Bar Harbor at Last

Russ Collected License Plates
From Each State

Atlantic Ocean

We don't know whether to be happy or sad.  Happy because we traveled 3971 miles, 11 states and Canada and all arrived safely or sad because we are saying goodbye to our new-found cycling friends.  The other day we said that we should have had a camera crew film us as a reality show because our adventures were more entertaining than "Duck Dynesty" with our different personalities and biking shenanigans.

August 12 - 62 miles to Ellsworth.  We booked a hotel so that we could pack our shipping boxes and dry our tents.  Then we went out to celebrate at a Lobster House.  We stuffed ourselves on Lobster and celebrated our accomplishment.  During the day Russ and Susie stopped to visit Fort Knox and to go to the top of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge.  Cheryl and I continued on to the hotel to take a nap.  We are all tired of the hills.

August 13 - 21 miles into Bar Harbor.  We all got up early and bikes as a group into Bar Harbor.  Put our wheels in the Atlantic and then toasted with wine and chocolate and went out to breakfast one last time.  We got our boxes and bikes out to be shipped that afternoon because a thunderstorm is in the forecast.  Russ and I have 3 days before we fly back home so we plan on doing some sightseeing in Arcadia.  This is a really touristy area, a lot of tourist and things are expensive.  After camping and ruffing it for two and a half months, it seems rather strange. As we look back on this adventure, we realize what a great time we had and how fortunate we were to travel with such nice people.  It was an adventure of a lifetime!

Two Days and Counting

No Moose but did see a Bear

Covered Bridge in New Hampshire

Entering our 11th State plus Canada

August 11 - 51 Miles to Rockport, Maine.  Today is Russ's 70th birthday!  What an accomplishment to ride across the county for your 70th birthday.  We ordered pizza and got a chocolate cake and I got him a cross for our cross wall and a Northern Tier Jersey.  We rode along Highway 1 for most of the day and avoided the killer hills on the back roads.  We ate lobster rolls for lunch.  

We biked up this Grade

Eight Riders Left

Patty McIntire from Montana had to leave the group right before we entered Maine.  She had taken a fall on slick steps at a B/B a few weeks ago.  She finally went to the Emergency Room at the hospital when a big lump developed from the fall.  The Doctor said that she couldn't ride anymore until the lump went away.  Patty recently retired and this was the first major bike tour for her. She hopes to finish at some point.

Jim and Diana

The last two riders, Jim and Diana from St. Louis decided to go on their own in Wisconsin.  They were planning on being self contained once we hit Bar Harbor and are about a week behind us.  I was really sorry to see them leave because we had good times riding together.

Patty Taking a Break

More Cycling Friends

Cheryl and her Trike

Dick and his RV

Dick Pulling the RV 

Dick and Cheryl Switzer from Newark, Ohio and winter in Florida.  Dick is our SAG driver and the most important person on this trip because he has to get our provisions to each point.  He has a great sense of humor and loves to play Hearts.  Russ, Dean and Dick play Hearts every night.  They have a tournament going until we reach Bar Harbor.  Cheryl rides a trike and is a strong cyclist.  She has the prettiest smile.  Sydney, their dog is also along on the trip.  She is an Old English Bulldog and is so sweet.

Sidney getting a bath

Vermont and New Hampshire

Two days crossing Vermont and two days crossings New Hampshire.  Hills and more hills!

August 8 - 34 miles to Woodstock.  Short day and late start due to fog.  We waited about 2 hours for the fog to lift.  Woodstock was a busy tourist town but we did manage to go to the brewery in the afternoon.

August 9 - 77 miles to Naples, Maine.  The last of the big hills were today.  They were not as bad as we thought they would be but it took us a couple of hour to climb.  Then additional hills awaited us.  Then Russ, Susie and I missed a turn and our adventure took off.  First, we had to climb the steepest hill that I have ever seen.  We had to walk the top part.  I can't imagine any cyclist biking to the top.  There was a fruit stand at the top and that is when we realized that we had missed the turn.  They gave us new directions but somehow that way added a minimum of 7 miles to our already long day.  A passing driver, who lived in the area, told us of a shortcut that we could take but it was unpaved.  We decided to give it a try and it was so bad that we all had to walk our bikes for at least 2 miles through the forest to reach a paved road.  By then it was close to 4:00 and we started the morning at 7:00 am.  Needless to say, when we arrived in camp after 5, we were dog tired.

August 10 - 57 miles to Brunswick.  Looking at our profile on the map it looked like we were pretty much done with hills.  Boy were we wrong!  Shows some small hills that we assumed would be easy, wrong again.  The small hills seem to be the hardest.  It is because they are so steep getting to the top.    The most interesting site of the day was passing through the Shaker Village.  Talked to a few folks there and learned that there are only 3 Shakers left in the world.  One man in his 80's and two women in their 70's.  Don't know what happens when those folks die.  The village was beautiful and so well maintained.  We didn't get to visit the museum because it was Sunday and they were closed.

Three more days to Bar Harbor.

Fellow Cyclists

Bill in Camp

Bill Kenyon, from Estero, Florida and Lewes, Deleware and is 68.  He has biked the Southern Tier and now the Northern Tier.  He doesn't bike regularly but is one of the "dogs" and a very strong biker.   He is tall and has big feet.  He bikes in tennis shoes without clips.  He and Dean like to rise at the crack of dawn (5:30) and they get on the road by 6:30.  They like to go hard from camp to camp and only stop to eat.  They are the first into camp, sometimes before the RV.  Bill also loves to cook and he prepares wonderful meals for the group.  He is a great guy.

Ray Harder, from Columbia, Missouri.  He rides a Bike Friday that he never has done maintenance on it.  He believes that if it isn't broken, don't fix it!  Ray marches to his own band.  He didn't train, said he rode maybe 35 miles before the trip.  He has ridden the Southern Tier, Pacific Coast and the Santa Fe trail.  At the start of the trip, he would stop along the road to nap.  He also can sleep anywhere and sometimes he just doesn't bother putting up a tent.  He took a bad fall in sand when we were in Wisconsin and we thought for sure he had broken a hip.  He did get it checked and fortunately it wasn't broken.  The guys made him a cane and he hobbled around for a week or so and had to forgo biking for awhile.  He is now back on his bike.  One night he was sleeping under the RV and it poured down rain.  Didn't wake him but his sleeping bag got soaked.  Cost him $10 to dry it out.

Ray Relaxing

Pictures

Bathing in the River

Which Way?

Covered Bridge in Vermont

Dean and Anacortes Mayor, L

Riding Friends:  Dean Fesette organized this tour.  He lives in Boynton Beach, Florida. He takes the honor of being the oldest cyclist at 73.  He rides a recumbent bike and is usually out in the lead.  He is the most traveled cyclist biking the perimeter of the United States.  Biking the Northern Tier finishes that goal.  He is part of the "dogs".  He is also blogging at Crazyguyonabike.com/deanfesette.

Fixing the RV

Rain and Hills

August 4 - 38 miles to Ticonderoga, New York.  Russ and I visited Fort Ticonderoga where they had reinactments of the Revolutionary War of 1775.  Spent about 3 hours there.  Then we went to our friends house for the night.  Edith is a rug hooker that Russ knows from Green Valley and her husband Eddie.  They live in a cabin on Lake George.  We spent the night and then caught up with the group the next day in Sallsbury which was east of Middlebury, Vermont.  It rained on us the last few miles.  We took a cable ferry across into Vermont.  Vermont is really hilly but the houses are beautiful along with the scenery. We didn't get a rest day.

August 5 - 39 miles to Sallsbury, Vermont.

August 6 - 49 miles to South Royalton, Vermont.  Another big climb!  We camped along the river and  the campsite didn't have any amenities so most people bathed in the river.  Dick had to drive under a narrow low bridge and the RV didn't make the clearing.  It took the air conditioner right off the top of the RV.  Dick and Dean climbed on top and covered the hole with a tarp.  Hopefully insurance will cover the damage.

August 7 - 47 to North Haverhill, New Hampshire. Only two days biking in Vermont and we should be through NH in 2 days.  What can I say but more hills!  We are going shorter miles to make up for the climbs.  Rain again today but it passes quickly.  Patty fell a week or so ago when we were at a Bed/Breakfast.  She went to the hospital today and can't ride anymore so she is flying home.  It is to bad that she can't finish the ride when we are so close to finishing.

Most days now we have had thunderstorms and rain.  Usually passes quickly.  Some of the group even got caught in a hailstorm.  Otherwise, the the weather is perfect for cycling.

Turtle Races

Old Forge

Cobblestone House

Going Through a Detour

The claim to fame in Oseola is annual turtle races.  For the past 45 years, this town hosts an annual turtle race.  250 turtles were entered this year in a winner take all.  I asked how people got their turtles and I got the sense that it is a little like chicken fights.  I think they raise them instead do getting them in the wild.  He was a little caggie about. Telling me more.  Anyway, August 1 we biked 54 miles to Boonville.  We camped in a campground that had an old barn from the 1800's that was converted to an event center, restrooms and is used year around.  They had bingo that evening and Dean and I went and played.  The locals had to help us and it was fun talking to them.

August 2 - 67 miles to Lake Durant.  We got caught 12 miles from camp in a downpour.  Russ told me early in the morning not to bring a raincoat.  Shouldn't have listened.  At least it was warm.  We biked through Old Forge which is a tourist area.  Lots of kayaks, stores and restaurants.  We heard about Walt's Cafe and we stopped for breakfast.  Ordered a pancake and it covered the whole plate.  The town also has a destination hardware store that everyone goes to.  It had everything imaginable even non hardware stuff.  There was a detour on route.  A bridge was out.  We decided to try it and luckily we were able to carry our bikes through it.  It was a Saturday so there were no workers there.  We are in the Adirondack Mountains now and into hills.  The last few weeks it has been pretty flat riding so now we have to get back our climbing legs.

August 3 - 54 miles to North Hudson.  Today the hills were hard but the downhills were really fun.  A little fog when we started but the sun finally came through.   Think we have our climbing legs back.  When we got into camp, the sun was out enough to dry tents. We will see if they stay dry.

July 30 - 55 miles to Fair Haven

Another Flat

It was a great day until we got caught in a thunderstorm and John had 3 flats.  We stopped in Sodus Point at an historic lighthouse.  The town was strategic in the War of 1812.  Along the route we saw cobblestone houses.  In the 1800's, farmer plowed their fields and realized that the rocks were plentiful so they used them to build houses. Late in the afternoon Russ and I were waiting for John to change yet another flat, when we looked to the sky and realized that it would downpour soon.  So we took off to try to beat the rain.  At that point we were about 12 miles from the campground.  It started pouring when we were only three miles from the end and we headed to the nearest farmhouse.  Luck would have it that Scott was home and invited us inside to get dry and have a cup of hot tea.  The thunder and rain continued for at least a half hour and it finally quit and we decided to make a run for it.  Made it almost to camp before it started to pour again.  We were glad to throw a tarp over the bikes and get inside the dry trailer.

July 31 - 43 miles to Port Onterio.  We were able to get our tents down and load the RV before the next thunderstorm in the morning.  We played cards and a few took naps until the rain stopped about 9:30 am and we hit the road.  This was a late start for the "dogs" who usually are out the door by 6:30 am.  We all stayed together for the morning and then separated when a few of us had to find a bike shop for minor adjustments.  Camped at a State Park on Lake Onterio.  The park rangers had set traps to catch raccoons and early in the morning you could hear them screech and two babies were in the traps.  The ranger said they relocate them about 3 miles away from the park.  Russ forgot that he had a brownie in his front pack and they had managed to steal the brownie which he wasn't happy about.

Susie Smith from Florida

Touring a Submarine 

Susie, John and Russ

Susie is one of the most interesting women that I have met in many years.  She is a wealth of information and has had many life experiences and has traveled widely.  She is from Jacksonville, Florida and spent her career in accounting and nursing.  She is the first to help others and looks out for John, reminding him to take his daily meds.  They have become riding partners.  Susie got terrible saddle sores after the first week of riding and had to ride in the SAG for a couple of weeks.  After some bike seat adjustments, she is back in the saddle.  In the meantime, she spent a bundle on creams and potions to heal her sores.  Susie did the Trans-Am in 2008.  She decided to do the Northern Tier because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  On this ride she has sampled other forms of transportation: rode a horse, a tractor, ATV, motorcycle, speedboat, a lawnmower and a forklift.  She promises to visit us in Arizona and wants to ride to Bisbee because her maiden name is Bisbee.

Susie at Niagara Falls

Dave from Scotland

Ready to Role

Waiting for the Ferry

David joined our group in Cut Bank, Montana and that was the best thing that happened to him and us.  He told us that he joined the Royal Air Force at 17 and wanted to be a policeman.  He spent 12 years as a police dog handler.  Afterwards he became a civilian policeman.  He retired after a bad cycling accident.  He planned this bike trip for 2 years.  He has become one of the "dogs".  Unfortunately he is leaving the group in the morning to bike to Boston.  While with us he had his first Blizzard from Dairy Queen, ate sourkrout, first massage, first chiropractor, and sent warm clothes home way to early and had to go shopping for replacements.  He also had to sleep in the RV a lot because his tent poles broke.  He has a great sense of humor and a cute Scottish accent.  He is a wonderful cycling friend to us all.

Dave and Dean Playing Fooseball

Fort Erie and Niagara Falls

Russ and Dean at the Locks

July 25 - 62 miles to Fort Erie

Niagara Falls

July 26 - 46 miles to Niagara Falls and New York.  After spending most of the day at Niagara Falls, we crossed back into the United States.  The Canadian side of the falls were beautiful but a lot of tourist.  We were all glad to have a rest day today in Lewiston, New York.

July 28  - 54 miles to Holley, New York.  Had our 3rd thunderstorm last night.  We are still surprised how the storms light up the sky and the thunder seems like it is right overhead and how it can rain so hard.  When we got up and started biking, it was a drizzle but after an hour or so it started raining harder.  By the end of the day I was pretty cold.  Five flats today, Russ had one.  By mid morning, a few of us decided to book a B/B for the night.  The town of Holley is small but did have a diner for dinner.  This morning, no rain.  We are refreshed, dry and ready to ride.

We are along the Erie Canal for two days.  To wet yesterday to ride the canal so we stayed on parallel roads but today it may be dryer.

July 29 - 54 miles to Palmyra, New York.  Today we biked on the Erie Canal.  This is the second time that we have biked the canal.  We watched the bridges rise as boats went down the canal and even watched a boat go through a lock.  It was a perfect day for biking.

Pictures

New Mascot

Excited to be in Canada

Rumored to be Elton Johns House on Lake Erie

The Perfect Campsite

Oh Canada

After a rest day in Marine City, we boarded a small ferry and crossed the Saint Claire river to Canada.   Luckily it was a short ferry ride because Johnny missed the boat!  We all got a good chuckle out of that and "Johnny Come Lately" still is being razzed.  We had to wait about a half hour for John to get across.  On our 56 mile to Morpeth, we biked through the town of Dresden where Uncle Toms Cabin stands.  It is a historical site with a nice visitor center.  It also was our hottest day with highs reaching 91 degrees.  If we kept moving, it wasn't to bad.

July 23 - 72 miles to Port Burwell.  Canada is really pretty especially the bike route.  We are going along Lakeshore drive which is along Lake Erie.  Beautiful houses and waterfronts.  We are finding Canada really expensive though.  When we stop for just a simple breakfast, it is close to $20 for the two of us.  Today we had a strong head wind for the first 30 miles which made the ride hard then in the evening we had our second big thunderstorm.  Seemed like it lasted a couple of hours or more.  No one got much sleep.  Tempurtures dropped 20 degrees from the previous day.  This is the second time we saw tobacco growing.  You could smell it.

July 24 - 56 miles to Nanicoke.  The big site of the day was biking into Port Dover and spotting this huge mansion being built with a fancy entry and fencing.  Of course I had to stop and snap a picture even though there was a no trespass and video cameras.  When we got into town I asked a local who's house that was.  He said it was rumored to be Elton Johns!  That got me all excited as he told us the story and how it probably will change the small town in the future.  Guess it took a year just to prep the property and shore up the bank along the lake.  It was really the perfect day of biking.  We passed asparagus fields, cherry orchards, stopped for a wine tasting, fresh strawberrys at a roadside stand and camped at a beautiful provential park on the lake.  Wish every day could be so good.

Our New Biking Friends

Over the next few weeks I want to introduce you to some of our new friends.  We are so lucky that we have such a congenial group.

Johnny Randle - John divides his time between Hollywood, Florida and North Bay, New York.  He is retired and says he can ride a unicycle and rollerblade.  He calls himself a liberal and the guys manage to get into heated political discussions especially since some like FOX news.  John rides a high end recumbent trike made by ICE.  He just got his bike before the trip and has had a lot of problems along the way.  Most bike shops are not familiar with his kind of bike and his derailer is really low to the ground.  The funny thing is that Johnny came on this trip with only one spare tube.  How he thought he could go 4000 miles on the same tube is humorous.  His tires are an odd size so he had to mail order parts and tubs.  He has had at least 4 flats as of today.  He also has 2 motorcycles.  I give him a hard time because he has such a southern accent.  He said he was born and raised in Crockett County Tennessee.  John is up early each morning but one of the last out on the road.

Parade in Bowlus

John at Glacier

Frankenmuth - A Bavarian Town

July 19 - 60 miles to North Branch.  The highlight of the day was spending time in Frankenmuth (a town themed like Levenworth, but way bigger).  We heard they were famous for their chicken dinner, micro brewery and the worlds largest Christmas store.  We we skipped the Christmas store but did manage to have chicken dinner (it was good), sampling of beer and tour of the brewery but the most interesting site was visiting a reenactment camp taking place in the park.  It was the French and Indian War of the 1750's.  They had a British camp and a Indian camp and an American camp set up. They had their lodges, tepees, and period dress.  Also in the park was a Viper car show with over 200 fancy cars.  We ended up spending a good part of the day there.  Got into camp after 5:00 which is a late finish for us.  Our Campsite was noisy for most of the night and nobody got a decent sleep.  Seems that about every other night we manage a good sleep.  Weekend especially are noisy at the campgrounds.

July 20 - to Marine City - 76 miles.  Marine city is a nice resort area along the St. Claire river.  You can watch boats and barges go up the river (it is connected to the Great Lakes).  Couldn't get a campground so we booked the only hotel that had space called the Anchor Inn.  It is right out of the 60's!  They are letting us park the RV here so we are in good shape.  Sussie and Patty stopped at a town down the road because they didn't want to go so many miles and they are biking here today, our rest day.  John and Marilyn, biking friends that we met in Arizona, live close by so they came and we all went to dinner.  It was fun seeing them, Marilyn baked us brownies and drove us all to town.  We knew that they were from the Detroit area but we didn't realize that we were so close to Detroit. Luckily, Marilyn was following the blog and saw that our route in Michigan was close by.

The most challenging part of the day was biking through dense fog for the first couple of hours.  We left camp by 7 and the fog was heavy.  Russ led because he had a front fog light and the rest stayed close behind.  Patty got out in front once and we lost sight of her within 200 feet.  She quickly realized that and pulled over to wait for the group.

Today is a rest day and tomorrow we take a ferry into Canada.  It is a short ride across the river and we anticipate taking 5 days to complete the Canada portion of our trip.  While in Canada we won't have phone or internet service.

Cops and Donuts

Mug Shot

Claire was a fun small town and the highlight was Cops and Donuts.  As the story goes, 12 Cops bought this donut shop in Claire, Michigan and it now is a booming establishment.  When one of the owners, named Bubba (this is no joke) heard what we were doing, he delivered a dozen donuts to our campsite at 6:30 this morning for free.  These were not your ordinary donuts either.  They were like monster donuts of many varieties.  They also have souvenirs and I got a tank top that says "Hand Cuffs and Cream Puffs".  Really cute!  We also got a mug shot taken there.  They are open 24/7.   There also is a large Amish community in Claire and we saw 3 horse drawn buggies on the roadway.

July18 - 54 miles to Bay City.  The first 30 miles was on a rail to trail paved pathway that was in excellent shape and made the ride enjoyable.  The pathway ended in Midland which is where Dow Chemicals is located.  Locals said that you either work for Dow or you know someone who does.  The whole town is centered around Dow Chemicals.  We hung around and explored for a few hours.
Tonight we are in a motel in Bay City because the campsites were unavailable.  Bay City is a larger town with a lot of strip malls and traffic.  Not impressed but we have a bed to sleep in.

Donut Delivery

Taking a Vacation from Our Vacation

July 16 - to Luther.  56 miles.  The ride to Luther was nice, only got caught in one rain storm right at the end.  This part of Michigan is not as scenic as what we biked through in Wisconsin.  Lots of greenery but yards are not as manicured and it seemed a little more rustic.  At least we are not smelling cows here.  My friend Margaret picked us up and took us to her house for the night.  Sussie and Patty came along also.  She fed us a great dinner of steak, salad, corn on the cob and strawberry shortcake.  Russ stayed in camp and rode the 70 miles into Claire.  Margaret lives on a lake and we got a scenic boat ride and even saw a loon.  Sussie said we were "taking a vacation from our vacation!"  It was a great break.

Boat ride on Horsehead Lake

Michigan Cornfield and Barn

Margaret and I at her house in Michigan 

Message from Russ

On the Sub

Denise said that I had to blog a few lines about my experiences on this ride.  It's been great. Some rain, wind(all directions) & best of all cool weather.  Hard to believe, but we've Only had one day where the tempature has been over 80 degrees.  However that is about to change in the next few days.    Well that's my few lines,  Russ signing off.

Lake Michigan 

On the Ferry

Into Michigan

July 14 - 70 miles into Manitowoc.  Dean booked us at a campground that was over 10 miles out of town and when we finally arrived, mosquitoes galore.  We quickly sprayed ourselves and decided that we wanted to motel it in town. (The kicker was that Dean jumped on the opportunity also) since Bob and Grandma were coming to pick up Connie, he gave us a ride back into town.  Sleeping in a bed was really special after so many days camping.  Speaking of Connie, she joined us for 4 days of biking starting in Medford.  She kept up with the gang and this was her first camping experience in 40 years.  She loved it and the group truly enjoyed her company and wished she could have stayed with us longer than 4 days.

In Manitowoc we went to the Maritime Museum where we toured a submarine.  The USS Cobia which was commissioned in1943 and was used in WWII.  Our tour guide was excellent and we learned a lot.  Then we caught the ferry to Ludington, Michigan that afternoon.  It was a 4 hour crossing on Lake Michigan.  We arrived at 7:30 pm and only had to bike a few miles to the campground.

Coal Powered Ferry