Bearing down on Bangor

Images: (clockwise from left)...

There are lakes everywhere in this freakin' state; one of the enormous hills on the way between the Canadian border and Bangor; the Pleasant Street Inn in Greenville (a lovely B&B); a view from the dock at the Black Frog in Greenville. I guess the sign has much more significance in the winter.; the Brown Moose Motel in Jackman where I rested after crossing the Canadian border and waiting out the rain at the border crossing.

July 15, 2010 Invitation Inn Motel, Ste. Marie 58/628km 4:30 pm

Little shorter day than I would have liked. I got off to a bit of a late start (almost 9). The route was pretty clear. I had ridden 6 miles before I even got to the turnoff for Rte. 175 South. The terrain, for the most part, was pretty rolling with some rather large hills. Not too bad overall. Once it was clear that I wasn’t going to make it all the way to Ste. Georges, I set my sites on Ste. Marie.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for showers and wind and possible thunderstorms. What I might wind up doing is jumping in a big taxi and head down to Ste. Georges. From there, I’ll head over the border to Jackman, ME. Anyway…that’s the plan. I’ll see what happens when I wake up.

That also might give me the chance to update the blog, which I haven’t done in a little while. I’ve got some nice pictures from Quebec City to add as well.

July 17, 2010 Northland Hotel, Jackman, ME 70/698km 4:00 pm

Okay, Okay, Okay. I missed yesterday. There really wasn’t much to report. I did, in fact, take a big taxi over to St. Georges and got a room at the Comfort Inn at the far end of town. It was a lovely place. While we drove over, we drove through occasional wind and heavy, heavy wind. I was glad that I had decided not to ride. It would have been amazingly annoying.

Anyway…most of the day was spent reading and occasionally napping. I actually ate lunch for one of the first times on the trip. I had a chicken burger with fries. Pretty good stuff. For dinner, I had the restaurant’s version of “chicken parmesan.” Pretty good stuff. Carrots and rice pilaf and Caesar salad and chicken noodle soup. It tasted wonderful. Didn’t sit particularly well. Oh, well. After dinner, I just went back to the room and did a little searching for accommodation for today and watched the CFL game between Hamilton and Winnipeg. Hamilton won pretty easily after knocking out the starting quarterback for Winnipeg.

I didn’t sleep particularly well, but since I had turned out the light at 10:30, I had plenty of opportunity. I only got up once to go to the bathroom. The rest of the time, I slept well in between tossing and turning.

Today, I was on the road by about 8:15. It was breezy, but mostly a “cross wind.” The terrain was not rolling, but HILLY. There were some HUGE hills. Overall, a pretty tough day. But, I got it done. Once I left St. Georges, there was virtually not a single store at which to stop and get a Gatorade or PowerAde or even water. The first opportunity I had was at the border crossing, about 28 miles into the trip. There, all that was available was at the Duty Free Shop. I got two Cokes and three small waters. I stopped for about 45 minutes before heading through the border crossing.

The officer at the crossing asked me the following questions:

HIM: Why are you on a bicycle?

ME: Because I’m crazy.

HIM: What do you do for work?

ME: I teach at The American University in Dubai.

HIM: Well, that would explain all the travel stamps in the passport.

ME: Sir, it looks like it’s going to rain pretty much any minute. Is there any room or anywhere I could sit or stand and wait out the rain?

HIM: Sure. Just pull into Bay #3 up by that table. I’ll tell my boss what you’re doing there.

Under the shelter of the bay, I sat and waited. It took only about 10 minutes before a steady drizzle began. That increased to a downpour within minutes. Of course, the wind was blowing, and I still got a little damp. But not nearly what would have happened if I had tried to cycle through it. Once it finished, I stayed dry through the whole rest of the whole rest of the trip. I was a little nervous when I finally pulled into Jackman that the rain was going to start soon, so I really cycled pretty hard for the last 5 or so miles.

Overall, there wasn’t too much traffic on the road today. As I got closer to Jackman, there were actually houses along the road. That was nice in case I had to ditch in case of rain. Fortunately, I didn’t have to.

I found the Brown Moose Motel (where I had made a reservation and had a confirmation last night) without too much trouble. It is literally RIGHT next door to Bishop’s Motel, which really had been my first choice (because I had read about it in the Rough Guide. But, I didn’t hear back from them last night. The Brown Moose is smack in the middle of town.

The room is beautiful. TWO big queen beds. TV, free internet access, good water pressure in the shower, AC. Good stuff. It was interesting to turn on the TV and find that all the channels were in English. But, DUH!!! Anyway…it was a nice treat. However, when I tried to find the Red Sox game, I couldn’t. Maybe they play tonight. I figured that since it was Saturday, they would be playing an afternoon game. I guess not.

I’ve pretty much decided that I’ll be taking the Downeaster from Portland to Boston after spending a little time with Liz and Josh, and Kenny and his family. I think I need to go see Mom. I still want to cycle from Boston to Scituate, though. I’ll try to stay at the Buckminster in Kenmore Square, so I can walk up to Dana Farber to see Mom if she comes in for treatment. I’ll only stay one night. It depends on what time I get into North Station on the Downeaster. Anyway...that’s the plan.

I’m supposed to head to Greenville tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes. According to the map. It’s about 50 miles. I hope to get an early start.

As I’m sitting in my room at the hotel (Brown Moose Motel), it’s POURING outside along with a bit of thunder and lightning. On the TV earlier, I saw that there would be an “event” tonight but that tomorrow would be nice. Here’s hoping.

July 18, 2010 The Black Frog, Greenville 80/778km 3:30pm

Pretty good overall day on the bike. I made it the 50 miles to Greenville in just about 4 hours (that’s minus the break that I took in Rockwood for a Gatorade and water). A couple of severe hills, but for the most part, pretty manageable terrain.

I slept pretty much like shit last night. My left knee was acting up a bit. I couldn’t tell if it was structural damage or whether it was my gout had kicked up. Since the knee didn’t bother me while on the bike today, I figure it’s the gout. I took some pills in the middle of the night (which have been prescribed) and it’s okie-dokie today. Anyway…

Up and out by 8. Watched a little bit of the (British) Open Championships. Tiger and Phil were pretty much out of it, but were trying to do whatever they could anyway… I went outside before I left to take a picture of the motel and “Mother Bear’s Restaurant” across the street (where I ate dinner last night). Good stuff. The wind was up and there were a few dark clouds in the sky. But, I figured if I can get the 50 mile ride in today before any weather moved in, I could do the 30 mile ride early tomorrow even if the weather moved in. Anyway…that was the thinking.

Oh, ya. Before I forget…on the ride today, I saw a little red fox on the side of the road as I was cycling by. Apparently, I scared the shit out of the fox because he looked at me and ran in the opposite direction as fast as it could. I was also looking for moose all along the way, especially as I was going really fast coming down hills or on straight-aways with momentum. If one came out of the woods and stood in my way, I was pretty much screwed. I would lose that collision. Fortunately (?) I didn’t see any.

For the most part, today the tarmac was pretty good, but coming out of Rockwood, for about 5 miles, the road was in really shitty condition. I had to be really careful about the cracks in the road. Because of how thin the tires are on the bike, any big crack heading in the same direction can grab the tire and create a real problem. So, needless to say, they are best avoided.

Here in Greenville, there are some great t-shirts and sweatshirts that I would love to purchase, but won’t because of the extra load on the bike. I really wish I could. Up in this area, they really play us the whole “moose” thing. Pretty funny.

I have taken a somewhat expensive room at the Pleasant Street Inn, which is a BEAUTIFUL old home. The people seemed very glad to see me because they have no other guests for tonight. Of course, the room includes breakfast tomorrow morning. I’m really looking forward to that. It seems that the only times on this bicycle trip that I eat breakfast are when I stay at really nice B & B’s (like Le Capucine in St. Placides). Anyway…tomorrow’s ride to Dover-Foxcroft should be pretty easy. It’s only 30 miles or so. Certainly easier than today. We’ll see.

July 19, 2010 Bear’s Den Restaurant, Tavern, 55/833 5:45pm

and Motel, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine

Not quite as easy a day as I had imagined. There were essentially three (3) reasons for that:

1) There was so much shitty road surface. There was about 3km of new tarmac, and that was wonderful to cycle on. However, much of the rest was HORRIBLE. I had to be constantly on the alert for huge cracks that might grab my front wheel and send me head-over-heels off the bike.

2) There were some ENORMOUS hills, especially in the first 1/3 of the trip. Obviously, these took quite a bit of time getting up and over.

3) There was about a one hour “rain delay” in Abbot Village. It had just started raining when I pulled into the General Store for some Gatorade. By the time I came out, it was raining pretty good. I just sat down on the porch and waited until it had reduced pretty much to a drizzle. Since Dover-Foxcroft was only 12 more miles, I figured I could stand getting a little wet. The ride from there wasn’t really too bad.

I found the Bear’s Den Tavern, Restaurant, and Motel which I had located on the web last night. It’s a really lovely place. All self-contained. That means that I can sleep here as well as eat here as well as get a beer (or two) here. I got into the room right away when I arrived (about 1:30). Unfortunately, I don’t think my stuff will be dry before tomorrow. That means I’ll have to wear the back-up stuff. (Good thing I’ve kept it.). I should be able to dry everything in Bangor.

Today, I discovered a little bump in the back tire. I’m a little concerned, but it didn’t seem to create a problem (other than the thump, thump as I was going along). I have to decide in the morning whether to chance it on the 38 miles to Bangor or to take a taxi to Bangor and locate a bike shop to fix it. Either way, it’ll get fixed in Bangor. I don’t know if it’s something in the TUBE, or something on the actual TIRE. It’s not rubbing against the brakes or anything, so I might just take the chance tomorrow to Bangor. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.

I’ve been in touch with Elizabeth Greason and Ken Davis about when I might come into Portland and Sebago. It shouldn’t be too long. By then I should be well over 1,000 km. Another monster trip.

In Greenville, I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, which was the last book that I had with me. So, in the Northland Outfitters store, I bought a John Sanford novel and a Jonathan Kellerman book. I hope to pick up some more meaningful reading when I get to Bangor, or Portland, or Boston.

So, that’s where I am right now.