2020, Days 29 & 30: It's Gonna Be ME

Or... It's Gonna Be MAINE?

The days are starting to feel routine: One wrong turn to start, a turnaround, a bit of bad weather, some pretty leaves, a couple of hills, a pinch of sightseeing, a palatable motel room, and a cleanup shower. I guess when you're working toward a goal, some rhythm helps keep you afloat. And among all this routine, dad's making some real progress! One last day in New Hampshire, then finally across the FINAL state line he'll need to cross before victory.

Dad's now touched 14 states (that's 28% of the total 50, but 29% if you only count the contiguous), which is quite a feat, considering he stayed within a couple hundred miles of the northern border the whole time. That's not counting the ones they had to cross to get to and from the starting and ending points each year. By now, mom and dad are experienced travelers and have done more state-seeing than most of the folks I know, even if the majority of the seeing they've done has been off the highway and avoidant of large cities. The goal is Lubec State Park, at the southeastern tip shore, kiddie-corner to Nova Scotia. Just a few short days of riding away, and several days ahead of schedule, still, despite Tate's Maps and wrong turns. Dad could slow down if he wanted to, but why risk it? Plus, he's probably looking forward to sitting on a thicker, more ergonomic cushion.

October 7, 2020

My mother’s 102nd birthday.

With afternoon rain in the forecast, we got an early start, at 8:00. Right off the bat I missed my turn. I went 2 miles and 300-500 feet in climbing up the wrong road before I realized my error. My legs were tired before I even got on the right road! I had plenty of good hills to climb as it was. The last major hill was about a 400 foot climb in a mile; I was very happy to zoom down the other side. After that, we rode along the Androscoggin River from Gorham NH to Gilead ME, where we stopped for the day. 41 miles (including the 4 mile error) in 3:35.

Rain was supposed to start about noon. We drove South of Gorham a few miles to the Mt. Washington auto road. I thought I would surprise Mom with a little scenic tour. The sign at the bottom stated that the road had no guardrails, and if you didn’t like heights, you might not enjoy the trip. Mom vetoed the trip, even before we found out it would cost us $45.00. So we went back up to Gorham and took pictures of the amazing colors, and had lunch at the Road Hawgs BBQ--Swine Dining. We don’t typically eat ribs, but these were very good--and filling.

Tomorrow begins...THE MAINE EVENT!

October 8, 2020

Mom and I, for different reasons, think we have a Tate’s map of Maine. (He who has a Tate’s is lost.) We both keep misinterpreting it. She keeps thinking she is at place on the map that she isn’t (yet), and I keep overestimating how far it is from one place to the next. Probably just old people issues.

Weather was a big factor in today’s ride. We wanted to start early to avoid some strong winds, but we also wanted to avoid getting rained on. Failed on both counts.

Our starting point at Gilead was 10 miles west of our motel. We started at 7:30. It wasn’t raining when we got there and I started riding. I asked Mom to wait 25 minutes, or if it started raining, and catch up to me. It didn’t rain in Gilead, but it sure rained on me. By the time Mom caught up with me, I was nearly back at the motel! It wasn’t anywhere near checkout time, so we went back to the motel room. Mom took my wet clothes to the laundry there at the motel and dried them; and we sat out the rain for about an hour and a half. Started riding again a little after 10:00. The winds were mostly from the northwest. I was predominantly riding east, so had some good tailwinds. Two or three times the road turned north into a headwind, but that was infrequent. There were a couple of big hills today, but the rest of the grades were pretty easy. Finished in about 4:15 of actual riding time, 52.7 miles.

End Point, Wilton, ME