Carol and Dick Bourne’s Eastcoast Bike Trip

 

Boxed and ready at SMF

Are we crazy?  Are we trying to hold off aging?  Are we just trying to have fun?  For whatever reason we are flying to Quebec City on August 24th and heading off through Canada and into Maine on the 27th for a three plus month bike trip along the East Coast of the US.  We’ll have all our gear including a tent and sleeping bags on our bikes for what will most likely be a real adventure with hopefully more pluses than minuses coming our way. We’re keeping this blog in order to have a record of our trip when we’re finished, and we hope some of you will add to it with a few comments along the way.  We hope to add some pictures to each entry as well.  That’s it for now–see you in Quebec City–Carol and Dick

First Day in Quebec City

After a relatively smooth flight and arrival, we found our quarters at the Auberge de la Paix hostel right in the old city. 

 

Auberge de la Paix entrance

 

It is a great spot, and this morning we almost finished assembling our bicycles; everything is now working, after several trips to the nearest bike shop, except one bike computer which seems to have too exotic a battery.  But the highlight so far has been the midnight horse-drawn carriage ride after late arrival last night.  It was a 50 minute personal tour of the downtown, with a brief rain shower to enhance the romance. 

 

The midnight carriage

 

 

This is a really beautiful old city!!  With lots of tourists seeing its sights on this 400th anniversary year, we are here at a special time.  We just missed the Quebec marathon run yesterday- maybe just as well.  Many of the tourists are from France, including a large group who stayed at our hostel last night from Paris, some almost as old as we are, and all had run in the marathon.  Enough for now- we depart Wednesday morning, and are starting to plot our course out of town, though we hate to leave so soon.

Au revoir!  Carol and Dick (or Mom and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa)

2nd day in Quebec City

 

We had a great day in the city on Monday–toured the entire inner city by foot, had dinner with a couple we met from PA at a crepe restaurant, went to the Quebec Experience performance and then ended the night with a spectacular over the river light/movie production.  We love Quebec and look forward to returning someday for a longer period of time.  As for the blog–we have not mastered this yet. Posting is fine but we do not yet know how about managing the comments–can’t figure out if they just appear also on our e-mail or if those comments are being sent via our e-mail and not the blog–my mind is being stretched.  If anyone can help–please feel free–Carol

 

Street scene in old Quebec City

 

City view from the Citadel

Finally back on line in Bar Harbor

(Carol) We made it!!!! It’s simply amazing what the body will do when you ask.  When we last left off we had one more day in Quebec City.  It was another beautiful sunny day–toured the Citadel and watched the changing of the guard in the am and then tried out our bikes on a great bike path along the St Lawrence river in the afternoon.  Met some great people along the way.  I know I said we would report the bad along with the good, so I will start with discovering I thought I had lost my rainjacket late Tuesday afternoon.  You just don’t want to start out a bike trip in the east without a rainjacket-Dick kept his head and called a cab which took us to a sport store like REI and I bought a very expensive replacement.  We missed our tour of the Frontenac Castle which made me very unhappy.  We did discover a new section of Quebec City and ate in a great restaurant–Hobbit Bistro.  All ended well that day., and turned even better in the morning when I found the preferred original jacket!

Changing of the Guard at the Citadel

Wed-August 27th- (Dick) We awoke on this scheduled departure day to beautiful skies.  We quickly packed our gear on the bikes and rode downhill to catch the ferry across the St Lawrence, so we could ride on the rail trail west, with a view back across the river toward Quebec City. 

 

Leaving Quebec City through Hope Gate

About one blissful hour out I realized I had left my wallet in a secret spot in our (unlockable) hostel room.  We called back, they found the wallet, and agreed to extract some of its contents to pay for postage to Cape Cod.  Luckily Carol had the passports and duplicates of the VISA and bank cards.  The next issue was my front rack losing a key screw, and I had no spare. 

 

Front rack repair an hour from Quebec City

 

By chance a bike shop was nearby and I made the repairs and some other reinforcements; other than one flat and some chain drops we had zero other bike problems all the way to Bar Harbor.  The rest of the day was fabulous, along the “Route Verte” ending in St Joseph ( a 58 mile day).  We camped in a muni campground with pool and a babbling falls next to our site- and we had a great dinner and beer at the “Bourre- Joix” (a pun, I’m sure) across the river from our camp- an exhilarating first day on the bikes!

 

 

First camp- by the babbling brook

 

 

Thursday-Sept 28th–We got an 8:10 AM start as we knew it would be a long day.  This day had plenty of ups and downs–first the ups-the hills, the beautiful day-cloudless again, trouble free and we made it–the downs-the hills again, lots of roadwork and less than perfect roads.  Southern Quebec is very beautiful-many perfect looking farms, wildflowers, and lovely tasteful homes.  We had no idea how high up the border crossing would be-we just kept riding up and up some more.  At the crossing we were rewarded with much down-although not entirely.  We found the Cozy Cove Cabins in Jackman-after 69.5 miles-a perfectly lovely spot with what has to be the perfect cabin- right on Big Wood Lake, with a great view.  We would have loved to stay another day.  Left French cooking for American home cooking at the Four Seasons.  We were tired but happy; we even stayed up to watch Barack Obama’s compelling acceptance speech.–Carol

 

The border after our longest climb

 

Carol sees the sunset from the Cozy Cabin

 

Sunset over Lake of the Woods

 

Friday, August 29 (Dick) We hated to leave that pinewood cabin!  After famous breakfast sandwiches at Jackman Java, run by another semi-Californian returning to her roots, we headed off around ten.  We had lots of wonderful downhill riding (matched by a few ups of course) but mostly we rode along the beautiful Kennebec River.  The water was fast and we watched many rafters.  Had a fine picnic lunch at The Forks, then an easy ride to Bingham. 

 

 

Closed Bingham ice cream stop

We’d thought about staying there, but were ahead of schedule, and headed south in a huff when the most perfect ice cream shop (we’d been salivating for a root beer float) turned out to be closed.  

We rode on to Solon on Hwy 201 and left it temporarily to find the Evergreen campground on the river, with its own acclaimed restaurant.  The place was great, but somewhat spoiled by uncountable ravenous mosquitoes.  We borrowed some repellant but it seemed largely ineffective.  The restaurant was ostensibly closed for an event, but the owner, considering our plea that we’d have a long uphill ride to any other eatery, fixed us a great dinner and they even served us beer (we went to bed itchy but happy).

Evergreens campground and restaurant

 

Saturday-Aug 30th,  We left Solon at 9am after breakfast.  It was cloudy but the weather soon cleared and we were in short sleeves and without tights again.  We had to change our route plan as we had chosen a gravel road which crossed over a small mountain.  Instead we took a great downhill side road through farmland.  This turned out to be a relatively easy day but clouded over in the afternoon with a short light shower which we avoided by standing under a tree for about 15 minutes.  Highlight– delicious root beer floats in Newport.   We decided to camp again slightly before Bangor due to the pool and timely location, at the Wheeler Stream Campground where the owners brought us beer. We ordered food to be delivered after swimming–it seemed quite the perfect evening.-Carol

 

Camping deluxe at Wheeler Stream

 

 

Today, the last of August!  (Dick)  We started with meatloaf sandwiches (my dinner leftovers; Carol ate her entire lobster roll).  We found our way through Bangor, feasting on big fruit smoothies and pastry at a Dunkin’ Donut (they’re as common as Starbucks here) then rolled mostly downhill with a tailwind on busy single number roads (2 to 1A to 3 with a brief stint on 1).  Some roads were great with wide shoulders and some were horrible with none; we found one “shortcut” that turned to gravel but was still one of the highlights for beauty.  We made it to Mt. Desert Island about three and found this great old cabin/motel combination, and later found it featured in a book (from the seventies) of cabin-camps.  After a quality Halibut dinner at the Chart House, marred only by a brief fear that we had lost our remaining credit cards, here we are at the keyboard!  We hope to reply to individual blog responses on our layover day tomorrow.  Wow, 297 miles in five days- we’re ready for a rest.

 

Our cabin colony near Bar Harbor

Quiet Day in Bar Harbor

(Dick) After the flurry of blow-by-blow travel news last night, I thought I would pass along some more reflective thoughts today.  First, an emphasis on the glorious high from endorphins, cruising down highways with the wind at our backs, way too much sun on our surfaces (we have been heading south, after all), and glorious aromas (all but the occasional diesel exhaust and ubiquitous cow manure on the Canadian side of that mountain we climbed to the border) from pines, flora, rivers, and spots of rain.  There is so much to see, with hemispherical vision, though it’s important to keep an eye on the road ahead.  People we meet seem amazed at what we’re doing, but it all just seems so normal and natural as we ride along.  Things you barely notice in a car (and can’t ever see from a plane) fairly assault you on a bike.  Both sides of the hills make such an impression- the long steady struggles up, and the exhilarating descents, ever aware of the danger of speed, and dependence on the front wheel’s maintenance of direction, structure, and air.  

 

On the road in rural Canada

 

 

Hunger and thirst mechanisms grow in importance too; ice cream and beer become significant phobia! Luckily the manifestation of the latter, for us, is strictly after the wheels have stopped turning (and we hope the bike wheels stop before the brain wheels).  But by afternoon, on  the bikes, the need for ice cream becomes almost an obsession.  If the ice cream can be floated in root beer, the result is incredibly heavenly.  We sunk to the depths of despair Friday afternoon, despite wonderful riding, when we found the only ice cream parlor in Bingham closed on arrival, and the damage was only repaired when we each had our own RBF early the next afternoon.  

I’ll stop here; just wanted to let everyone know that we’re not intending just to log a “We did this, we did that” diary!  Thanks for all the support and comments so far…

Love, Dick and Carol

 

Bar Harbor street scene

 

Carol on Cadillac Mountain

Together on Cadillac Mountain

Arrival in Boothbay Harbor

(Carol) Two more perfect days of riding in Maine–we have again fallen in love with this state.  Rode 83 miles yesterday and then 17 miles today to make the 10:30 am ferry to Monhegan Island. 

 

Port Clyde, heading for Monhegan Island

 

 

What a lovely island-no cars allowed-a few dirt roads and walking paths only.  There are 63 residents who winter on this remote island and about 1000 residents during the summer. 

 

Monhegan Island arrival

 

 

We then took the afternoon ferry to Boothbay Harbor where we are staying the night with Greg and Donna Muzzy–Donna is an old-not in age-college friend from U Mass-Nursing school.  The only catch is that we had to climb up the steepest hill of the trip so far to become guests at their lovely “bed and breakfast” overlooking the harbor.  What a great place–Boothbay is one more special town on the Maine coast along with Searsport, Belfast and Camden-all picture perfect. We are trying to ignore the weather report of less than perfect weather for the end of the week.

 

Carol with Donna and Greg Muzzy

Boothbay Harbor Sunset

Fond Farewell to Maine

 

 

Thursday 9/4 (Dick)  Sorry, we’ve fallen out of touch again.  It seemed wrong to head north from Boothbay, but then, that’s what we had to do from Bar Harbor too.  If you check out the map, you’ll see how the Central Maine coast consists of many fingers projecting southward into the Atlantic, and he who goes down must either come back up or take a ferry, as we did to get to Boothbay.  So, we rode north on delightful Hwy 27 to Rte 1, then scooted west on a wide shoulder (with too much company to our left) until we passed Bath and found a riverside bikeway that roughly paralleled I-295.  The big treat here was our own private airshow!  The Blue Angels were training for a weekend show at the Brunswick Naval Air Station.  We parked next to the river and watched these noisy fighters fly at treetop level right over us, jets roaring, about twenty times, sometimes soaring into vertical loops and other times flipping over to fly upside down.  We took many pictures that can’t begin to capture the thrill of it! 

 

Low-flying Blue Angel

 

 

In Brunswick the ice cream shop was closed so we went to the supermarket across the street, bought all the fixins, and fabricated a huge RBF to slurp down in the big park across the street.  On to Freeport, HQ for LL Bean, and probably also the shopping HQ for Maine; every imaginable outdoor-related chain was there on main street (Maine Street).  Here we made contact with Jim Brygger, our old friend from Nebraska days, who drove east from his current home in Wisconsin to join our bike tour.  He was already in Portland, so we agreed to meet at the Winslow Park campground south of Freeport.  What a beautiful spot!  The camp occupies an entire peninsula projecting into Casco Bay, and we had tent site #1. 

 

Casco Bay campground

 

After showers and tent setup we took advantage of Jim’s car to find a nearby restaurant and plan a next day meeting in downtown Portland. Then Jim (who’s not foolish enough to camp) headed back to his hotel.  With only a few mosquitoes to fight and 55 miles under our wheels for the day, we quickly nodded off.

Friday 9/5 (Dick) We arose to another gorgeous sunny day, quickly packed our gear, and found some country roads into Portland, where, on arrival, we took several wrong turns and thus saw more of the city than planned.  We met Jim in the “Commercial St.” area near where Carol and I took a ferry to Nova Scotia 30 years ago.  Portland is quite a vibrant city.  We lounged, lunched, and went via car to a bike shop to help Jim finish outfitting for the bike tour. 

 

Commercial St. lunch with Jim Brygger

We set a distant meeting site, so Jim could park his car for several weeks and ride a shorter day than we…then of course we got lost in South Portland and he waited 45 minutes for us to arrive.  But the three of us motored along well once started, down Hwys 77 and 9 through beautiful coastal and beach country into Cape Porpoise just north of Kennebunkport. 

 

Off-road south of Portland

 

 

We did have the “de rigueur” ice cream stop, but only I had the RBF.  At Old Orchard Beach we saw our first long sandy beach in Maine; what a different feel this strip town had from the beautiful Maine towns further up the coast.  It was nearly six when we found lodging (little was left this Friday night) at Meadow Glen- two cabins and 4 motel rooms on a back road, a 10 minute walk from Kennebunkport.  The proprietor treated us to 3 beers; believe it or not we hadn’t even asked! It was dark by the time we walked to dinner in Kennebunkport, and the town was so festive it felt like a balmy Christmas night.  It was a 72 mile day for the Bournes, and about 30 for Jim- sleep came easily again!

Saturday, 9/6 (Dick)  Carol is answering email, so I’m forging ahead with the diary.  Today we were fearing weather (it started to rain about 6:30 AM, but stopped around 9), and began our ride in fog with a roundabout tour of coastal Kennebunkport. 

 

 

Morning fog in Kennebunkport

 

 

By the way, our motel advertised a “bed and basket” feature, which we were too tired to ask about last night, but Ray the owner explained that it meant a breakfast basket at the door- so we wouldn’t have to look at him in the morning, and he wouldn’t have to set the table!  The coffee and muffin didn’t power us for long, so in Wells about six miles south of Kbunkport we found a little shop selling gluten-free pastries and fabulous gingerbread.  We hugged the coast all day, mostly on beautiful roads with lots of ups and downs.  We even found ourselves on Bourne Avenue!

 

Posing at the Bourne Ave. sign

 

 

Ogunquit was a highlight; here we toured a museum with a restored 19th century home that featured the work of many local painters. 

 

History museum in Ogunquit

 

 

We braved a few drops of rain, but mostly had fine riding conditions.  Not wanting to leave Maine yet, we decided to make it a short day and stay in Kittery at the southern Maine border.  But Kittery basically wasn’t there, and suddenly we were here in Portsmouth NH.  We came right into a superb little downtown and after some negotiating (internal and external to our group) we set up camp here at the Hilton Garden Inn.  It’s much more comfortable than we are used to- but perfectly located in light of the considerable downpour since soon after our arrival.  We darted about in our raingear to a cozy dinner, and now here we are at computers.  Who knows about tomorrow?  We’ll have a big Hilton buffet breakfast and watch the skies.  We are still slightly ahead of our original schedule calling for a Cape Cod arrival Tuesday night.  Today was a comfortable 39 mile day; it was Jim’s longest on a bike in about 30 years.  He’ll be 70 next month, but he’s acting younger than we are…New Hampshire has so little coast that we’ll quickly be in Massachusetts.

It’s all in the timing–really!

 

When Dick left off a few days ago,  Saturday,  Sept 6th,  I believe we had just arrived in Portsmouth NH- a beautiful old renovated town by the sea.  Some of you may have been following  hurricane Hannah which had the decency to wait until after our arrival to make her arrival–it poured all night-5-6 inches or so and we awoke to a lovely warm sunny day-a real surprise.  We had breakfast with my high school friend Linda Gaudes before heading south again.  We rode by beach after beach-full of surfers hoping to catch a large wave due to the storm, with yet another root beer float stop at the Beach Plum ice cream stand–one of the best I must admit. 

 

Still Life with Bike

 

 

Our next stop was in Newburyport MA- a gem of a town according to one of its residents and I have to agree.  These eastern seaboard towns are much more beautiful than I remember them being.  We stopped for the night in Beverly-about 25 miles from Boston. 

 

Looking ahead to Boston

 

 

We figured we’d be able to make the 2pm ferry to Provincetown and did so easily with time to tour the Liberty Clipper Ship, owned by our friend Greg Muzzy, in Boston Harbor, and then had lunch on the wharf.

The Liberty Clipper in Boston Harbor

 

 

The day was spectacular-about 82 degrees, dry and sunny.  The ferry trip was calm and warm enough for us to remain outside the “fast ferry” (50 mph) cabin. 

 

Ferrying from Boston

Arriving in Provincetown

 

 

We spent the night in a campground in Provincetown and had dinner on the water–then ice cream, of course, in a local shop that makes its own product.  We were there a few years ago with Dick’s sister and brother-in-law and the ice cream is just as delicious now.

 

Yesterday, Sept 9th, we rode from Provincetown to our house in South Dennis and, as I said before, it’s all in the timing.  It was a beautiful day when we packed up our bikes and headed out after breakfast with our friend Jim Brygger and another old friend, John Hausner.  We helped John and his wife Bonnie start their new home in Waitsfield, VT in 1972, camping for two months on their beautiful meadow with our two-year old twins. They are retiring to Chatham on the Cape at the end of this year.  John rode with us much of the day, after Bonnie dropped him off in Provincetown.  It was sunny and windy and we didn’t bother to check the weather-our first mistake!  After we stopped for ice cream floats- yes again- and got a little turned around on the bike path, someone mentioned the fast storm moving over the Cape.  We decided to have a very quick lunch instead of a sit down leisurely lunch, but we weren’t able to outrun the storm and got caught in a downpour.  All the rain gear was in the bottom of the panniers since there had been no talk of rain for days.  All we could get out was our rain jackets before the “wall of water” drowned us.  We arrived at 58 Baxter Street very wet.  My mom was waiting with the house open and towels in hand.  As I said before-it’s all in the timing. 

 

Durna girls in our Baxter St. living room

 

 

The storm was quick and we again awoke to sunny skies.  We’re on the Cape for about a week before we head south to RI, Block Island, LI and CT–that’s all for now folks–We’re having the time of out lives!!  Love Carol and Dick, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa

Kickin’ Back on Old Cape Cod

(Dick) Yes, we are still alive- and enjoying some R&R on the Cape.  Days have flown by as we’ve tried to give Jim Brygger a taste of the Cape.  I may have mentioned that Jim helped us design our Cape house back in 1990, but this is the first time he has actually seen it.  We’ve mostly stayed on the eastern end of the Cape, but Jim will see more of the western end when we ride out tomorrow toward Woods Hole.  I think we have ridden a grand total of about 25 miles since arrival, but luckily the old ‘77 VW bus has been purring along, allowing our aging legs to regain strength. 

 

Boys, Bus, and new bumper

 

In a grandiose early morning thought, I saw an analogy to a Mars space mission, where we have shuttled up to orbit here on the Cape; we now regroup, add missing ingredients and psyche up for the main event.  We have cycled about 700 miles, with only 2300 to go!  And this is our last chance to spend almost a week relaxing, reflecting, and recharging. 

Today we bought a mini-sleeping bag for Carol and shipped back to California about 15 pounds of extraneous stuff.  So I’ll no longer be bogged down by front luggage- we’ll travel even lighter.  From Woods Hole we’ll go to Martha’s Vinyard by ferry, then again by ferry to Kingston RI, ride 20 miles south to catch another ferry to Block Island, from which we’ll ferry to Long Island.  Lots of ocean miles, few by bike- but then we start our ride north over the top of the NYC metro area and via Rhinebeck toward the Delaware River. 

 

At Carol's mother's on departure

 

 

I’ve given up on blogging from the iPhone- quite a disappointment.  So, with our plan to camp on alternate nights, we probably will be catching up on the blog every few days.

On the road again!

Just a quick shot to show my modified rig- no more front packs!  Also a better shot of the faithful and treasured ‘77 bus…

Traveling lighter