through my woods. I am home.
PS -- I didn't lose any weight this summer. I weighed in last night at 140-141 lbs. What gives?
Tuesday, August 1, 2023 -- 10,594 km/cum - 67 km/day
This was it, my final day, a 46-47 mile loop to Lincoln for groceries and to the credit union in Howland to replenish my cash supply. I may have had empty bags on my way to Lincoln, but I was drenched in an unexpected cloudburst. After Lincoln, however, I was carrying full weight with camping gear replaced by groceries.
As I expected, I was in a down mood on Monday. It has been this way after each of my summer trips, but expecting it does not make it less real. It's a process. After today's final ride, I'm feeling much more positive.
And so, this is it, the end of my California Zephyr / BAM II summer. It was not of the scale as my adventures of 2020, 2021, and 2022, but I am content and am left to wonder what next year will bring.
ending km: 10,594 km
total distance: 3720 km (2325 miles)
