Day 45 & 46 – Standish, ME – 10/03/19 & 10/04/19

Today’s Miles: 0

Total: 2,002

It was a night of not thinking about getting up and riding.  We have had them before, but we always knew that the next day we would be back in the saddle.  Dave made us a nice breakfast this morning of pancakes and eggs and then the day of getting ready to go home began.

We spent the morning taking apart bicycles and putting them in boxes.  The boxes that Dave picked up were just a little small, so we had to take the bike apart a bit more that anticipated.  It all fit in the end and now just hope they arrive home with do dents or damage.  We all used bikeflights for the return shipping and UPS should be there today (Friday) to pick them up.

I should mention why we stopped riding in Standish and not ride to the coast in Maine.  First of all, we were all tired of riding, second, the weather hasn’t been great and lastly and most importantly, we have already ridden it.  Back in 2011, when we were riding the Atlantic Coast trip, we started in Bar Harbor, Maine, which is right on the Atlantic.  We ended up riding from there right past the school in which Kathy taught.  To connect the two points, we rode that same road again connecting us to the Atlantic.

After packing, we took a ride with Kathy & Dave to Portland, Maine and also Kennebunkport, ME. We saw a few sights and many nice homes.  We ended the day having dinner in Kennebunkport.  I had to have a lobster while in Maine.  I think it was the first real lobster that I’ve ever eaten and was happy that Kathy was there to instruct me on how to proceed.  It was good and I had a bowl of clam chowder and fries to accompany it.

This morning (4^th) we just got up, had some breakfast and Dave took us all to the airport in Portland.  I am flying home and Tim and Nancy are renting a car and going to Boston to visit family before returning.

It has been a wonderful experience.  I can’t say that I haven’t been homesick, aggravated, hot & sweaty, and tired.  But, I am so happy I came.  I have met some wonderful people along the way, seen some beautiful country and enjoyed being with some great friends.  Tim & Nancy are wonderful traveling companions and I feel so grateful and fortunate to know them.  My sweetheart Carey is so supportive of me doing these trips.  I thank her and love her so much.  I have wonderful family and friends that support me along the way.  Thank you.  I am grateful to my Heavenly Father, who has watched over us and kept us safe and created such a wonderful world. I love Him.

Until next time??

The Atlantic!!

Excited or what?

Final of us three with the boxes. Thanks Tim & Nancy for a great trip.

Day 44 – Conway, NH to Standish, ME – 10/02/19

Today’s Miles: 43

Total: 2,002

It ended up being a nice night in the hostel.  As hostels go, this was a pretty nice one.  We had a pretty private room (one extra man) and it had air conditioning and we were able to keep the room pretty nice for sleeping.  It rained again during the night, so again, grateful for the inside shelter.

Well today was the last State and the last riding day.  It was kind of a surreal feeling as we rode the route today.  I think I savored each mile and even each hill.

It was a day of just following Dave.  It reminded me much of the day following Jim in Ontario.  Didn’t really know where we were at hoping I didn’t get separated because I had no idea where we were going.  It was overcast for the day again and the scenery was passed up pretty quickly.  It seems when we have someone who is leading us, we don’t stop.  We just work on keeping up with them. We stopped along this nice river and had a lunch of bagels, cheese & chips.

Lunch break.

We arrived at Dave and Kathy’s home and that was the end of riding.  Even though I have been looking forward to this day the last little bit, I felt somewhat at a loss. It just has been something I have looked forward to for awhile and seems disconcerting to be done.

We unloaded and cleaned up and then went to dinner with Kathy & Dave at the restaurant that Kathy works part time at as a waitress (She is a full time teacher).  It was a nice meal.  I wanted clam chowder again and ordered a hamburger and had too much food to finish.  Kind of foolish to order that much.

It has been nice being with Dave again.  I mentioned this before, but he was our tour leader 8 years ago going down the Atlantic Coast.  He is a great rider and has so much experience, it has been enjoyable to talk with him about some of his other trips he has taken (Dave and Kathy took a year long tour around the perimeter of the US) and have him tell us about some of the tools and software he uses.

This is the only sign we saw.  Maine!! Last State.

Dave and the old group.

Day 43 – North Woodstock, NH to Conway, NH – 10/01/19

Today’s Miles: 38

Total: 1,959

We have been really lucking out with getting motels or cabins on the right days.  Last night, in the middle of the night, it really rained. In fact, when we got up it was very cloudy still but did not rain on us all day.  It was a cool day and we ended up riding in some fog, but didn’t see much of the sun.

We had to go get some breakfast before we took off and after 3 or so miles of downhill, we had to climb the highest mountain of the trip.  It is called the Kancamagus Notch.  It was a 2,500 foot climb. I was really worried about it, but it was engineered very well.  It was probably a 6% grade all the way up.  That makes it so it does take time, but you can move at 5 or 6 mph and it doesn’t kill you to do so.  It took probably 2.5 hours to climb which included a couple 10 minute rest stops.  I was very relieved it turned out so well.

View from on top. 😒

 Our group.  Dave is the one on the left.  We will end the tour at his house in Maine.

There were clouds hanging around the mountain all the way up and most of the way down.  We were a little disappointed about that.  When we got to the top, we were hoping to have a great view of everything around, but all we saw was fog.

Coming down the other side, we were rewarded with some great views of the trees and mountains.  I will include some pictures, but it really doesn’t show the colors like you see them in person.  There are a lot of what they call “peepers” out today.  They are the tourists looking at the fall colors.  Lots of cars and buses of people today.

Some beautiful sights, right?

We are in Conway, NH tonight staying at a hostel.  This is the first hostel experience of the trip. We are lucky enough that we only have one more in the room than the four of us. It is a nice clean place as far as hostels go.  We had a nice Mexican dinner tonight and it is supposed to rain again tonight, so we are lucky to be inside.  In fact, since we will be at Dave’s house tomorrow, our camping days are done.

Day 42 – Orford, NH North Woodstock, NH – 9/30/19

Today’s Miles: 36

Total: 1,921

We woke to a cold morning.  I understand all you at home are doing the same.  It was 37 degrees and kind of foggy and we were out camping.  The sun was having a hard time breaking through the fog, so we waited until 9 or so to get going.

Cold morning.

We had about 15 miles of relatively flat riding and then we started climbing.  It was a good climb at a reasonable grade but it went on for about 12 miles.  It didn’t end up too badly.  I feel like I like climbs like that much more than the short steep climbs.  We were rewarded with a great downhill afterwards!!

We met up with Dave tonight.  Dave was the tour leader on the Atlantic Coast trip we took in 2011.  That is actually the trip I took when I met with Tim and Nancy. Dave’s girlfriend brought him here and we all went to dinner and are now planning the next few days of riding.  We will end up at Dave’s home Wednesday to finish the trip.

The leaf watchers are showing up.  It is quite pretty.

 Crossed the Appalachian trail today.

Day 41 – Bethel, VA to Orford, NH – 9/29/19

Today’s Miles: 41

Total: 1,885

It seems that these Sundays just keep rolling around rather quickly.  There were a bunch of churches that had 9:30 services around the bed & breakfast that we stayed at last night, so I picked one right across the street and went to it.  It was kind of a non-denominational church and they were very welcoming.  I think I was close to the youngest person here.  They had this lady come that travels around to many different churches and performs these personifications of women in the Old and New Testaments.  She did Ester of the Old Testament and it was really good.  She dresses in character and talks 1^st person and I learned a lot about Ester.  They had a pot luck brunch after and invited me, but I felt I better hit the road.  I told them I was LDS and they told me about Joseph Smith’s birthplace that was really close and a few details about the place.  I was already planning on going there, but thought it was neat that they would let me know.

Ester at church.

I did ride to the Joseph Smith Memorial.  It was up quite a hill.  I ditched my panniers and hid them behind a building and then made the climb, but still!!  We were thinking of camping at Camp Joseph up there.  That would have killed us with our panniers.  It was a great experience to be there and I am glad I was able to go.  Great spirit there and enjoyed seeing the rock foundation where the house was and the monument that was erected in 1905.  The downhill was great except I had to brake so much.

The foundation of the home Joseph Smith was born into.

The rest of the day was a nice ride.  Again riding by rivers and streams and beautiful hills.  We did ride through some covered bridges today.  That was a first.  Quite a bit of climbing today.  Some of these climbs are steep!!  Our last climb today was actually nice.  It was a decent climb, but the grade was good. That makes all the difference.  Hoping in the next few days we see more good engineered grades.  I am sounding pretty pathetic, I know.

New State, New Hampshire!!

Day 40 – Lake Dunmore, VA to Bethel, VT – 9/28/19

Today’s Miles: 41

Total: 1,844

Had a good night last night.  I think I nearly prefer the tent if the weather is good.  Last night was just the right temperature and so I slept well.

We had a nice ride today; even considering the 1,500 ft climb that we had to make first thing in the morning. And, yes, I pushed my bike at times.  I just get really tired of breathing like a maniac, so when that happens, I just get off and walk the bike for a bit.  I know bicycle purists are never supposed to walk their bike and I agree, I am not a purist.

Went through many small Vermont towns today.  What is neat about riding in the states we have been going through is just looking at the old buildings and all the history that has taken place here.  We are in Bethel, VT tonight and this particular town has been around since 1797.  There was monument in Randolph, VT that we rode through today that had a listing of the men who were killed in the Civil War from that town. There is just so much more history here.

These two pictures are from a store that we stopped by today.  There was just a bunch old old stuff in their that looked very cool. The old cash register is still used.

I did make a stop at a bicycle shop today.  I noticed the other day that my rear wheel had a slight wobble in it.  I stopped at the shop to see if they had the time to true the wheel which the repair man just said to bring it in and he had it done in about 20 minutes. I think it would have been fine through the trip, but it is something that would have needed to be anyway.

We are in a bed and breakfast tonight.  We couldn’t find any other accommodations in the area for tonight.  It is kind of an older B&B and smells a little old as well.  We do have a roof over our head and a soft bed, so all is good.

To me not quite as colorful as NY.

Bethel, VT

Day 39 – Westport, NY to Lake Dunmore, VT – 9/27/19

Today’s Miles: 47

Total: 1,803

I woke today with a bit of a bad attitude.  It was a beautiful morning, but I was just feeling like I have had enough. It could have been some of the steep climbs that we started the day with.

It really was a nice day of riding.  It is a bit hilly, but we knew that is the way things would end up on this ride.  Each day from here on out will be at least 2,500 feet of climbing.  I just need to correct my attitude and enjoy the day.

We did cross Lake Champlain into Vermont today.  Down lower in the lake is a bridge that crosses over and that is where we made the crossing.  We passed through Middlebury and Tim wasn’t feeling too well and we were looking for a motel to end the ride there.  There is a college in that town and it was parent’s day and there is not a motel to be found, so we were forced to ride the extra 9 miles to the campground.  I hope he is feeling better tomorrow.

Lake Champlain.  See that bridge in the distance.  That is what we crossed.

Selfie???

We had tortellini, bread and salad for dinner tonight.  We have had that quite often. It is easy to carry and easy and quick to cook.  I guess that is why it is a favorite.

It is going to be a bit cold tonight.  I understand that at home in Burley, Idaho, they are expecting snow in the next couple days, so I am not complaining.

Just some of the sights today.

Day 38 – Saranac Lake, NY to Westport, NY – 9/26/19

Today’s Miles: 47

Total: 1,756

We woke to nice skies, but the weather was promising rain by the 11:00 hour.  We got some breakfast of bagels and hot chocolate and tried to get on the road early to get miles behind us before the weather hit.  We rode the 10 miles into Lake Placid and had our second breakfast at McDonald’s and then hit the road again.  It started raining on us as we left and not too far out of town it started coming down pretty hard.

There was a downhill we arrived at and we reached speeds of 35 mph or so with the rain and it didn’t take long to soak us.  Not only soaked, but that rain kind of hurts when you are moving at 30 mph.  We took some cover at a house and then the owner said a nice restaurant was only a quarter mile down the hill further.  We rode to the restaurant at the bottom of the hill and by then we were chilled and spent a few hours in the restaurant warming up and ended up getting some lunch there. Gotta buy some food if you want to use the restaurant as shelter.

The weather broke and we were in this pocket with rain all around and we made another effort to get to our destination.  We were actually quite lucky it didn’t get us again. During the day we climbed about 2,000 feet, but dropped 3,855 feet.  We did have some great down hills today. We are on the shores of Lake Champlain tonight.  Again, we are in a motel due to the weather.  It started raining again tonight and we just felt that we would never get warm if we tried camping.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a decent day, but it does look like this last week may be challenging weather.

The downhill ski jumps at Lake Placid.

Always nice to see this sign on a bike. This was right before the heavens opened with the rain.

Pretty sights.

Us in the middle of the rain.  See the blue pin close to the bottom?

All decked out in rain gear. 😊

Lake Champlain.

Day 37 – Saranac Lake, NY – 9/25/19

Today’s Miles: 0

Total: 1,709

Today was a rest day.  It was nice to take the day off, but in some ways we wondered if we should keep moving because tomorrow we are supposed to get rain again.  We didn’t think too much about that because the body was screaming for some rest as well.

I used the morning on catching up on work from the office.  There are a few things that I need to take care of for clients and when we are not riding and I have a good wifi connection, it makes it nice to get it done.  Dean & Jepper offered us the use of one of their cars, so we took that offer and visited Lake Placid, where the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics were held.  We will end up riding through there on our bikes tomorrow, but wanted a little extra time to look around.  It was nice to ride in a car.  Didn’t have to work and breathe hard climbing hills or anything. We did get caught in some construction on the way back and it took us 1 & ½ hours to get 10 miles.  We rode that same mileage on the bikes the next day in an hour.

Hockey rink where the "Miracle on Ice" was played in 1980 that US beat Russia 4/3.  Do any of you remember that? I was on my church mission in Seoul, Korea, so I completely missed it.

The part of the oval that you see down below was the place that they had speed skating races and such in 1932.  In those early years much was held outside.  They did still have the 1932 rink inside the same building as the above rink was in.  It is still being used.

Dean & Jepper made us a nice meal of stew over potatoes for dinner and we spent the night talking about various things.  It got so late that I didn’t finish this post, so finishing the next day.  I slept on the couch for the two days and enjoyed their hospitality.  They were great hosts and I am amazed at how much they offered us.

Some view off the hill Olympic Park is on. Big hill clear in the background, Whiteface Mountain, is where the ski racing was.

Day 36 – Long Lake, NY to Saranac Lake, NY – 9/24/19

Today’s Miles: 44

Total: 1,709

Again, we were very lucky to have had the motel last night.  It rained periodically through the night and even this morning it rained.  We just kind of waited it out and left about 9:30.  It was a beautiful ride today, but the weather was not on our side.  It wasn’t terrible, but there was just a mist in the air all day.  It would actually start raining at times; not hard, but enough that we wore our rain jackets all day and was not a great day to take pictures. Sorry.

We are riding the Adirondacks right now.  The park is 6.1 million acres and includes 10,000 lakes and 30,000 miles of rivers and streams.  We are in Saranac Lake, which is considered the capital of the Adirondacks.  I really can’t tell you what that means, but we do have a day off tomorrow and maybe will find out a little more about it.

We are staying with some friends of Tim and Nancy tonight.  They are Jepper & Dean and have been great hosts.  We met Jepper about 25 miles before the end of our ride in Tupper Lake at the hospital where she works. She offered to carry our bags and we would ride the rest of the way.  I did unload 3 of my 4 panniers and that made for a great 25 miles.  I do have to figure out how to lighten things up a bit. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but am probably carrying 60 pounds of stuff.

We ate dinner with our hosts and had a great night talking with them.  Jepper is a nurse and Dean spent 30 years as a Presbyterian minister and then decided to go to medical school and has spent the last 9 years as a doctor.  He still acts as a minister for a small congregation nearby. It has been interesting to talk with them this evening about their church, medicine and their family.

I am sleeping on their couch tonight and have a nice fire burning right beside me.  It will be nice.  Goodnight.

Day 35 – Old Forge, NY to Long Lake, NY – 9/23/19

Today’s Miles: 48

Total: 1,665

Ok, I know you are all getting tired of these posts that are not changing much from day to day. It was a much better day of riding today from yesterday.  Just not so many steep climbs.  However, we did have one doozy.  It was in the last 12 miles of riding but a climb of 500 ft at once.  It was steep.  Had to stop midway and take a rest.

Pretty quiet riding today.  The roads were great.  We did ride one stretch that there was quite a bit of construction going on, but the tarmac was new and smooth.  In fact, I think cars were not on that particular stretch due to the construction which made it very quiet; except for the occasional asphalt truck.

The colors in the hills are spectacular and we haven’t seen the best yet. The photos that I post do not give it justice.  I am excited to see if the change will continue as we do.

We are staying at the Shamrock Motel in Long Lake, NY. We thought we might end up riding in the rain today, but the storm just skirted right over the top of us.  However, the evening was forecast to have more storms so we decided to get the motel.  It was a good thing we did.  About 4:00 it just poured and has continued to rain hard all evening.  We have been pretty fortunate to guess the times needed for a motel.  Tomorrow morning rain is still forecast.  Hoping it doesn’t delay us too much.

I liked the way this menu worked.