After getting up early this morning we both availed ourselves of a hot shower and then started the take-down and pack-up process. I cooked up some oatmeal pancakes for breakfast. We were pretty much ready to go about 8am but there was a dense fog and we waited for it to burn off a bit. George stopped by and we chatted for a while before saying our goodbyes. It was great seeing him after 40-some years and he is just as a great a guy as he was when I knew him back in the early 70s during our army years.
We headed out of town but stopped .4 miles into it to have, under George’s recommendation, Bismarck’s at the General Store. They are homemade and delicious. We each had the lemon variety.
The next 90 miles, heading south on Highway 1 was, for me, a bit bittersweet. I suppose that knowing that I’d met my major goals on the trip sort of meant it was (half) over and the road today was long, straight and boring. BUT, I am on a motorcycle trip with my son, riding hundreds of miles a day, and have many days left before getting back to Montana and I’d rather be doing this than anything else so that cheered me up.
Our first stop was about 90-miles into the ride and I needed to shed an inner layer as the temperature had started rising. We pulled into the shade of a Baptist church.
It’s been interesting noticing which denominations dominate as we go through all these small towns. Through Minnesota and eastward, even when there was only one church in a town or village, it was definitely the Lutherans who dominated. As we went north through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, the Catholics had the edge. As we got closer to the coast and away from Canadian influence, I saw more Baptist halls of worship with the occasional Methodist one to add some variety.
Somewhere along the way, Dan grabbed a selfie while we were stopped.
I saw a scenic pullout and we took more bike pictures.
I also shot a couple photos of my tires threads.
Dan looked at my front tire this morning and noticed that it is slightly cupped and nearing the wear marks. I got online to Revzilla and ordered a Michelin Pilot 4 touring tire and am having it shipped to his house in Pittsburgh. He has a tire changing machine so I’ll have a new tire for the rest of the ride. The rear tire looks pretty good and will make it back to Montana. While in Pittsburgh, I’ll also give it an oil change because it will be due by then, in fact, probably a little past due. Changes are every 4,000 miles and I’ve gone over 3,000 at this point since my last change.
While I was in the shopping mood this morning, and my iPad had a good connection in George’s campground, I also also ordered the textbook I need for the Art History class I am taking at Montana State University, Billings. It a class about the history of women in art, a class that gets great reviews from my fellow students who have already taken it. I am also taking Advanced Painting and, according to my calculations and the computer at school that keeps track of such things, those are two of the three classes I have left to complete my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The last class will be my capstone, which is my senior show, that I will do in the spring. Graduation should be May 2022, the same month I turn 70.
The next section of road had me a bit anxious. The road itself was great but I started thinking that I should have gassed up at the last town. I was down to two bars on the gas gauge and we not finding any stations on this route. I have an indicator that tells me the range, the number of miles left before I become a pedestrian, and it said 36 miles just as we passed a sign that said Calais was 37 miles ahead. When we got to Princeton, the first station we passed was torn up for remodeling but we found a Shell station down the road and I was able to get a good fill. The bike took 5.1 gallons. It has a tank that holds over 6 gallons so I must have had some distance left but it was good to top off and be done with it. I get 55 mpg so with a tank that size I have a range of over 300 miles. No excuse to ever run out of gas on this bike.
A bit farther up the road there was a some major construction and it looked like we’d be stopped for a while. Dan took another selfie.
While we waited, I played with the communication gizmo in my helmet that is connected to my iPhone over Bluetooth. It’s supposed to understand all the “Hey, Siri” commands and I wanted to try the phone calling feature. I finally got it to work but the voice told me that I needed to unlock my phone. I guess in this travel mode I should disable locking. The phone is on a charger in my tank bag so it’s not like the battery will run down. Anyway, I finally got it to call home and Sarah and I chatted while we waited our turn to cross the construction zone which was a mixture of packed dirt, some gravel, and loose sand. We continued chatting while I negotiated this course and the sound quality is excellent. We hear each other just fine and the sound of the bike doesn’t interfere at all. I didn’t know the Siri command to hang up but when she hung up, the call disconnected, after which I used voice commands to relaunch the music I’d been listening to. The technology is really something.
Somewhere out there, Dan, who is more than adept at most things I can’t do on a bike like ride with one hand while taking photos with an iPhone (check his stunting out on Instagram: WheelieDan) shot a couple more of me.
We stopped for a late lunch at a Subway and got our usual, a foot-long veggie with everything including chipotle sauce, which we split, and 2 small drinks. We used this downtime to search out our camping options for the night. We are getting close to Bar Harbor and quickly discovered that everything is full in that area. I found a campground 15 miles away from where we were and they had tent openings so we headed there. As is our usual practice, we stopped at an outlet that sells beer and picked up a 4-pack of talls of a locally brewed IPA.
We pulled into the campground and since they don’t have an office I had to call the number on the entry sign. The owner, a woman, sounded like she was trying to corral a classroom full of kindergarten kids but eventually told me that any of the tent sites were available for one night and to take whichever one we liked. While I was on the phone with her, Dan rode around and checked them out and picked one for us. $25 for the night. A good deal. They have a bathhouse which means that I’ll go for a run in the morning since I can shower afterwards before hitting the road.
Dan notice that we are surrounded by off-road trails. He’s tempted to take his bike out on them but he’s still recovering from a broken rib (mountain bicycle mishap) and doesn’t want to risk things at this point. I am thinking that those trails will make the perfect trail run in the morning.
Today’s ride was 263 miles.
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