The Big Wait

Our Crazy Bicycle Tans

Today is our last day here in Portland, Maine. It was nice to be able to be tourists and see some of the sights while we wait for Friday morning to arrive to hop onto the train for the long ride towards home. A note for all of you worry-warts: Be patient with us. We will not have internet connection for the next five days and seeing that the train will retrace the route we rode, we probably will not have any cell phone signal until we get closer to Seattle!

Wheels in the Atlantic Ocean

The bicycle ride was quite an adventure and when we dipped our wheels in the Atlantic Ocean it was a relief to be done. The cold water was also a relief on our feet!

While here in Portland we enjoyed using public transportation to get downtown and snoop around, then we took the mail-run of the ferry and got an inexpensive 3 hour tour of the bay with many island stops. Yesterday we rented a car and drove up the Maine coast through all the little tourist towns to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. So thankful we did not have to bicycle along that road! It was a steady stream of cars, and gridlock in each little town. I held my camera out of the window to get photos! The drive ended up being a lot longer than we had anticipated.

A View of the Bay from the Ferry

Acadia National Park

This morning we packed what we are going to take on the train with us and then shipped the rest of the equipment and panniers that we cannot take on the train. Then we just rested, jacuzzied and rested some more. Tomorrow bright and early we will be back on our bicycles for a short ride to the train station and the start of our journey home.

We will post another blog once we arrive home. - Alicia

For those keeping track: the total trip was 3,968 miles.

Cheers!

~Pete

Day 65. Finis

Here is the Atlantic as seen on the approach to East End Beach near
downtown Portland, Maine. We rode 55 miles to finish today.

We are done!!! Yeah!!! We are both ready to finish. Though the
miles were short, we also seemed short on energy. I think we needed
to be done or take like several days off. It was a very humid day
where the air never looked clear and was almost fog.

At one point I got hungry and tore off a chunck of air to gnaw on.
Chewy but not satisfying.

We'll post more pictures later today.

Day 64. The Kanc is Cranked!!

Kancamagus Pass, locally known as "The Kanc" is the last pass of this trip. No more big hills. They have an annual ride here called "Crank the Kanc". This we have done. We passed into New Hampsire, completed the pass, then went into Maine and are now in Fryeburg, Maine. Tomorrow we finish the ride across America by going to Portland, ME, about 55 miles distant.

New Hampshire

Live Free or Diet?

It's Live Free or Die. A little trimming is in order here... :)



A Nice Stream in New Hampshire



The Connecticut River separates New Hampshire and Vermont.


We were not able to book the train before Friday, so we will leave for home then. We expect to meet with Alicia's parents August 4th.

The pass was tough, but not too bad. We have had rougher climbs. We were able to maintain some good speed (for climbing) up the pass. We had a touch of rain coming down the pass, though we learned that the full brunt of the storm was a deluge that moved through just before us.

Last week we rode 509 miles - really big considering all the climbing. Our total for the trip was 3,833.5 miles. With today and the expected 55 miles tomorrow, we should finish just under 4,000 miles at 3,968.5 miles. We will ride down US Highway 302 into Portland.

~Pete