Two weeks in Montana

I suppose we'll have to report on our early July activities at another time, but for now, it seems appropriate to write about the two week field course I just finished co-teaching in Montana since it is fresh in our minds. We're waiting in the Seattle airport for our flight to Vancouver, so we'll see how far we get.

The two week course is on public lands management and is based out of Missoula, MT. As the course centers around the history and practices of the Forest Service, we took students into the national forests for each week of class. The first week we went backpacking for three nights just across the border in Idaho in the Clearwater National Forest. It's my third year doing this course, and Dave's second, and we're still happy to go backpacking in these same places. The way the course works is that we have class in the mornings, usually go for a day hike late morning, and then have class in the evening again after dinner. The best part of the first week is the day hike up Granite Peak. It takes you right up to the Idaho - Montana border and provides a great view to the surrounding area. My other favorite part of the backpack is the stream -- we camp nearby and it is lovely (but cold!) for swimming. We also do a day hike up to the headwaters, which are located in a beautiful alpine meadow. It's been neat for me to see the differences in the area between the last three years I've gone. The first year was definitely the wettest (they had a big snow year that winter) and the wildflowers were amazing. The second year was dryer (even though it was two weeks earlier), and this year was even drier and hotter. The wildflowers were mostly gone by, though we did hit the alpine gentians at their peak -- a flower I hadn't seen either of the two previous years.

In between weeks in the out-of-doors, we stayed with Chelsea's cousin Abby, John, and Georgia (and soon to be baby boy!). They were very gracious to have us, as they were moving houses and are 8 months pregnant right now. Getting to spend time with them is one of the main reasons we keep deciding to come and do the course again. It's wonderful to see them and to spend time in Montana with them. We didn't head out on any major adventures this year, which was OK since we were pretty exhausted from teaching the course, and Abby was less mobile than usual since she's carrying around a second person! We did head down the Bitteroot Valley to cool off in the river, and also made a stop at the Wildwood Brewery for a refreshing drink. We also hit up the Saturday Farmers' Market in Missoula, which I think is the best farmers' market anywhere in the country.

The second week we took the students down the Bitteroot and into the Bitteroot-Selway Wilderness up Bear Creek Canyon. Fortunately, it cooled down the second week, and so we weren't quite as hot -- although we could see and smell smoke from the wildfire across the border in Idaho. I really love this second camp site -- it's sort of up on the rocks and has lovely views of the canyon walls. It also has an amazing stream nearby. This year, we made it up to Bryant Lake, which is at least 5 miles up from the camp, but was well worth the hike. It was so beautiful up there, and because the lake is pretty shallow, it made for relatively comfortable alpine lake swimming. We had just a small group of students go with us for this day hike, which made for a lovely intimate hike. On the way up, we weren't sure we were going to make it, so we barely stopped and didn't enjoy any views or huckleberries. So, on the way down, we gorged ourselves on huckleberries and stopped for beautiful views -- in fact, it took us longer to get back even though we were going downhill than it did to get up to the lake.

We learned a lot from the two week course -- most notably that teaching is hard, but also rewarding. And, that I really do know the material and can teach the course (which felt good to realize). Co-teaching is awesome because you don't have to do all the work and it's wonderful to have two minds sharing ideas and thoughts with the students. Dave is an amazing assistant professor as well (he gave lots of talks on the geology of the area and on science and how it is used in policy-making). And, Montana is still awesome, despite the fact that it was really hot. Thankfully, it started to rain just after we made it back to the van at the end of the last lecture! It rained the last couple days, which was a blessing since it has been so hot and dry. It was good for things to get a thorough soaking. 

Now we're heading off to Haida Gwai in British Columbia for a week of sea kayaking. I've been looking forward to this part of the trip most of all because it will be a completely new adventure. I've never been to this part of the world (or anywhere near really) and I've never been on a multi-day sea kayak trip. We're certainly looking forward to it and will be sure to post some pictures upon our return. And, hopefully we'll add some pictures from our time in Colorado and Montana as well!

Sorry not to post as often as we had hoped. With any luck, we'll be able to back fill when we return from Canada mid-August...

A blogging hiatus

Despite our high hopes for posting blogs regularly this summer, we haven't done so well. Here is a picture from our night spent in Grand Teton National Park. We drove through on our way from Colorado to Montana. 

And one from Yellowstone...

Hopefully we can fill on some details about our adventures so far.... 

The bike trip may be over...

But we intend to continue posting about our adventures during the rest of the summer. We have some fun things planned so feel free to check in every once in awhile to read about what we've been up to! 

On the road again

After a brief trip to Cleveland to celebrate my Grandma's life (it was a beautiful service), we got back on the road again Sunday. And I can honestly say that it felt great to be on our bikes again. We left from our friends' brand new house in Portland, Maine (they kindly let us store our bikes there and picked and dropped us off from the airport, too!). We said our good byes and then promptly got a flat tire before we even got out of the driveway. Dave swapped out the tube and we started off again.

Not much later, before we had even gotten out of Portland, we got our second flat of the trip! I rode over something very sharp and heard the loud hiss of air immediately. We noticed that there was a bike shop just a few miles ahead - what luck! We swapped out the tube again (using our last spare tube) and rode on to the bike shop. We were feeling like we had made a good recovery from our double flat morning until we discovered the bike shop was closed on Sundays. Shoot!

We started to discuss options and decided that if we got another flat, we could patch the one tube, but it didn't seem like an ideal situation. We were heading for western Maine where there was unlikely to be places to eat lunch, let alone a bike shop. But, as we were getting ready to ride off, we noticed that a light was on inside the bike shop and that the car in the driveway had an open window. Maybe, just maybe, there was someone inside. We knocked (perhaps a little loudly). We soon heard a dog barking and then a man opened the door. The store was closed but he had come in to catch up on some paperwork. Hurrah! He was happy to loan us his pump and sell us a few tubes. We got to talking and he asked us how we got the flat. That prompted us to look at the front tire and we noticed that the slash was quit large and pulling apart with the inflated tube beneath it. So we decided to buy a new tire, too. Perhaps we would have been fine, but it seemed like a good idea to have a slash-free tire for our journey across western Maine.

The flats delayed us quite a bit but this turned out to be a good thing. We got to Gorham around lunch time and stopped at the best looking place - the Sebago Brewery. Since it was a brewery, we decided we should have a beer with lunch (but we declined the offer to have our water bottles filled with beer!) It was pretty refreshing! As we ate, I realized that there probably wouldn't be many places to eat on our route after Gorham. That made the beer taste even better :-)

We got on our bikes and were happy to finally be in a more rural area with fewer cars again. We made pretty decent progress despite the fact that it was hot - really out first hot day of the trip. At some point, I remembered our friends in Wolfeboro (our destination for the day) lived on a lake, and that we could jump into that lake when we got there. Talk about some real motivation! The only other thing I was dreaming about was a nice cold lemonade, but I was trying not to get my hopes up since we were in western Maine, where there just wasn't much of anything at all. In fact, I had checked Yelp for eating establishments but there were no results anywhere near us. (Later, I realized that Yelp is probably not be widely used in western Maine.)

However, in Newfield, Maine when we saw a sign on the road for a museum which had food, drinks, and other stuff, I was elated. Especially because it was only 1/4 mile off our route. We rode to the museum and I walked inside. There were two women inside, and when they turned to look at me, an expression of grave concern came over their faces. "Can I get you a paper towel?" the one lady stammered. "You're perspiring so much." I must have looked pretty bad and I'm still not sure exactly what a paper towel would have done for me, but I assured them I was OK, and just needed something cold to drink. They didn't seem convinced, but told us that the restaurant just down the road had lemonade. We hurried down and drank two glasses of lemonade in about 5 seconds flat. Incredible. We also stuck some ice cubes in our bike shorts -- you just tuck them up under the legs and the spandex holds them in there. They cool you down considerably.

At this point, we took stock of where we were, and how much further we had to go. I also thought a lot about the lake and how badly I wanted to be in it. Our friends Nancy and John had offered to come get us if we needed a ride, and so we decided to call them and see if they would be willing to meet us in an hour just across the New Hampshire border. We picked the spot on our route just before the directions told us to walk our bikes for 3.7 miles. We weren't really sure why the directions told us to walk our bikes, but guessed that the road must have been rough. Given our delayed start, we thought it would be OK to skip this adventure and instead jump in the lake. We called, and Nancy and John happily offered to come get us at the meeting point.

We rode on for another hour or so, and then saw a friendly car flash its lights. We pulled over into the parking lot and about 30 seconds later, a major downpour started. What timing! We tried to pack up the bikes as quick as we could, and then got in the car. We headed home and the only sad part of the day was that between the rain and all of the water I had poured on myself, I wasn't hot anymore (plus it looked like a thunderstorm was coming.) So we didn't jump in the lake. Instead, we decided to stay another day so we could jump in the lake the next day. Also, there make had loons and I really wanted to hear them again because I LOVE LOONS! 

What a good decision that was! John and Nancy have sea kayaks and a sail boat and they like to hike! It was perfect weather so we took out the sea kayaks in the morning, hiked in the afternoon and swam just before another thunderstorm rolled through. It as heavenly - absolutely one of the best days of our trip. 

Since the days seem to flow from one to the next, I'll just continue on here with our final day of the trip. We had about 90 miles to go and John kindly offered to drive us part way so we didn't have to do 90 miles. When we originally planned the trip, we thought we could probably do 90 miles if needed. During the trip we discovered that we had no desire to do 90 miles in a day. 

John dropped us off near 93 and we started our final day of riding. In Bristol, NH we met a cop from New Zealand. He seemed so out of context but it was great talking to him. He even recommended a diner to us near Hanover. He also thought we were crazy but maybe not quite as crazy as New Zealand cyclists because all of their roads are narrow and windy apparently. I'm not sure how he made it to tiny little Bristol but I'm glad be was there and that he talked to us. 

Soon after all of this, we made it to Grafton where we got on a rail trail. It as a little rough going, but no cars and no hills! I have no idea how they made it that flat but it was kind of nice after so many hills on the rest of the ride. Also it was much more shaded than the road and so also cooler! A big bonus and definitely worth the blow downs we had to walk our bikes over and the one dog that chased us a bit.

We stopped for first lunch and second lunch by two different beautiful lakes. The first had a loon calling! The second was Mascoma lake and we knew we were close. 

We made it into Hanover, I stopped to get an iced chai and then we headed down to the river. We jumped into the Connecticut, jumped out, rode across the river and met my aunt Judy right where she had dropped us off some two weeks ago. And, then it started raining! A perfect ending to a pretty amazing trip. 

We're so grateful to all of our friends and family who helped make it possible! Thank you John, Judy, Jim, Mary, Tara, Jesse, Jake, Catrina, Kyle, Gray, Sean, Sarah, Sam, Kristin, Nick, Carol, Chuck, Scott, Katie, Nancy, and John. We could not have done it without you guys! 

Slight change of plans

After arriving in Bar Harbor and looking at the weather forecast for the week, we decided that rather than leave on Monday to head south again, we should stay in Bar Harbor and ride around here - without our bags! Fortunately for us, our friends invited us to stay longer and our other friends offered to give us a ride down to Portland on Thursday (they were going there anyways) so it all worked out great. Riding around in a beautiful place (rather than on roads we've already ridden) sounded like a great idea to us. We didn't really see the point in leaving Bar Harbor if we had the option to stay longer. 

So, we've spent the last few days riding the Park Loop Road in Acadia including riding up Cadillac Mountain, hiking, and enjoying time with our friends. It's been fantastic! Today we're going to ride on the carriage roads in the park and stop for popovers at the Jordan Pond House - highly recommended to us by our friends Bill and Ellie. We can hardly wait! 

A much needed rest

After 5 days and 315 miles of riding, we finally arrived at our friends' house in Hancock, ME. Jesse, Tara and their adorable son Jacob are wonderful hosts. They planned an amazing dinner (including a big pasta salad, sweet potato fries, fish, broccoli, and homemade strawberry ice cream!) for our arrival Friday evening. Getting off of our bikes, showering, eating delicious food and chatting with wonderful friends -- it made the whole ride worth it! 

We all went to bed pretty early and then were happy to wake up to beautiful sunny skies the next day. We had a delicious crab quiche for breakfast, and then went down to the ocean for a walk around Hancock. On the way, we passed the smallest post office in the country, which was in the process of being lifted and leveled. How many guys does it take to lift up the smallest post office in the country? Two, it turns out! Yep. It was small. 

We headed back home, had some lunch (with more homemade strawberry ice cream!) and then did some house projects and took some time to relax in the hammock. As I was lying in the hammock, I thought to myself again what a beautiful home Tara and Jesse have created for themselves. They have a big garden, chickens, pigs, an orchard, trees for shade, low bush blueberries all around... If I found a place like that (well, actually they built their house) I would never want to leave either! They are always working on big and small projects, and one of our favorite things to do is to help them with whatever project they're working on at the time. This time, we got to weather seal the deck using a long rolling paint brush -- I found it to be especially relaxing rolling the deck. We also thinned some of the veggies and did a little weeding. We felt a little bad -- we were definitely tired from all of the riding and so didn't feel as helpful as usual. But, we were so grateful for the relaxing day and for the chance to spend some time again in their little piece of heaven. 

That evening, we all went over to our other friends' house in Bar Harbor. Kyle, Catrina and their sweet and energetic son Gray hosted all of us for dinner. They grilled for us, and it was a lovely evening with great friends and more delicious food. Sunday morning, we went for a short hike up a mountain with a lovely view out over the coast. We came back and then went hunting for mussels. We missed low tide by just a bit, so it was sort of tricky to find the mussels, but we got enough for an appetizer for dinner that night. We helped Catrina build a jungle gym for Gray, watched the hockey game that night, and enjoyed another relaxing day with friends. The weekend was perfect -- relaxing, beautiful weather, good friends, good food, and no bike riding. Yes! 

So scenic!

Riding in Bar Harbor is very scenic! And, we're so much faster without our panniers!

Best bathroom sign perhaps ever

Lupine lady

The lupines are in their prime now -- and it seems like the lupine lady has spent a lot of time in Maine. These were along the road in the last few miles of our trip. 

Day 5

I know we've been sort of quiet on our blog recently. That's mostly because there isn't 4G or 3G in most places around Bar Harbor. Sorry! Here's the update since we last wrote. 

Our fifth and last day of riding before we made it to our friends' house in Hancock was by far the hardest. We actually had great weather, but our bodies were tired and sore after 4 long days of riding, there were a lot of hills, and we spent a lot of time on route 1 - a busy road that isn't really that nice for biking. We'll spare you the details, but it's fair to say it was one of the more trying times in our marriage so far. But still, despite that, there were some great parts of the day. 

First we started with a beautiful and delicious breakfast at our B and B. the chef was French and the food was delicious. At breakfast, we saw two gentleman ride by with panniers. We wondered if we'd see them later in the day. 

Though we were tired, the first ten or so miles of the day were quite lovely. We rode into Belfast looking forward to pumping up our tires at the bike shop in town. As we pulled in, the two gentleman we'd seen that morning were just getting ready to leave. They made small talk, mentioned something about a bridge and rode off. Meanwhile, we lost air at the bike shop be wise the pump didn't work and the bike shop owner was extremely unhelpful. We left wondering why the guy ran a bike shop since he seemed to have a strong dislike for cyclists.

Fortunately, there was another bike shop a few miles ahead. We were glad we had to stop because it was the most unique bike shop and bike shop owner ever. The owner really looked like a motorcyclist who had probably never ridden a bicycle. The shop was so full you couldn't walk around in it. I thought about buying some new sunglasses since mine are missing a piece, but I couldn't actually get to the sunglasses rack. But the owner was so nice. He drove down about 300 feet from his house in the middle of his lunch to let us in and loan us a pump. Things were still looking good. 

We rode on further and saw signs of a big bridge in the distance. We pulled over to the viewing point and thought we saw our two fellow cyclists - they were both wearing the fluoro-yellow jackets so they were easy to spot. We rode up to the bridge and sure enough, the cyclists were there. Except one of them had been transformed into a little child in a candy shop. He was so much friendlier than he had been earlier that morning. He exclaimed, "isn't this amazing. This bridge is incredible. I can't believe it. I can't believe they let me on it. I can't believe no one has come to get me off of it. It's so wonderful. This is amazing. We've been here for 45 minutes. Isn't his incredible." He was so happy. His friend was decidedly less so. As we rode off, the bridge lover was telling his friend that they were going to have to re- do the photo of him riding on the bridge because they needed a car-free photo. It's possible they spent another 45 minutes or more on that bridge. It is cool and goes over the Penobscot River if you ever happen to be in Verona, Maine.

We stopped alone after for lunch in Orland. We ate with a lady on a guided cycling tour through Maine. She shared some carrots with us, and then left. That's when things started to go downhill ( and unfortunately not literally). We rode through some not quite dry pavement which stuck to our wheels along with rocks. Then we rode on route 1 for a long time. It seemed impossible to get comfortable in the bike, we always seemed to be going uphill, and there were lots of cars. Somehow, we finally made it to Ellsworth - about 12 miles from our final destination. We stopped for a smoothie, gathered our strength and rode on. We stayed strong until the last few miles when we really fell apart. Thank goodness the conditions were perfect - beautiful sunny, cool weather, lupines everywhere, and the promise of great friends, a hot shower and delicious dinner just ahead. 

We did make it and all of those things happened. And then we took it easy the next two days with no bike riding at all. There's more to say a out the weekend and today, but that will have to wait. The Stanley Cup is on and CBC has great commercials so I gotta go. But I'll just say we're hanging out in Bar Harbor and having a ball! More soon ... 

Good thing we're riding our bikes a lot!

Breakfast Thursday morning! Smoked salmon over scrambled eggs and a potato pancake. Yum!

We made it to Bar Harbor!

After the hardest day so far, we made it to our friends' house in Hancock, ME. We were so happy to be there, to get off our bikes and to see our wonderful friends. One of the best things about Hancock is that there isn't phone service. A great way to disconnect for awhile. We'll post some more details later but just wanted to let everyone know we are happy safe and sound in Bar Harbor! 

Here Comes the Sun!

Oh right. I remember why we are doing this now. Because it's amazing to spend the day riding through beautiful country, feeling the wind on your face, listening to the birds in the trees, watching the lupines in full bloom as you roll on by. Not that the 2nd and 3rd days weren't fun. They were -- but it felt like you worked hard and dealt with the rain so that you could end up in a pretty place that evening, take a hot shower, eat a yummy meal, and have a good sleep. Those things are all great, but the sunny, perfect weather on our 4th day reminded me that the real reason we're doing this is because we like riding our bikes in beautiful places with beautiful weather. And, I think I realized this when suddenly, after not seeing many other cyclists, there were lots of them out yesterday. Oh right.

It was a great day. After leaving our very friendly hosts at the Black Lantern B&B in Brunswick, we started by going to the post office and mailing a 9 or 10 lb box back to Vermont. We were having a few issues with our knees, and decided the best thing to do was to cut weight. We hadn't used our stove at all, and we didn't think we'd need it even if we camped, so we mailed that and a couple of other things we hadn't used. The lady at the UPS store was so amazed that we were riding our bikes with all of our stuff. What a wonderful way to start the day! 

We headed out of town on the Androscoggin bike path, and made our way over to Bath -- a very cute city. We grabbed a snack and lunch for the road in a cute cafe that was definitely run by Mainers. They had the best sign in a bathroom I've ever seen, delicious homemade whipped cream, and really good scones.

Leaving Bath, we got to ride over the Kennebec River. One of my favorite parts about this trip has been crossing all of these rivers that I have heard about because of my work on rivers. The first dam removal in the entire country was the Edwards Dam on the Kennebec. This happened before I worked at American Rivers, but that organization was pivotal in bringing about the removal. We also crossed the Crooked River -- a much smaller river that was the focus of a project I helped with at Vermont Law School. We are now near Penobscot Bay. Efforts are currently underway to either remove or add fish ladders to 4 of the dams on the river to open up the river again to spawning fish. One cartoon shows "Professor Salmon" talking to all of his salmon students in a Maine accent, "now you fish will be able to get they-ah from hee-ah," while pointing to the headwaters of the Penobscot on a map. That seems to make a lot more sense than trucking fish around the dams, which is what they do on the Androscoggin River. Riding over these rivers has been a major highlight for me. 

We then rode onto Wiscasset, where we sat down by the water and ate our lunch. We went on through more W towns, including Waldoboro and West Rockport. On the way we passed a field of harry coos - the famous, cute, hairy cows from Scotland. There was even a baby harry coo. 

We decided we should try to make it to a B&B just past Camden, near Lincolnville Center. So, we called around 4:30 to make a reservation for that evening -- which is pretty much what we've done the whole time. Fortunately for us, it doesn't seem to be the busy season yet. Every place we've called has had vacancy. We then rode on through Rockport and Camden -- two very beautiful places where we decided we'd spend more time in on the way back through. We finished the day with a lovely ride up 52 from Camden. What an incredible road! Beautiful hills, water falls, a lake. A really nice way to finish the day, and indeed we were ready to finish when we did. It was another 70 mile day, bringing our total to just over 250 miles so far. Whoa. The great thing is that the B&B where we are staying also has a restaurant with a French chef. Our dinner last night was amazing. Dave ordered the best pork tenderloin either of us had ever tasted, the arugula salad was incredible -- Dave kept saying, "This is really good arugula!" I ordered the filet mignon, which was cooked perfectly and topped with caramelized onions and blue cheese. Yum. The best part was that after we finished, we just walked upstairs and went to bed. So nice. In a few minutes, we're heading down for our breakfast, which will probably be good. 

Today is our last day before we make it to see friends in Hancock, ME. We're looking forward to seeing friends, and to taking a few days off from riding. But, before that, we're looking forward to what should be another lovely day of riding. 

Dave with his two favorite things...

Rocks and bicycles!

Somewhere near Rockport, Maine.

Dave says it might be Acadian metacomglomerate. 

Funny signs, Maine edition

Ok, sometimes you just can't help but stop and laugh in bewilderment.

So wonderfully Maine. Alewife pudding, coming right up!

Tired of your women? Consign them to a store window, the spice mines of Kessel, or wherever you would like!

And last but not least, we have a contest! Explain and define what the word "skidompha" means and you could win a prize from our trip. Is it a noun? An adjective? An exclamation? A bit of onomatopoeia? Leave a comment and tell us. 

The fourth day of the trip...

Well, tomorrow we will arrive at our first destination on our trip, but today was a great day along the ocean and slogging past ridge after ridge.

Day 3... our longest day yet

It seemed as though something was trying to keep us from leaving our heavenly B and B yesterday morning. We didn't start off until 10 am (we were delayed by tires that needed some attention and a (good) decision to canoe on the Old Saco River in the morning). When we left, mosquitoes were biting us, the rain started as soon as we got to the main road, our bags weren't packed well to distribute the weight, and there were some steep hills. These issues meant we hardly made any progress in the first hour or so, and I thought more than once about turning around and just staying at the Old Saco River Inn. But, we pushed on, and were soon in a groove.

Despite having the steepest hills so far, yesterday was net downhill, which really helped us make reasonable time and also bolstered our spirits since it rained off and on the whole day. The great parts about the day were that we found a bike shop that let us pump our tires (we had deflated them completely the night before to drain water that had gotten trapped on Tuesday, and it's very difficult to pump them up to the right pressure with a little hand pump.) They also gave us a presta to schraeder valve converter so if we need to pump them up again, we'll be able to use more pumps (the B and B had an air compressor we could have used if we'd had this converter). We also happened to stop at the bike shop during one of the heaviest rains of the day!

We got our first yahoo yelled out of a car. It was a one lane construction site, and as we rode by, a guy waiting to go the other way rolled down his window to cheer us on. We had left over cold pizza for lunch (yumm!) which we ate by some boat trailers on a road between two ponds. In Danville, ME, there was a sign that said road closed. We decided to see if we could get through anyways, and were so happy when we were able to walk our bikes around the huge backhoe blocking the road and over the train tracks -- something we definitely could not have done in a car. And, we finished the day riding near the Androscoggin River, which was a real treat. Just as we made it into Brunswick, the sun came out for the first time all day -- just for 30 seconds or so, but it was welcome, especially since we had just ridden through dark clouds and the heaviest rain all day. A few minutes later, we rode by a large Ferris wheel next to a beautiful old stone church. It was surreal to see the two together. Then, we rode across the river where there is a hydro station. We got to see the water pouring over the dam and pounding down across the rocks. It was awesome to be riding across the bridge so close to that.

After checking in at our B&B, showering and drying off, we got on our bikes again to go find some dinner. We ate at a lovely Vietnamese restaurant and then had gelato for dessert. It was delicious, but when we got home after 10pm, we decided we should have just ordered take out. A good lesson learned...
Speaking of lessons, we also learned that when you need something (water or whatever), you should definitely stop at the next gas station you see. In rural Maine, you might not see another for quite some time...

Despite the gray, rainy day, the terrain was still lovely. At the top of one hill, there was a view of a beautiful pond below, and a gaggle of Canada geese walking carefully away from us and the road. Just as we got on our bikes to ride off, the geese all took flight and flew off down toward the pond. It was hands down the best encounter I've ever had with Canada geese.

We're planning to get an earlier start this morning, and we'll see where we make it tonight. The great news is that there isn't supposed to be any rain today! Wahoo!

From backwoods to downeast

We can smell the sea here in Brunswick!

We started out by taking a canoe on the Old Saco River.

After passing many hills and streams, we followed the Androscoggin River to where it meets the sea.

Rose-colored glasses

This will be a short post. It's been a long but good day. We are finally ready for bed. We went 70 miles today and are in Brunswick, ME. It rained a lot today, and it was good that we put our rose-colored lenses on -- things don't look as dark and dreary that way. It was a good day, and we were excited to make it all the way here to a new B&B -- after riding all day in the rain, the thought of camping just isn't that appealing. The best part of the day was the end, where the sun came out just for a bit, and we got to see the mighty Androscoggin River -- it is so big and beautiful and powerful. Wow. 

There's certainly more to write, but it will have to wait for another day. It's bed time now! 

One more thing

In case you were wondering what song was in our heads all day today as we rode across New Hampshire and up and over the Kancamagus... It was this one:

Pictures from Day 2

Good news for us! We love friendly drivers!

Yea! I'm actually smiling despite the rain. 

I know they like to be conservative but there was nothing moderate about the fire danger today!

Third state in two days! Wahoo! 

Pictures from Day One

Our new friend Carina in Haverhill, NH. She's opening a bed and breakfast right along Route 10 and seems to have a fondness for cyclists.

Lunch spot by the Lost River.

We thought thy had a sign just for us until we realized it was bike week (motorcycles) in Laconia, NH. Needless to say, we've seen a lot of motorcycles so far. 

It's not the Kancamaygus it's the Kancamahgus

It's the end of Day 2 and I am reclining on a bed looking toward Mt. Washington. The only problem is that I can't see it because there are too many clouds. But, that's about the only thing I can complain about on our trip so far.

Yesterday was the most beautiful riding day. Hardly any traffic, not too hot, beautiful roads, good pavement. Lots of lovely views of rivers and mountains. And lots of friendly people! We stopped in Haverhill to adjust my shoe cleats and a woman soon came over and asked where we were going. She's planning to open her house as a bed and breakfast for cyclists. She should because she was so nice. Carina was her name and she told us that Haverhill is the only town in the US with a double commons - like two town greens next to each other. Then she filled our water bottles with ice water, gave us a safety pin to get the gravel out of my shoe bolt, and offered to let us use the bathroom. Amazing! Later that day, an older man (late 70s at least!) pulled up behind us and got out to talk with us. He rode his bike across the country and up to Canada (PEI, New Brunswick etc.) in 1982. We were talking about the pass we were all at the top of and he said last year he wondered if he could still ride up it. He said he rode up, got to the top and turned around and went back home. But he did it! Impressive. Very impressive. 

After 60 miles, we decide to stay in Lincoln, NH. It was supposed to start raining and we didn't think we'd make it another 35 miles to the next accommodations. It was probably a good idea because after eating burgers for dinner, I was ready for bed at 7. This morning, we slept until almost 7. I guess we were tired! 

The rain did come and this morning we weren't sure how much we would ride today. The first thing we had in front of us was the Kancamagus pass - a significant climb up and over the White Mountains. It didn't seem like fun to do it in the rain. But after breakfast, it looked like we would have an opening so we packed up and went for it. Totally fine on the way up - a light mist was the most moisture we had. Until we got to the top. Then it was raining and cold. We stopped at the overlook (not because we could see anything) but because we stood under the gazebo to put dry warm clothes on for the ride down and do some jumping jacks to warm up. Then we got on our bikes and got as wet as I've ever been on a bike. Water running down my socks and into my shoes. Water splashing onto my face from all directions and running down my neck and inside my rain jacket. Yep. We were soaked. But, as we went down, I thought to myself, biking conditions probably can't get much worse than this and I'm still having a good time. That cheered me a bit as did getting to a place where we needed to pedal so we could warm up a bit. We made it to Conway, NH, ate lunch in a Mexican restaurant (which always seems out of place in New England), and made a reservation to stay at the Old Saco River Inn near Fryeburg, ME. We rode about 16 more miles and then found ourselves in heaven. Actually the only way I knew it wasn't really heaven was that there were Mosquitos. But if they hadn't been here, I would have sworn that it was heaven. You must stay here if you're ever in western Maine. It is so beautiful, Pete and Sandi, the owners, are unbelievably nice (they let us order a pizza and picked it up for us for dinner and our clothes are in the washer as we speak!). I think I could spend a week inside here and be happy. It's wonderful. Maybe it will downpour tomorrow and we'll just have to stay another day ... 

This post is probably too long already so I'll wrap it up. The good news is we've gone 111 miles, we're warm, full, happy, and our butts are only a little bit sore. I'll post some pictures of our adventures so far - we took decidedly less pictures when it was raining today but there are still plenty. Cheers for now! C and D

Starting out

We started at the Dartmouth pottery studio where Chelsea used to work. Just across the river from Dartmouth in Vermont. We rode up route 5 until East Thetford so that we had at least an hour in Vermont!