THE END

Jim never intended to go any further than his home of Bowdoinham, Maine on our cross country bike ride. But Fred and I wanted to go to Acadia Park in Bar Harbor, so after a refreshing rest and yummy salmon dinner at Jim & Holly's, the 2 of them rode 10 miles up the road with us to urge us on our way for those last 150 miles.
We had lots of those good old Maine hills and soon reached water in the form of bays and lakes. I was happy to explore the town of Ellsworth, where my great-grandparents lived. I even found their gravesites, thanks to my cousin Britt. We had one more wild thunderstorm in a Northpoint campground, just for good measure..
At 11:00 A.M. On Tuesday, August 23rd, we finished our 4,250 mile bike ride across the USA by dipping our front tires in the Atlantic Ocean in Bar Harbor, Maine.
We felt joy at the thrill of our ride and sorrow that it was over. We will never forget this summer.

Our Maine trail angels by Mimi

Becky and Dave

In 2006, Fred & I backpacked the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). We met so many fine hikers and blessed trail angels.
Two of our hiker friends were David & Becky. They moved from Colorado to Maine recently and David has been following our blog so guessed when we arrived in Maine. He emailed us offering us a stay in their apartment (which turned out to be too far away for our liking) OR they would come to our campground for a reunion "with treats". Their idea of treats was NOT a few granola bars but boxes of pizza, bread sticks, beer, & fruit!
Hopefully Dave & Becky got a piece or two-we were so busy devouring everything in sight while sharing conversations and laughter.
For an evening, we were again "Mama & Chia", and that was fine with us...

BTW, Dave & Becky completed the 2,655 mile PCT and went on to hike the entire AT (Appalachian Trail) and the CDT (Continental Divide Trail), which to us hiker trash is called "triple-crowning". That is quite a feat!

Maine at last

On August 19th, at 9:45, we entered Jim's home state of Maine. The odometer read 4,000.9 as we entered Fryeburg!
Maine has many many hills, as Jim has warned us for weeks.
On Saturday, Jim's wife Holly and their bike club members met us on the backroads and led us on to Brunswick, where we had a yummy burrito and rode together the 12 miles to Jim & Holly's home. They treated us like celebrities! Thanks to all...

trail angels from Massachusetts

Ron, Maria, Jonah, Elli

The day we left Brenda & Rodney's, it was pouring. We climbed Breadloaf & Middlebury Gap, which was quite demanding. Our shirts were soaked with sweat, the downgrade was 12%, and we were freezing cold. Luckily, in Hancock, there was a wonderful restaurant where we ate a 2nd breakfast and warmed up for 2 hours!
We were very happy later in the day to meet up with our son Ron, his wife Maria, and our grandkids Jonah & Elli at a campground further on in Vermont. The rain stopped and we had a campfire & Elli's "perfect" S'Mores.
The next day, we bicyclists entered New Hampshire. Our family had found a campground with a swimming pool, so we got to relax sooner than usual. Pizza and beer was on the agenda for that night.
On our 3rd day together, they sought out the grocery store for us, met us for lunch and the obligatory ice cream, and cheered us on from their car when we were biking the Kangamagus Pass. They found the perfect campsite and we all fit in their huge tent when it rained.
We were sad to part, but took comfort in knowing we would be reunited for a week after the ride was over.

Vermont

Rodney & Brenda

We took the short ferry ride across Lake Champlain, leaving New York and entering Vermont. We were SO wet from hours of riding in the rain. Even so, we could see how stunning Vermont is with its rolling, green hills, old red barns, and big old farmhouses kept in beautiful condition. Milk trucks passed us at high speeds, seemingly oblivious to our struggle on the pot-holed, narrow roads and splashing us, once getting Fred right in the face with a stream of dirty water.
We rode 50 miles that day to quaint Middlebury, where we were never so happy to see the friendly face of my old friend Brenda and enter the warmth of her house.Of course, first on the agenda was a hot shower, then laundry, and drying out our wet tents and supplies in her basement. She made us a spectacular meal and we met her husband Rodney, who helped Fred and Jim  with bike maintenance. We had such a good time that we hated to leave, especially since the rain hadn't let up! Less than 400 miles to go of our 4,300 mile trip....

Rural New York

Often when you think of  New York, you think of  busy New York City. But there's a beautiful rural side of New York..at least 400 miles of it. We know cuz that's how long we biked it.
We rode on bumpy narrow back roads thru farm lands and then up and down the Adirondacks. We never saw so many canoes on top of cars. Our legs got very strong from the many many hills...
The Adirondacks are just beautiful. Lakes, trees, mountains, quaint towns with LOTS of tourists- not the bicycling kind, though.
We stayed at a lovely campground overlooking waterfalls and  the hills. Here's a "hey" to Jimmy and Sharon, who shared their campfire, good conversation, and wine with us on that gorgeous night.

Angels in Rochester,New York

Helene & Brian

We had a fun day riding the Erie Canal trail after spending the nite in back of the biker friendly Wild Waves Drive-In. Every few miles, you can get off the trail and go into a cute old town. The trail is not paved, but is packed well. And we had a tail wind...finally!
Jim's wife's friend's brother lives in Rochester, which we would be passing thru. He kindly came to pick us up in his truck so we wouldn't have to be scared senseless riding thru traffic and the 'hood.
Brian and his g/f Helene made us a stellar meal including grilled veggies and "the best potato salad" the 3 of us had ever had. Brian took the boys shopping while I did much needed laundry duty.
We got to sleep in a comfy bed, too!
Many thanks to Brian & Helene, and Holly and Karen, too, for arranging this nite for us!