May 7- Bar Harbor to Belfast

M-78.11,T-7:46:05,Avg-10.05,El-4160

Bar Harbor is behind me now. Crab cakes,Lobster rolls along with a pleasurly pint of Maine crafted brew to wash it all down. Why leave?
Great cycling around Desert Island and Acadia park to. I'll have to return someday.
A full day today.A steady 5 to 15 knot head wind for most of the ride, accept along this one 3 mile stretch in Trenton.
 While riding today I noticed after a stop for nature and returning to my bike I was making better time, cruising right along..............this is GREAT, the wind shifted!. I'll get to Belfast before dusk......hmmmm......2 IGA's in Trenton, it must be urban sprawl. Two airports to.................this looks awfully familiar........deja vu...I've been here before,perhaps a 1/2 hour ago,  I think I'll  turn around and head into the wind again.
 So anyway I rewaved the locals out mowing and ended up getting a extra 6 miles in today and if your keeping track just add it to the AC(AdventureCycling) N. Tier trip total and I'll be home a 1/2 hour later.
All types of road conditions today to. 6' shoulder,4' shoulder,no shoulder,no shoulder with curb,thats fun. A wrong turn on Crooked rd. which slowly dwindled and led me into some nice single track till I came across a tree across the trail and decided this wasn't it. A about face and a quick stop at the PO and a helpful clerk set me on my way again and I promptly called the restaurant I ate at the night before and told them about the mistake on there "Map of Maine" placemat?

May 6 Cadillac Mt.-Acadia Park Loop M-35.3,T-3:22.49,Avg-10.44,El-2623

M-16.19,T-1:48:54,Avg-8.92,El-1653

I got the bike together yesterday with only a few snafus and the usual forgotten items at home.Mark of Stanwood Velo Sport did a excellent job of truing the wheels up before I left. Only to have Magilla at UPS realign them on the trip out east. The local Bar Harbor bike shop amiably assisted with a second dewobbling to get me off on my adventure west.  

I did a short ride up Cadillac Mt. yesterday. A good warm up for the bike and I which  helped to get the bugs out of both. I enjoyed the familiarity of riding to and the confidence it brings being so far away from home.

Elation describes  my latest new equipment upgrades from REI. Sleeping pad and compression bag for my sleeping bag have helped to  increase my pannier space by 20%. The first tour I've been on with space to spare. It's like moving from a Apt. to a house and you don't know what to do with the space.

Riding Acadia Park today and it looks like in the rain. Then off west towards home tomorrow.

May 5

I'm here in Bar Harbor this morning after my long awaited departure date and flight east. No problems as usual after all that worrying and packing and panicking. My usual progression I go through when I plan a adventure and especially when it's one of this magnitude. Morning Joe at the Randonee Cafe brings me back to the comfort and routines of home and it looks like as I'm gazing around that I'm the only cyclist in here,yes, I guess the rest are working : ) today. It's a week day.

It was a looong day yesterday,traveling east, and a loooonger taxi ride out from the airport as I've changed the title again. A constant work in progress. I happened to pick the 82 LTD while hanging out front of the baggage claim area, with the original driver to. A nice guy who contributed allot to our conversations through his knowledge of local history As we cruised by various intersections on our way out to Bar Harbor he always had a comment to share and one of them was the local fatalities ( Just what I wanted to here about). and he knew them all. Cove intersection was the worst. Four fatalities and still no stop sign he mentioned while cruising down the road with the steering wheel rubbing his t shirt beer belly as we glided on a shock less, listing ride east.  

I guess he use to cycle to he commented as I observed it must of been few years back as he could barely fit behind the wh.eel of the LTD.

Today or this morning it's getting the bike together and getting the bugs out. Then going for a ride around Acadia N. Park and wrapping myself around this feat.  Removing the sweet coating from my gear to as I had some Nuun tablets that escaped while transiting east

May 4 Departure

With a nice rise'n shine time of  1 AM for a departure flight from SeaTac and a 3 stop over flight to Bangor Maine I'm thinking this should make for the most challenging part of the trip. John a friend  of mine offered to drive me down to SeaTac hoping to stop in Seattle for a couple cups of secret wine but I just wasn't in the partying mood whilst anxiously awaiting for the start of this cycling safari.Lions and Tigers and Bears. Oh my!  As I only had the ride on my mind.
Whilst hang'n at the airport waiting for my departure from Seattle I had a couple of hours to kill. So I got out my notebook to look busy and important like everyone else here and along came Tom a riding friend of mine heading to Florida.  Deja Vu .He's raced and toured and helped to plant the seed of touring  in my head back in the 80's. Small world. We chatted abit and reminisced till he had to leave to catch his flight.
About 5 pm tomorrow  upon arriving in Bar Harbor via Bangor by some mode of transportation I should be at my hotel cutting the strapping tape on the bike box and assembling for a 4000 to 5000 mile ride back home. Sounds easy!

I recently had a sign of whats to come to while stopping in for dinner, authentic Chinese at Hagen's after a day of logistics and planning for the ride back west. As leaving I had the Good Fortune of picking the right chinese cookie in the mandarin wicker basket along side the display case. "Prepare for an exciting trip soon to come your way" ............It was meant to be!!