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 . . .