Bar Harbor, ME - Saturday, August 26

The bike riding has come to an end. I am posting this from the Bar Harbor Library. I expect to make one or two more posts after I get home next week.

East Orland, ME - Thursday, August 24
Bill (Linda's boyfriend) arrived yesterday, and he hauled all of our group gear and some of our personal gear today. What a pleasure to ride without a cooking pot, stove, bunch of condiments and spices, my tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad. The weather has been fine, but chilly at night with lows in the 40's.

Andy & I cooked and invented a new 'one-pot-glop'. Most of our meals are one-pot-glops of one fashion or another. It was a traditional stir fry, but since we only had about half as much sweet-sour sauce as needed, we added a can of beef gravy. Mmmmm - not bad after we added a bunch of other spices. We served it over rice.

Cal had another flat. Yuk.

I got bad news from Karen. My sister Patty, who lives in Indianapolis, IN passed away unexpectedly. God rest her soul.

Bar Harbor, ME - Friday, August 25
Bill carried gear for us today, but he has no group gear to haul. As we broke camp in the morning, we made two piles of group gear: things that Andy is sending back to Adventure Cycling headquarters, and things that were being thrown away. He stopped along the route today, and sent it back UPS.

Cal had to switch tires this morning before he left camp. He had a defective Specialized Armadillo (which only had about 1,000 miles on it), and he had to replace it with a temporary spare - a folding tire. After about 10 miles, the folding tire blew a sidewall, and he had no choice other than to push the bike to a place where he could buy a new one, or stick out his thumb. Wisely, he used his thumb and was picked up within 10 minutes. The driver hauled him and his bike all the way to the hostel in Bar Harbor - some 20 miles or so.

The ride was short but hilly. We bordered on Arcadia National Park, but never entered it. Bar Harbor is a really neat tourist town, and the locals tell us the tourist season is winding down quickly. Cal and I arrived at the hostel in time to dry out our tents in the sun. With all our gear laying on the front lawn of the hostel, a local pulled up thinking we were having a yard sale. It took us a while to figure out why he was asking such strange questions about our gear.

I started breaking down my bike for shipment back: I wanted to get the chain off and get the right crank arm loose before Andy departed Saturday morning, since he had a more complete toolkit than I. My tools proved adequate to the task.

The hostel has a room with 5 sets of bunk beds. It is apparently one of the nicer hostels in the US. It was clean, comfortable, and there were a lot of nice people there, but it is not the kind of accommodations I would pick for myself.

Friday night, we had a good meal with 'Steamers' as an appetizer. I had never had them before. They are a form of clams steamed in the shell, and eaten after being dipped in butter. This morning I said my goodbyes to Cal and Andy. That was kind of tough. Anne and Hans are staying at the same hotel I am staying at until Monday.

Karen was able to change my Monday flight: I am now flying to Indianapolis, rather than South Bend.