Belfast, Maine 9/22/2011

What a difference a day makes. We woke up to cloudy skies and got our gear ready for our first real day of riding down the coast.  We grabbed a quick bite at the motel and as we were leaving the first rain drops fell. We put on our rain pants etc. This was our first riding with loaded bikes on this trip and we made good time off the island to Ellsworth and took a very enjoyable ride down Route 172.  No shoulder for the first few miles and then new payment with a nice shoulder and little traffic.  We stopped in a small store in Surry for a snack and the talk in the store was about niece Michelle's new baby (girl, 7 lbs 13 oz, named Charlotte, born today at 1:15am).  The place was run by Mom, daughter, son in law and Ralph who came in for a cup of coffee and upon discovering the urn was empty, filled it, started a new pot, paid for his coffee and left after getting the news about Charlotte. Donna, the daughter and proud new Aunt, said she finds time to laugh out loud at least once every day.  A good plan.  She also pointed out where to stand in the store so you could look out the window and see the Bald Eagle who spends part of his day in the tree across the street.  Good vibes, so so food and nice people and we hit the road still in the rain.  After a few miles we rejoined highway 1 and 3 toward Bucksport with nice wide shoulders but lots of traffic.  We blew through Bucksport over the Penobscot River onto Verona Island and then over the new Penobscot Narrows bridge.  After crossing the bridge we stopped at an over look for a photo  of the bridge and two riders rode up on their bikes and asked if we were Larry and Rudy. John and Bill are from Bellingham Washington and had flown their bikes into Bar Harbor Bike Shop same as we did.  The bike shop people told them about us.  We did not join them as they were going father and faster than we planned for today.  They are riding all the way to Key West.  We stopped  in Stockton Springs for a quick bite and then continued on to Belfast for the night.  We cleaned the bikes, got into the room, had a nice hot shower which felt great after riding in the rain most of the day and then walked down the street to PapaJs for baked Haddock and conversation. They had a great wine list including several Sonoma County wines including Chateau St Jean where my son, the economist in Ireland, worked as a Cellar Rat a few years ago. This is end of regular tourist season but the regulars filled the place before we left including Dan who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.  Said he hated going to the doctor so did not go for years.  It could end up costing him his life. While we were talking to Dan his primary doctor, a gynecologist, came it.  Another story.   Back in the room, try write a blog and figure out how to find the photos to put them on the blog.  It is best to do this computer stuff when you are not tired.

54 miles today and looking at another rainy day tomorrow.