Day 76 Belfast, ME-Bar Harbor, ME

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Jo Day 76 (Oct 15 = Last Day): Woke up to a frosty morning at Alex's House in Belfast, Maine.  Blue skies, but very cold!  We all enjoyed chatting with Alex and his buddy Luther this morning.  Got a text from Vince...he's a day behind us, he said he's been cranking up the heat in his motel rooms and starting later...but hopes to see us in Bar Harbor on Sunday.  Kevin, Alan and John took off for their last day of riding.  Janut, Bob and I stopped at Young's Lobster Pound for an early lunch...we had to go back to try their lobster rolls...they were giant lobster rolls...must have been stuffed with meat from about 3 lobsters!  Yummy!  Bob got a small piece of lobster, again...he's so cute, how could I refuse?  After 4 days in Maine, I think I've finally had my fill of lobster!  We drove over the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, a beautiful bridge with an observation tower.  Today was one of the few times we called the van an RV.  We drove down Main Street in Bar Harbor and couldn't find parking until we got to the end of town where there was a designated area for RV parking. Score!  We walked down the main drag and got tasty handmade ice cream (I got cinnamon cardamom and Janut got boiled coffee).  We gazed at the harbor (it was very cold - Bob was shivering so I warmed him up under my down jacket) while waiting for the guys to finish their 4,445 mile ride across the northern tier (157,280 total elevation gain).  When the guys rolled down the hill to the pier in Bar Harbor, heads turned to look at them...mostly because Janut was yelling "Jo, they're here! They're here!" The guys went to the water and dipped their front tires in the Atlantic Ocean!  This 76 day cycling adventure is over...been there, done that!  We toasted to their awesome achievement with a round of duck fart shots followed by margaritas.  And thank you to all of you for following us on our adventure, you made it fun to stay up late each night to create a slideshow and write about the day's events.  Thank you!
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Kevin Day 76-Our last day on the road. Belfast to Bar Harbor, Maine 60 miles, 3,473 elevation gain. Total miles pedaled: 4,445. Total Elevation gain: 157, 280 feet (that's almost 30 miles up!) ( all mileage and feet gained per Garmin Edge Explore 1000 GPS and RideWithGPS.com.). Another great day on the road. A leisurely start to the day, enjoying coffee with our host Alex-by the warm fireplace! It was a chilly morning with frost on the bikes, so we waited for things to warm up a bit. Blue skies and no wind made for pleasant riding, even though the temperature never made it above 44'. We rode on US Hwy 1 ( the Atlantic Coast Highway) 38 miles to Ellsworth and along the way crossed the Penobscot Narrows Bridge (opened in 2006) a unique cable stay bridge with a single row of stays down the middle of the bridge. In Ellsworth we stopped for lunch at Finns Irish pub, had some good food, a couple of beers. One local at the bar was impressed with our ride and bought us all a beer. After lunch we had only 22 miles left to ride, and soon we arrived at Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor is a zoo! It looks like Roche Harbor on San Juan Island on mega-steroids! People and cars everywhere! Janet, Jo, and Bob the beagle met us by the city pier, and we dipped our front tires in the Atlantic Ocean. We took 5 days off during the trip, so we rode 71 of the 76 days, for an average daily mileage of 62.6. Our longest day was 102 miles, our shortest 27. It will feel odd tomorrow morning without getting on the bike! I'm already thinking of where the next ride will be. I'll post some additional observations about the ride later.