Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Exploring Maine
I ended my bike ride in Portland Maine. The East coast is just too expensive for me to ride around. Campgrounds run from $30-60 a night, hotels or motels start at about $100 a night, and food costs are higher as well. Camping guerrilla style along roads etc is also more difficult than out West or in the central part of the country. My low budget for my ride fell to pieces quickly with all this combined. I booked a flight back to California for next Saturday the 31rst. In the meantime I rented a car to drive up to Bar Harbor and ride my bike around there and also up further north in the Moosehead Lake area. The Bar Harbor area was beautiful with perfect conditions of cool sunny weather. There was too much traffic and there were too many people but nothing is perfect. I met and talked with a few other bikers as I explored the island especially through Acadia National Park and the carriage trails within the park. I am adding a lot of pics with little or no explanation of the individual pics but I just do not have the time to do a proper job on them. After Bar Harbor I drove up to Greenville Maine to ride around the Moosehead Lake area. Rain disrupted my plans to ride so I drove around watching moose and looking at all the beautiful scenery. I just wish the leaves ere changing colors. I missed that by about three weeks or so. I still enjoyed it tremendously. I drove back down to Bucksport to relax for a couple of days doing nothing except saving money by not exploring any more. My money is just about gone and I have built up a debt that I have no real way of paying off but it was worth it for the pleasure I derived out of the ride and my touring around Maine. I did eat several tasty lobster rolls both with mayo and with just drawn butter which are the two most popular types. I could eat them everyday in either style. In the next few days I need to box my bike for shipping and ship back a few boxes of my gear so that I can fly with just a single carryon bag. It is going to take me a while to recover and readjust to life not being so much fun and filled with excitement on a daily basis. I hope I survive the transition. PURAVIDA
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Ride Day 147
Today I rode from Woodstock NH over the White Mountains at Kancamagus Pass and on to the Atlantic Ocean at Portland Maine which was about a hundred miles in perfect weather after a bit of early morning rain. The climb up the mountain was about 8 miles of 7-9% grade. I was easily able to spin right up and only needed granny gear in a couple of the steeper parts. The views were great but difficult to catch in pics with my little pocket camera. I met a woman, Donna, riding up to the top of the pass for her morning workout. We talked for a while as we climbed up the mountain together. She works for the state at a campground so I complained to her about the high prices they charge and told her about all the hiker biker camping for $5 along the west coast. The high cost of camping here on the east coast has been the main factor in me having to end my ride earlier than I wanted to. I have booked a ticket back to California already. I am still going to ride around Maine and taste some lobster rolls for the next week but I won't be riding down the East coast to Florida like I would have wanted to do. I am very sad about stopping the ride early but I just ran out of money. Having to fix my bike for $250 did not help my budget out. I will go up to Bar Harbor and do the coast road then drop my bike at a bike shop to be shipped back to CA for me and then fly home. I have ridden about 13,500 miles around the country so far and without a doubt, as soon as I can come up with some cash, I will be back on the road again. I really love the riding and all the wonderful people I meet. Last night for instance I was riding into Portland Maine when another bike rider caught up to me and started talking to me about where I was riding etc. He offered to take me home to his place for dinner and a bed for the night. I took him up on the offer and him and his wife and daughter cooked up a great meal while we talked about bike riding and lots of other stuff. He is a professor at the University of Southern Maine. I really love when people just come up and offer things like this out of the goodness of their hearts. It restores some of my lost faith in humanity. Later today I will be heading north along the coast. Some pics...
Maine
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Ride Day 146
Last night I stayed at Pastures Campground in Orford New Hampshire and it was the quietest night I have ever spent in a campground. I think I got double my usual sleep time in with it so peaceful in the camp. I packed my tent wet and hit the road at first light to try to make it over White Mountain to Conway NH. It was not to be. My bike started to get seriously loud and grinding and growling big time so I had to stop at a bike shop in Plymouth NH to see about getting it fixed enough to make it the last 250 miles to Bar Harbor. I ended up needing a new chain, front and back cassettes, main crank bearings and clean and pack the other bearings and adjust all the brakes and stuff for $250. They did the work while I waited which was the only way it would have gotten done or I would have shipped the bike home and rented a car to finish my quest to Bar Harbor. The lost time kept me from going over the big grade in the White Mountains because by the time I got to the base of the 12% grade the temps were sweltering so I gave in and found a campground. Guerrilla camping was out of the question in this highly touristic area of New Hampshire. The campground was $20 for the night. I am only 2 or three days away from Bar Harbor but I might take as long as 4 days to get there. I am enjoying my slow pace of riding lately and I don't think I will be going down the East coast very far so my ride is almost over for now. My friend Ernest is riding down the East coast and I may ride with him for a while and then fly from somewhere between Bar Harbor and Boston. I will play it day by day with no expectations and just see what happens. When I arrived at North Woodstock there had been a big fire in the center of town and everybody was all excited from it. The building was still smoldering when I arrived to town. I expect to ride the big grade early tomorrow morning when it is cool but that will limit the nice views from the top so I am thinking about riding up then waiting at the top for the skies to clear up so I can get some good pics. No promises about that though. I was disappointed to run over and kill a snake today.
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