I had a GREAT stay at the Riverbank Motel and Cottages, but it was time for all of us to move on to Conway, NH our home for the night . . .

. . . on the way out of town there was a Moose Tour operation . . .

. . . which talked about BIG results . . . ( I wonder if they include Rocky pictured above in their nightly count.)

Today we had the last big climb of the trip, up to the Kancamagus Pass at 2,855 feet. We would be riding mostly through the White Mountain National Forest . . .

. . . better have your car full before you drive up (probably means there are no Gatorade stops on the way either!!!)

. . . OK we’ll see . . .

. . . no problem, I’ll stop to take a photo . . . hope to see one, it will be a first on the trip!!!!

. . . as we began the climb, we rode by the Loon Mountain ski area. Here was an actual restored locomotive used in the area during the logging era.

. . . Labor Day weekend, so the road construction was shut down for the weekend . . . notice anything interesting about the photo above ?????

. . . there may not be a lock on the door, but the blades on the front loader have been adjusted to not allow the door to open . . .  not very friendly!!!!!

. . . lots of great scenery today along the way . . . as we climbed and climbed and climbed . .

. . . Jigger Johnson????  Read all about him here . . .

. . . this is what we have been biking through . . . BEAUTIFUL!!!!

. . . this creek actually had some water in it!!!

. . . as we climbed, the colors were starting to show at elevation!!!

. . . the good Lord provided us with cool temps, partly cloudy skies AND a 10-15 mph tailwind, with gust to 25mph!!! Unfortunately, the combination made for a very, VERY cold ride as we sweated away on the uphill . . . this sign meant the top was near!!!!

. . . soon we were at the TOP . . . YIPPEEE!

 

. . . we were FREEZING!!!! The conversation went something like this:

Mark: “ I’m freezing and they wind is really vicious “.

Rick: “I’m freezing too and getting colder from all the sweat dripping down my neck. We should head down, now.”

Denise: “No Shit”

. . . and down we went!!!!!!

. . . not like the 12% descents the other day . . . but fast enough. There were two more signs like this down the road so we actually descended about 11 miles. Hands were freezing!!!!

. . . Bonzai . . . by the time we reached the Village of Conway we were at 500ft of elevation. It was a LONGGGGGGGGG drop!!!

. . . right out of town there was this Inn.  Zimmer frei . . . (room available) reminded me of our upcoming trip to Provence!!!! YES!!!!

.

. . . oh boy, Conway has a scenic railroad too!!!

. . . nice to be on a bike, as I rolled to the head of the Labor Day traffic line that extended a mile and a half from the first stop sign coming into town!!!

Tonight we are staying at the White Mountain Hostel . . . where they have showers and they are HOT!!!!!

. . . this place puts you in the right frame of mind!!!!

I was the first one to arrive at the hostel. Natalie, the manager of the hostel, was very accommodating by letting us in BEFORE the 4:00pm ‘Doors Open’ time!!!!

. . . this is the room I picked . . . first floor, an easy haul from the parking lot. Right bunk, lower level!!!

. . . the second boy’s room was on the third floor. In mbbt parlance, it would be the ‘submarine’ !!!!

. . . nice kitchen for our use. Jim and David are cooking tonight . . . we’ll see what they come up with!!!!

Some slept well . . . some did not. Mixed reviews for staying about staying in a hostel. This was the first one of the trip . . . and last.

On the way out of town this place was open at 8:10am!!!!!

. . .eight miles down the road I crossed into Maine. Our last state line crossing of the trip and maybe for good for Connie and me. This is the last of our three cross country routes: TransAm, Southern Tier and now the Northern Tier. She may spend her remaining years in the stable with only short trips just to keep her legs limber.

. . . just on the other side of the line was Fryeburg, ME. Fun place here . . . woof!!!!!

. . . on the way out of town was the Fryeburg Towne Hall and the Hazel Owen Currier Doll Museum. I had to stop . . .

. . . not to tour either but because of the pot of coffee I had with breakfast. I needed to visit the little house on the prairie. No nature calls along the road . . . this morning . . . to much Labor Day traffic, even at this hour!!!!

. . . right next to the museum was the Agricultural Fair grounds . . .

. . . funny sponsor for the restroom building!!!!!

. . I passed this cemetery along the way. Mainers are funny . . . the way I read this sign, trespassing is only allowed during the day!!!!

. . . along the way was the tomb of Ester Nevers. She was buried here by her husband who used to come and watch the sunsets from her grave site. Today the forest has matured and blocks any sunset viewing . . . but the site is still maintained.

. . . the BIG climbs of the trip are over but there are still a few 12% surprises in store for us as we bike to Bar Harbor. In fact, there were several of them this morning!!!!

One thing we noticed RIGHT away is the roads in Maine seem to be in poor shape. The shoulders are crumbling away. Denise described it as the edge of a pie dough crust when you roll it out . . .

. . . and as you can see, the interior of the lane is not in much better shape. One must approached steep downhill’s VERY cautiously. Rough terrain could mean a crash!!!

. . . this guy must REALLY like bowties or Chevy’s or both. Quite the display complete with solar powered lights!!! I wonder if he comes out and sits in the bench????

. . . after 45 miles and 2,500 feet of climbing we arrived in Naples, ME. We are staying at a state park four miles south of town. It’s Labor Day weekend so the town is REALLY hopping . . .

. . . before I headed out to the park, I stopped for a little treat . . .’the horror . . .the horror’!!!!!

We had  a surprise at the campsite last night when Martha showed up at the campground.

Martha is Denise’s friend and co-worker who also visited us with three other co-workers back in MI. She is out visiting her sister Marie and will be giving Denise a ride home at the end of the trip.

Martha and Marie along with Bobby, Rebecca and Bob. VERY nice family and we had a lot of fun.

. . . they brought us lots of goodies to eat on the road the next day. Dawn, a reporter for the Brunswick Times, showed up too do so a story on our ride.

It was  late night and the last thing to do before we turn in  is to cover the breakfast and the lunch food with the tarp to keep the critters away from it.

Soon were on the road for the day and passed across one of the last swing bridges on the US. The bridge pivots on its axis to allow boat traffic to pass on either side . . .

. . . and there was also an old lock system. Once the locks are full, the gates are opened by hand!!!!

. . . very fun. Would have been great to have seen the whole works in operation.

. . . not too far down the road today we came to another roadside general store. They seem to have EVERYTHING. Unfortunately this one specialized in discount cigarettes!!!!

. . but  right across the street were Rebecca, Martha and Marie, waiting to say good bye to all of us. They were going to visit us at the campground but there were no visitors allowed until 9:00am!!!

. . . we have started seeing a number of stone fences along the way. Lots of work to build one of these . . .

. . . what intrigued me about this place was the slab wood that had been debarked and was being used for siding. Interesting  look!!!

. . . Maine does spend some money on roads and today we rode on several new slabs. NICE . . . smooth as the bottom on a new born baby!!!

. . . .typical scene around many rural road turns in ME . . . only thing missing is a family of moose standing out in the marsh!!!

. . . hey did I make a wrong turn or what!!!!  . . . and they are open for business!!!!

. . . several examples of quirky Maine humor along the way . . . .

. . . including this 12 foot high system of mail boxes . . .

. . . puppy.

There was rain in the forecast for this afternoon and by the time we reached our campsite it was raining.

Mark and I had kitchen duties tonight and we caught a ride into town to get groceries for breakfast and lunch. It was wet and cold so we made the decision dinner would be in town tonight. Ally lined up taxi shuttle and away the 15 of us went to downtown New Brunswick. Great choice of international cuisine (it is a college town) and most of us finished the evening off with gelato!!!!   . . .

It was still raining hard when we returned to camp!!!

It rained all night but most stayed fairly dry, except for Corvin. His tent flooded and he needed to mop it out. He set up next to an electric outlet located on one of the support posts and the water running off the roof hit his tent, square on the top!!!

. . . we were in a sandy area and the water didn’t pool, soaking into the ground quickly. First night on the trip we have had weather like this!!!!

. . . Mark had the best view, as he had set up right on the pond bank . . .

. . . a big issue when it rains, or when there is a heavy dew, is to let the tents dry before you pack them up. Prevents mold forming and a ‘stuffy smell’ when you set them up again. Out west, the tents dried in 15-20 minutes because  the humidity was so low.  East of the Mississippi . . . it’s a different story!!!

. . . a clothesline comes in handy . . .

. . . Wade has come up with the best idea though . . . just hang the whole tent up to dry!!!

On the road, along the lake, was this restaurant, bathroom stop or bar. We never did find out what it was . . . funny!

. . .  and most drivers were courteous !!!

. . . nice riding this morning. The weather had cleared and it was going to be a nice day. The storm was the tail end of Hurricane Harvey that had come up north through the country. Wonder what Irma will bring???

. . . oh there is logging in Maine. Luckily because of it being Labor Day Weekend the logging trucks were off the road. They have a driving reputation that rivals their western counterparts in Oregon.

Soon we arrived in Bath, Maine, home of one of General Dynamics shipyards . . .

. . . where a typical destroyer was having a facelift . . .

. . . and one of the new ‘stealthy’ variety was being constructed.

. . . not sure what this behemoth was going to be  . . . looks like it will have lots of windows . . . maybe a military cruise ship????

. . . along the way was a small used car lot with a Mazda RX7 for sale. I owned one of these, same year and color, years ago . . . it was a FUNNNNNNNN ride!!!

Shop owners REALLY overuse this Maine-ly technique of describing their business . . . it gets sort of irritating after a while!!!!

. . .as we passed through Wissicatte, we came to the famous ‘Red’s Eats’ lobster roll shack. There were probably 50-75 people already lined up and it was only 11:30am. We heard the line can be two hour long at times. Those who know me, know what I think of lines. And after all, how much different can one lobster roll be from another . . .

. . . not much. I went across the street to Sprague’s  . . .

. . . and walked right up to the order window!!!!

. . . this is what it is all about. A 1- 1 1/4 pound lobster, steamed, chunked and loaded onto a piece of white bread. No mayo, seasoning celery or anything else . . . it needed salt!!!

. . . cute puppy ready for some attention. Sadie was a full grown English Golden Retriever. They only get to about 45 pounds. CUTTTTTTTE!!!

. . . as I passed this church, I wondered if the sinners needed to attend services in the little ‘purgatory chapel’ on the right????

. . . oh boy, it’s Labor Day Weekend and time to celebrate!!!

Great art at this outside sculpture garden. Got me wondering how the artist formed such a perfect sphere?

. . . today we would hit the coast of Maine and I planned to dip my front tire in Rockport, where we would have our first view of the ocean. I could see it ahead on my GPS. Pascal Ave is the main drag through town and I could count down the miles as I rolled east. A melancholy mood swept over me like a wave as I neared the shore and knew the ride would be ending for me . . .

. . . a BEAUTIFUL little village, and as far as I am concerned, this is where the ride should have ended. But . . . we have two more days of riding up the coast to Bar Harbor.

. . . oh, you can see the open ocean!!!!!

David, Good Mike and I hauled our bikes down to the water for our tire dunking at 3:50pm after riding for 86 days and 4,174 miles. It was quite a moment for us but I couldn’t dwell too long. Since I had kitchen duty last night, I was late out of camp and my tent was packed up wet . . . needed to dry it out. It’s always the housekeeping chores!!!!!

. . . a pleasant ride through Rockport into Camden, our home for the night. VERYYYYY large and expensive looking homes along the way, right on the ocean.

I saw these Belted Galloway beef cattle out in a field and stopped to take a photo. They are sort of funny looking and didn’t pay much attention to me. I heard someone yelling down the way and several of them started trotting toward the voice. A woman was calling them for dinner,  I guess. Soon the whole group broke into a stampede . . .

. . . I switched to movie mode and got the rear ends of them as they galloped away . . . funny. Click photo above to see the video!!!!

We are staying at Camden Hills State Park tonight and  . . . IT IS OUR LAST NIGHT OF CAMPING . ..YIPPEEE! Jim bought beer and it was lobster and crab rolls for dinner . . .

. . . and time for a campfire. We have only had a couple of them along the way. Tonight was special!!!!

. . . this is what the little hacienda I have been living out of for three months looks like on the inside. My tent is tall enough to sit up in and get all my gear inside. Many others have lighter tents but are much smaller and all their gear can’t fit inside. I prefer to haul the extra weight and have more room.

. . . we shared some great trip highlights and memories tonight . . .

. . . and Jim, our resident pyromaniac, did a fine job of tending the fire. It was Labor Day Monday and we had the whole group camp loop to ourselves . . .

Very quiet at the park last night . . . and there were several surprises this morning . . .

. . . Ally Gator discovered she had a flat, her sixth of the trip. Soon Corvin joined her in repairing his flat too. His first of the trip!!!!!

. . . as we rolled out of camp we had this to climb. Oh, Maine had a few surprises left for us!!!!

. . . but it is a peaceful place!!!!!

. . . hard to show elevation gain in a photo, but this hill is 12% . . .  and there were a lot of them today!!!

. . . this was cute little replica for sale. Marked down to $8,000 from $9,500. It is built on a new, at the time, 1980 Chevy Chevette. I used to have a Chevette . . . would have liked to have had this version instead, but it would not have been too comfortable in the middle of January in Wisconsin!!!

For the next two days we will be riding mostly on Hwy 1, the primary highway though the area  and it was BUSYYYY. Event though Labor Day Weekend was over, I think a lot of people forgot to go home. Slow riding gave one a good chance to look around.  Just another sign . . .

. . . but on the other side of the roadway was a replica of the ‘tools of the trade’ . . . FUNNNYYYY!!!!

There is quite a cottage industry for homemade goods in Maine, especially along the heavily traveled highways. This however is the first stop we have seen one that sells Bat Houses!!!!

. . . this house definitely needs a little TLC . . . FUNNYYYYYYYYY!!!!

. . . we rolled into Belfast which had a nice boardwalk that went through the marina area. Here Mark inspects the boat lift . . .

. . . that can be used to lift out rigs like this!!!

. . . and here was new ship being built that didn’t quite fit in the building. The bow is sticking outside and wrapped . . .

. . . we had to cross the river here. The higher bridge is for cars and the lower bridge for bicyclists, walkers and joggers. Mark and I stopped for an ‘Oreo Break’  at the entrance to the walkway. A fellow several years older came over to chat. We told him our story and when we ended he exclaimed he was . . . ‘so impressed, that our story had instilled a sense of renewal of the good old US of A in him’. Wow . . . who knew we could stir up such emotions just by bicycling!!!

Near Bucksport, our home for the night, we came to this large bridge. Really looked out of place in this rural setting. The tower on the left has an observation deck on the top, accessed by an elevator. Several of our crew paid the $6 for a ride to the top.

When we got to the motel, Rod came over and asked if I still had the spare tire I was carrying. He had a bulge in his tire and was afraid it was going to fail like D’s had several times. On closer inspection we noticed it was not his tire but a cracked wheel!!!!! The closest bike shop was 30 miles behind us in Searsport. He made two calls. One to see if they had a wheel to fit, they did . . . and another call to a taxi service that charged him a $60 round trip fee to get him to the bike shop and back . . . oh yeah, there was also a $70 charge for the wheel!!!

Tonight was the traditional end of the trip celebratory dinner. Ours was  held at McClouds Restaurant. Nice place . . .

. . . no $20 limit/person on eating out tonight . . . I had the New York strip. YUMMMMM!!!!

Many had the lobster!!!

Several days ago Ally had us pick a member of the team to give an award to at the dinner. A plaque, (paper plate) was marked up and designed for each member . . . here Bernie gives his award to Jim . . .

. . . Mark gives one to Bernie  . . .

. . . Mark receives one from Ally.

Wade had composed quite a little rhyme for Grandmother Anne . . . really nice . . .

. . . Corvin had an award for Wade . . .

. . . regarding the most useless comment of the whole trip !!!!

. . . and Ally had one for Hugh.

Rod, who has given an award out to a rider, almost daily at the map meeting, and couldn’t be held to only one rider award tonight. He  had an award, and letter, for each rider!!!

. . . one for Denise . . .

. . . and here was one for Wade.

Anne gave an award, and a small taxi, to Denise who had developed a knack for flagging down rides along the way, even hailing several taxis!!!!

. . . they were best riding buds too . . .

. . . Hugh had a hat for Good Mike . . .

. . . and Rod had a special plaque,  he had procured at one of the countless garage sales he stopped at during our 4,000+ mile trek, for Ally.

It was a VERY memorable night and after HUGE desserts we headed back to our motel. Tomorrow was our last day of riding . . .

Right on que, Day 88 arrived. It was our last day of riding. We had been one day behind on our schedule since way back in WA when we found Loop Loop Pass had washed out and needed to make an unexpected detour that set us back one day. We made up that day in WI by combining several days and dividing by three (I think).

It was supposed to be raining when we woke today and there was an 80% chance of rain starting in Bar Harbor at 3:00pm. No rain yet . . . we still needed breakfast and lunch for the day, so there was our feed table, set up by Ally, out in the parking lot of the motel!!!

. . . one last sandwich with a bunch of Oreo’s to pack . . .

Soon we were back on the highway that would take us to Bar Harbor. But more funny rural Maine humor along the way this morning . . .

. . . and some great roadside stands . . .

. . . one last chicken photo for my Smoochie. This one had nice colors and may have actually looked pretty good in our back yard

. . . we passed many blueberry fields today. You can see the white strings laying out the ‘pickin’ paths’ !!!!

. . . there were lots of wet areas like this along the coast before we finally hit the highway for the rest of the ride, and a last chance to see a moose . . .

. . . but this would be the only moose I saw on the trip!!!

. . . and one final chance to experience the ‘pleasure’ of riding on state of Maine roads. On most of their rural roads, like the old Burma Shave advertising, they need a sign like this on every telephone pole . . .

. . . not sure how the ‘engineers’ determine where to put the patch material. Here was a new patch, on an old patch. Go figure!!!!

. . . oh, you know we are ‘up nort’. First one of these I have seen along the ride.

Halfway into the ride today was a moving moment for me . . . time to switch the map over to Panel 153 . . . our last panel of the trip . . .I’m sad!!!!! I could see the final push to Bar Harbor.

Bar Harbor is right next to Acadia National Park. Like so many other parks and natural beauty areas we have biked by on the trip, they maybe preserved but right outside their border is the most crass, commercial crap you can imagine. I wonder if it is just an American thing . . . Here was a Pirates Cove, the usual ‘amusement park’ one found on the perimeter of the park like this.

Word must have got out that the elite 2017 ACA Northern Tier riders were arriving today because the town had given us our own lane to drive in on . . . NICE!!!!

. . . with less than 2 miles to go, I stopped to take a cloudy, foggy shot of this cruise ship from Germany. Bad photo but I was reluctant to start pedaling again. Unlike so many times I had stopped in the last three months to grab one of the 3,900 photos taken to ‘capture the moment’ this would be the last of the road trip.

. . . and then . . . there was Cottage Street, the main drag of Bar Harbor. A ride to the end, and a left turn . . .

. . . would take me to the end of our ride. Corvin had ‘shot ahead’ during the day to capture the moment riders came into town. I was the fourth rider in and the rest would filter in during the next half hour . . .

. . . including Doc Mike . . .

. . . Wade . . .

Rod . . .

 

Ally . . .

. . . Anne  . . .

. . . and Hugh. Nice moment for the two of them to share. I was jealous and would have LOVED to have ridden this trip with my Smoochie.

Rod explained to some of the local visitors what was going on . . . as usually, our group of 15 sort of ‘took over the place’ when we arrived!!!!

Good Mikes whole family was there to greet him, with signs too!!!!

Nice moment . . .

. . . and here was one of Corvin pointing to the German cruise ships website on the side of the ship!!!!

Jim rolled in . . .

Alan met up with is wife. She had surprised him, several days before, by showing up unannounced at the end of a bridge!!!!!

The last day was not without mechanical issues . . . this is how Wade’s right pedal should have looked

. . . but the platform had fallen off 20 miles before, in Ellsworth.

Even with his new wheel, Rod’s tire failed in Ellsworth and he had to buy a new one.

Bernie’s brake pad failed in Ellsworth and he stopped to get it replaced.

Right out of Ellsworth, and right before a hill, I went to shift into my small chain ring and my shifter cable snapped.

My front derailleur defaulted to the small chain ring. With only 20 miles to go, I decided not to replace it and pedaled on to Bar Harbor with a smaller gear set. No problem!!!

All this in the last 20 miles of the trip. Good thing it is over!!!

. . . one last ‘for she is a jolly good fellow’ for Ally!!!!

. . . who was sporting the latest in bicycle body art . . .

. . . and, still thinking of her little gaggle of chicks, had it in her to make a run for pizza!!!!

We were creating quite a scene with our yelling, and high fives every time a rider appeared coming down the street, but even we could not draw more attention then these two pups . . .

Jesse, age 8, weighs in at 185 pounds . . . but only eats about 4 cups of chow a day. His owner said St Bernards REALLY eat big when young and sort of ‘coast’ in their elder years!!

. . . it was about to rain when Bernie rolled in after having his brake repaired. It was time for a group shot . . .

. . . one last individual tire dunk . . .

. . . followed by a group tire dunk!!!!

Wade was so overtaken by the moment . . .

. . . he jumped in the ocean . . .

The heavens opened up right at 3:00pm, as predicted, and the rain poured down . . . the trip was over.

Here was a shot of the bicycle store I would take my Connie for packing and shipping home. Connie had once again performed marvelously and was inline for a LONGGGGGGG rest. By the time I arrived at the store with my bike the street was awash with rain.

Mark’s wife and daughter had driven out to meet him. Laurel and he would spend several days in the area and then drive back to WI. Their daughter Ellisa would fly out of Portland the next day. They graciously offered to give me a ride to the Portland airport too, and I accepted.

The car was packed, so I shipped home three of my panniers. With the rain and everything that was going on, as I stood in the Fed Ex store dripping wet in my biking gear, I didn’t realize until the staff had packed, taped up and put the shipping label on the box that all my street closes and gear were in the panniers, in the box . . . !!!!!

. . . not to worry. By the time we got back to Ellsworth, we had all dried out and we made a stop at the LL Bean outlet store for some deals on new clothes!!!

We spent the night in Brooksville. Mark and his family stayed at an AirBnB that was a bakery with an attached ukulele school!!!! I stayed at Kim’s Ivengar Yoga Center right down the street. Slept like a baby!!!!

A flight from Portland to Newark and then to Chicago went smooth. No hiccups due to Harvey or the upcoming Irma hurricanes.

Ends up Smoochie was in MI for a meeting and was on her way home so picked me up at the Chicago  airport. Great logistics!!!!

On the way home, we decided to spend the night in Milwaukee as a way for me to ‘ease back into normal life’.

Our room was quite a change from the 5X7 foot tent I had slept in for 3 months . . .

. . . and it was nice to have a ‘real bathroom’ attached to the room with ‘real towels’ and even plush ‘real’ terry clothe robes. How decadent . . .

. . . and the next morning it was nice to have a ‘regular breakfast’ rather than the usual camp bowl of cereal or peanut butter and nutella smeared bread . . . oh, after this bicycle trip, I don’t think it will take me long to re-appreciate ‘creature comforts’ . . .

. . . and continuing to share life with the woman of my dreams. No more long trips honey!!!!!

(of course I didn’t tell her of a trans Euro trip I’m thinking of for next year!!!!)

THE GOOD: One of the best aspects of these trips is the sense of community and family that develops among the diverse group of individuals that come together for three months.  Jim, Wade and Rod  knew each other from other rides but the rest of us were new to each other. By the end of the second week we felt like family!! Ally did a great job of bringing this about and was big on consensus building and making sure everyone’s voice was heard in making community decisions. It was a wonderful group and I learned something from every rider!!!

Of course the other highlight of the trip was seeing the grand northern part of the US of A at 11 miles an hour from a bicycle seat. Quite a variety of eco systems we pedaled through from the Pacific Northwest to the Rockies to the Plains of eastern Montana and North Dakota to the forested Midwest, Niagara Falls, the Erie Canal and finally the Appalachias.

And . . . the people we met along the way were wonderful. EVERYONE was interested in what we were doing and marveled at the scope of what a 3 month, self supported trip was all about. The fact we had no support vehicle was a major surprise for most. The only rude encounter I had on the whole trip was the painter in Boulder Junction WI . . . my state!!!! The best comment of the whole trip was near the end of our ride in Belfast, ME . The old gent we were talking to ended our conversation my exclaiming that what we were doing had re-instilled the greatness of the American will in his mind!!!!’  Who knew!!!!

And . . . a special thanks to Karen, Bob and Roxanne for hosting our stay in Battle Lake, our halfway point of the trip. It was just the kind of break we needed. We could have used one like that every couple of weeks to ‘recharge our batteries’!!!

A big plus through the Midwest was  . . . no mosquitoes!!!!  Only a few nights of the critters. I bought a can of DEEP Woods OFF in Havre, MT but never used it!!!

My faithful steed Connie ‘The Clydesdale’ Cannondale never missed a beat as she carried me across the US for the third, and final time! The TransAm, Southern Tier and now Northern Tier are the big, and FINAL for me, three crossings. There will be other loaded tours, but not like these. The bike is a fantastic machine, which if kept maintained, rarely breaks down other than the normal wear and tear on tires, tubes and cables. I have DEFINITELY got my moneys worth out of this thoroughbred since buying her 10 years ago!!!

Beside Connie, the other most beneficial piece of equipment on the trip for me,  was my GPS. For those traveling on a trip like this I would REALLY recommend one. Know how to use it, before venturing out. The ACA maps are good, but the fonts are small (remember the average age of our group was 62.  62= cheaters or glasses for most) there are LOTS of turns on the maps (especially through populated areas) and I think they are confusing. I had the whole route programmed into the Garmin 1000 (a HUGE thanks again to Mark for digitizing the route). It was very easy to look down at the screen, even when going through towns with only a population of 1,000 – 5,000, and follow the the red line. One could pay attention to the cars and pedestrians and what was going on  instead of constantly trying to read the small print on the map regarding the next turn. Easy biking and a major stress reliever!

THE BAD:  No part of biking is bad . . .  it’s just that some parts are better than others!!!  The continuous east, southeast headwinds we encountered from Glacier Park to about eastern Minnesota just about did us in. In the wide open stretches of the west there is nothing to stop the wind . . . nowhere to hide.  We didn’t have our first NOAA forecasted tailwinds until we entered Wisconsin at St Croix Falls. From Wisconsin east there was enough land cover that headwinds didn’t seem to be  an issue.

Also weather related  was the temperature. In the western US there were MANY days when the temperature exceeded 100 degree. Biking in 102-106 degrees was UNBELIVABLE. Once again on a bike. . . nowhere to get out of it. . . one needed to tough it out and keep rolling.

In a lot of the west there is literally – nothing. We had many days where our on our map starting point for the day there would be a note ‘No services for the next 70 miles’ . . . that means No stores, No bathrooms, NO WATER. Not a big deal when you are driving down the road in a car at 70 miles, with the windows up and the AC running on High  . . . but a BIG deal when you are on a bike, in 100+ degree temps and with a headwind. It would take all day to get across that 70 miles!!! But, with a little pre-planning it all worked out. On days like this I carried my usual three water bottles PLUS two quarts of Gatorade. They were usually all empty by the end of the day and I was looking for more!!!

At times it was VERY tough riding and physically exhaustive but also mentally exhausting. Although I would never do a ride like this without a GPS, the downside was on the days with strong headwinds it was disheartening to periodically look down at it and see by the mileage readout how slow your progress was!!! But you always get through it . . . day by day, week by week you move ahead and eventually . . . things always get better.

Limited lodging and grocery  availability was an issue but not a deal breaker. When you are on a trip like this, especially in the northern areas of the country resources can be, and are, scarce. Many towns with a  population of  1,000 – 1,500 seem to by dying. Most of the Main Street were boarded up and abandoned. Many of these towns no longer had a school or even a grocery store. This forced us to shop and eat out of C- stores more than one night along the way. It really makes you wonder what the future of rural America is. No school, no retail, no jobs and the young have graduated from school and moved away . . .

THE UGLY: The worst parts of the ride for me came to be the logging truck drivers in rural Washington and motorcycles. The loggers seem to think they own the road. Even the locals agreed with this. We had many close calls along the way from Good Mike being knocked down in a mountain tunnel by the wind vortex created by a logging truck passing too close to him, to Doc Mike watching a logging truck pass me so close he thought he was going to have to pick up the pieces. There is no reason for this type of driving. In most other areas, the professional truck driving profession was just that,  Professional.  When possible, approaching or passing trucks would give you a wide berth. If that was not possible, many times following trucks would stop or slow to a crawl until it was safe to pass. Very few tried to ‘squeeze by’. We heard and read things about logging truck drivers in Maine being cut from the same cloth; however we didn’t seem to have a problem there. May have been because they were off the roads when we passed through much of Maine over Labor Day weekend.

But . . . the most annoying thing on the whole trip for me was the world of motorcycles, the Harley types. I don’t think there is one out there that runs stock exhaust pipes on their bike. The louder  the better. On city streets to rural highways they were everywhere, and really caused an interruption to the peacefulness one experiences when biking along. The only thing worse was when they had an onboard radio!!!!! You could hear them coming from a mile away and still hear them for a mile or more when they passed you.  Having  a conversation with a fellow bicyclist was impossible.  At night it was even worse. Lying in your tent they sounded like a massive swarm of bees coming down on you. I’m not sure where their right to live ‘free and easy’ and make so much noise intersects with my right to have a ‘peaceful experience’ on the same road. On this trip, I thought it was a problem.

 

Oh, It didn’t take long for me to get back into the world of ‘creature comforts’ after this trip. One of my greatest pleasures is still to use a REAL cotton towel after a shower rather than one of  those goofy micro-soft camp towels!!!

And . . .  I am most happy to be home again with emJay. She has been very understanding and supportive in my quest to complete these three rides. Without her homefront support, I could never have ridden .  Since she is still working, I have assumed the ‘on site’ source of all details the remodeler’s need to know about the changes to our kitchen . . . big problem though, I am in the dark as far as the plans!!!

Time is an interesting concept. The day after we all finished the ride, and left Bar Harbor, Doc Mike was at a Whole Foods in NYC and sent out a text saying something to the effect of . . . ‘ did that really happen or was it a dream?’

I know what he means.

It’s only been five days since the three month trip ended but it already seems like a thing of the past. Remodeling issues, dentist appointments, grocery shopping (using a car!!!) and all the day to day activities’ seem to have already started to push the biking memories to the back of my mind. We are already packing for our bike trip to Provence!!!!

But it was real and it was FANASTIC!!!!

Although keeping an online daily journal is REALLY a pain, I now have a reference to use for looking back when  the old brain  needs a refresher!!!

UPDATE: Six days after the ride Connie made it home, although in pieces. She has been reassembled and ready for the next adventure!!!

Stay Safe and thanks for riding along. It meant a lot to know folks back home were interested in what we were doing and following along.

Ranger Rick

Always a good idea, if one has the time,  to do a pre-ride about, ‘rideabout shakedown tour’,  I have the time and was anxious to make sure Connie ‘the Clydesdale’ Cannondale, had one more big ride in her, the new equipment I had installed and my body all worked OK!!!

Connie received a new bottom bracket, chainrings, chain, cassette, shifters and brake levers. Also a new headlight/taillight, USB hub charging system and a new Sella Atomica saddle.

I checked in with George, one of my mid week riding buddies, and he was anxious to test out his new Lindsey framed touring bike.

So we headed off for a four night, five day ride through the hills of SW Wisconsin, camping along the way.

260 miles latter I am hear to tell you the tour was a success!!!

Below are the details:

We decided to go out and be done before the big Memorial Day weekend so we were not on the road during that mess. Our camps would be at state parks, except at Spring Green where Tower Hill State Park has no showers!

Leaving at 9:00am on a Sunday morning we quickly arrived in Mt Horeb, home of the Grumpy Troll. This one is happy because he is on two wheels!

Along the way we me Pat and Greg from Platteville heading east to Milwaukee, north to Cedarburg and then back home. Nice couple!

After fighting a headwind most of the way, we finally arrived at Gov. Dodge for night Number 1.

The Campsite had plenty of room for all our our gear . . .

. . . and more!

Always amazing how it all fits back in ones panniers . . .

. . . .mmmmmm who owns the NeoAir, in the black stuffsack,  and who owns the air mattress bed and banana carrier????

Here is George’s new tent that he nicknamed, ‘the circus tent’. A 17 foot long Big Agnes tent he bought in the REI Garage Sale area after it had sat there for sale for a year. Finally, they dropped the price to where they all sold.

. . . big vestibule. Evidently the tent was marketed to outdoor enthusiasts who own dogs and want to bring them along on their adventures. They have their own bedroom.

No dog, but everything on the bike fits under the cover. During inclement weather one could also cook under in the vestibule.

George served as ‘chef du jour’ each day, whipping up some tasty viddles!!!

. . . yes, we ate the whole thing.

Of course the chef had a little ‘creative enabler’ to help the cooking process!

The next morning as we rolled through Dodgeville I saw this work of ‘rural art’ of repeating patterns.

This themed hotel put Dodgeville on the map during the 1980-90’s Kinkiest thing west of the Poconos’s!!!

The well outfitted touring biker! George’s Lindsey buildup worked great although he may need a new fork.

Near Montfort,and the wind farm , as it started to rain . . . out came my new Showers Pass rain gear. Worked great!

As we climbed through the valleys and hollers’, the road names kept getting more unique!

Night Number 2 at Wyalusing State Park . . .

. . . this looks like a good site. During mid week, we had our pick of sites.

Home sweet home overlooking the Mississippi and Clayton, Iowa.

George produce another great meal with all the ingredients coming straight out of his panniers!!

It started to rain again after dinner and rained most of the night. The several times I had to get up, there were tremendous lightning shows, 360 degrees around. As we biked across the Wisconsin River in the morning, we could look over our shoulders to what we had climbed up to yesterday. The red oval shows the campground. mmmmm . . . maybe being on top of a bluff, in the middle of an electrical storm was not the safest place to be!!!

Great riding the next day through Crawford and  Richland Counties. Scenic, good roads and low traffic . . .

. . . if only the sun had been out!

Pride of ownership displayed in this farmer’s front yard!

Night Number 3 would have been at Tower Hill State Park, but with no shower there we opted for Wisconsin Riverside Resort . . .

. . . we were the only tenters. ALL sites had electric hookups!

They had a nice restaurant where we spent three hours out of the cold and wet, drinking beer, eating Cuban sandwiches and also this dessert our server, Andrea, suggested. George only had ONE BITE  . . but I was able to devour the rest (and he paid)!!!

Classic private resort ‘summer places’. The additions were usually bigger than the original trailers. Almost bought one for a western  mbbt clubhouse!!

We only had coffee in camp because we planned to shop for tonight’s dinner and to have breakfast at the General Store, a Spring Green tradition.

This breakfast burrito kept me going until noon!!!

George has three thermoses along and filled one with this special ‘Bike Fuel’. With all the caffeine in him, I had a hard time keeping up !!!

Speaking of fuel . . . we were beginning to run low on fuel for his stove and we had more cooking and coffee drinking to do in camp so we wheeled into the local Shell station, got in line and topped of the tank up . . .

. . . NICE!!!!

Into Sauk County we ventured, where I stopped to admire the Harrisburg School Historic site and met Dean, one of three individuals building a historic gallery and display next to the school . . .

. . . using all 4/4 sawed poplar from local farms. No nails in the building, all screws.

Should be completed by next year. We will have to do a ‘bike by’ sometime when it is open to tour the final result.

With all the wind and rain lately, we were both happy this one decided to blow down in a northerly direction and when we were not around!!!

As we biked closer to Devil’s Lake we had to get up and over over the Baraboo Range. Up ahead, you can barely see George as he approaches Freedom Rd where it tees, turns left and is a 14-16% grade to the top!!! (lots of walking on that part).

Nice scenery at the top as we bicycled along the four mile ridge line.

Then it was time for a BIGGGG downhill!!!!

We passed under a bridge right outside of Baraboo that is part of the new Hwy 12 bypass.

Nice artwork that is either a representation of the Ice Age Tr that passes nearby or the Circus World Museum located in Baraboo.

Our last night on the road will be spent in Devil’s Lake. NO CROWDS. YEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!!

. . . and a BIGGGG downhill into the park.

After dinner we biked over to the visitor store located in the Beach Chateau for some ice cream. They closed at 5:00pm and it was now 7:30pm. NOOOOO!!!

The next morning it was time to head south to Madison and the end of our ride about.  Considering we had had a quartering wind most of the way and rainy, cool days we were looking forward to the predicted sunny skies, variable winds and a 70 degree day! Unfortunately the sun didn’t come out until we got to Middleton.

We did cross the river via the Merrimac Ferry which is always a fun time.

Lots of ‘funny looks’ from folks in their cars looking at our loaded rigs.

This was a familiar routine we kept up right through the ride 10:00am  . . . snack time!!!!

We passed through Lodi on the way south which of course is the Home of Susie the duck . . .

. . . who unfortunately for any tourists stopping by was nowhere to be seen!!!

We followed Columbia County Bike Route 11 through Lodi . .

. . . and Lodi Springfield Road to Middleton. Nice riding  . . .

. . . as the cranes we had seen so often along the way bid us farewell.

All the new equipment work superbly and my bod did too. No sore knees.

The new tent emJay gave me for my b-day is fabulous!!!

George was concerned about the new Sella Anatomica that replaced the Brooks saddle I had had for many years. He has also ridden Brooks for many years on all his bikes. As a retired engineer, he was concerned about the shape and support, which he came to call a ‘hammock’. I told him EVERYBODY was very comfortable and happy. Ride on!!!

Connie’s back home for a little rest . . . but don’t get too relaxed girl, we are on the road again in a couple of weeks!!