Day 74 Naples, ME-Nobleboro, ME

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Jo Day 74 (Oct 13): Cloudy morning at the KOA in Naples, Maine. John was carrying his tent...looked more like a spaceship or wave runner. Kevin, Alan and John took off for what they thought was going to be a 77 mile ride today...but it turned into a 91 mile ride due to construction detours and inadequate Adventure Cycling Association map info. Vince took off with a running start (he's fully loaded, although he said he lightened his load and gave away some books he never read and sunglasses he never wore)...we saw him along the road double checking the route on his ACA map. We hope to see Vince in Belfast and/or Bar Harbor (he is trying to pace himself with 60 mile days)...we think he might have underestimated his remaining miles. The fall colors in Maine are simply beautiful. We stopped at Runaround Pond (City of Durham), had lunch (yummy leftovers), and watched the leaves fall off the trees when the wind blew by. While driving through Brunswick, we saw "Cameron's Lobster House", so we stopped to try their lobster roll. We weren't very hungry after eating lunch 45 minutes earlier, but we had to try their lobster roll. We said we'd just share one lobster roll but we couldn't decide between the hot or cold lobster roll, so we got one of each! Janut liked the hot (lobster sautéed in butter on a toasted buttered roll), I liked the traditional cold (lobster with mayo on a toasted buttered bun). And yes, we still want to eat more lobster rolls! The lobster roll we ate yesterday at the Maine Lobster Express in Bridgton, Maine is still our #1 pick (they will be hard to beat). There was a lot of road construction and detour signs that went nowhere in the town of Bath. We where happy to get out of that area. We have a campsite at the Duck Puddle Campground on Pemaquid Lake in Nobleboro, Maine. A nice size lake...it looked like it was going to be a pretty sunset, but the rain clouds rolled in and the sky turned gray. It started to rain during dinner (we made a tasty chicken enchilada casserole in the slow cooker - the latch on the slow cooker broke, so we keep the lid closed with a nylon strap...only gonna replace it if it stops working). Alan and John pitched their tents under the pavilion, so they should stay relatively dry, plus the rain is subsiding. Only two more days left...bitter sweet!

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Kevin Day 74 Naples to Nobleboro, ME 91 miles, 5527' gain. Today's ride is best summarized by the word hilly. Lots of ups and downs, and some quite steep. Lots of 10% climbs, some at 14%, and a couple at 15%. The day started out fine-relatively warm and dry, albeit under gray overcast skies. Riding was fine; at mile 24 we stopped for our second breakfast. Trying to navigate through Brunswick and find the Androscoggin River Bike Path was a challenge; the ACA detail map was almost useless. After finding our way to the path, the next challenge was the road closure of Old Bath Road. The signs said local traffic only, and all other previous road closures we had successfully got through, we went around the barricades. At the construct site, a surly and completely unhelpful road worker told us to turn around. We pled our case, he was unmoved. He said take the detour-we said there was not a marked detour. He just grumbled, and did not offer any suggestions for a workaround. So we turned and retraced our steps. We asked a couple of local people about alternates-one answer was literally"take that road and then the other one". We figured out a way around Bath, and then figured out a way through the road construction on the US Hwy 1 bridge over the Androscoggin River. What a mess! With time spent routefinding and riding detours, we knew our ride was gonna be extended beyond the planned 77 miles. Turns out our day was 91 miles long! We rode 67 miles without a break! Tommorow should be a short day: Not quite 50 miles are planned, and a stop at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Warren too! That should be fun! Saturday should be only 60 miles or so to Bar Harbor, our endpoint.