Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

Two nights in the same state. Been awhile since that happened.

Woke up to my alarm at 5:30. Turned on the weather channel. 37 degrees. turned off the TV, went back to sleep. An hour later it was only 39 and I got up anyway. Sure glad I had that warm bed instead of those cold dreams.

It was mid 40's when I took off and I opted for shorts instead of hasseling with changing out of tights later. The roads are so busy and the accessible bathrooms are so few. I was damn cold for a long time, but I just tried to ride harder to warm up. The sky was bright blue with the sun filtering through the leaves of the trees covering the road. Orange vested flaggers stopped me so that herds of kids on horseback could ride through. It was a beautiful, brisk, Maine morning.

Pink Floyd album cover?

But those damn hills. We were back into the straight up, straight down, over and over, again and again hills. Wish I knew more about local geology so I could at least ponder why they're so vicious. I was having more trouble because I was under-fueled. The last cereal I got was just well-marketed candy. Services of any sort are few and far between here. The map listed a mean hill, then a few possible restaurants, then a really mean hill. I got halfway up the mean hill and stopped. Gave my heart a chance to explode or calm down. Tried it again and got a little farther when it got so steep I just couldn't push the pedals. Gave my heart one more chance to stop, then got back on. I could just barely brake enough to keep from rolling backwards while I tried to start pedalling. I got about 1/2 rotation and gave out. I had to walk up the rest of the hill. I felt so much better when Mike confessed that he had to walk it too.

I stopped at a fruit stand to pick up standby food in case I couldn't find a restaurant. The only thing that didn't need to be cooked was a cantaloupe. It smelled good, but weighed a ton. I got it anyway. There was a restaurant in East Waterford. Even their special was nothing special - eggs, sausage, homefries, toast, iced tea. Not high octane, but fuel nonetheless. I struggled over the next hill without walking, and the one after that and the one after that, even carrying the cantaloupe.

A couple hours later I was ready to eat again. Never get a fuel deficit. It's so hard to get charged back up. I stopped at a deli in Turner Center and started checking out the specials. Somebody at a table behind me said, "What's a derelict like you doing here?" Mike was sitting there finishing his meatloaf special. Small road.

As we left I noted that it was kinda cool outside. He said that it's only hot if you're an idiot out biking in the sun. That prompted this:

Don't go out biking in the sun
to the tune of Johnny Hartford's "Don't leave your records in the sun"

Don't go out biking in the su-u-un
You'll warp and you won't be good for anyone
Don't go out biking in the su-u-un
You'll get all crazy and you're just no fun
You're just no fun just no fun just no fun just no fun (sound of needle scraping across vinyl)
no more
(Repeat for several hours)

We rode together through the odd instructions "mile 15.5 bear right at unsigned Center Bridge Road". I would have missed the turn where the whole family was walking erratically through the intersection and the one where the street sign was nailed about 30 feet up a pole, if Mike hadn't been riding with me. We intended to stop at a grocery in Litchfield Corners, but it turned out that the sleazy pizza joint/convenience store not only was the grocery, it was the whole town. Fortunately there was another convenience store at the corner before we turned off route to find our campground. This store had a few turkey sandwiches, which we bought, some hot dogs and hamburgers shaped like hot dogs, spinning in their machine, which we did not buy. It also had a large tank of live lobsters, but it didn't have any fixings at all for Litchfield beans and rice.

We made it to the campground, our first KOA. Their store was better supplied, but we already had our sandwiches, munchies, chocolate milk, and a cantaloupe for dessert. They've got a pool and a lake with a swimming dock. The water is said to be perfect. We showered, Mike did laundry, for the last time, and we went to bed. Maybe I'll dream about the lake.