Trenton to Machias

June 12, 2015

Another beautiful day. It had rained overnight, and there was still some splatter in the early morning, but by the time we departed, it had subsided. No place for breakfast, and the route today looked like a food desert. We had purchased fruit at the local IGA last night in anticipation of this and munched down before pushing off. Still, I missed my coffee.

Today's ride to Machias

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So we saw a fair amount of interesting structures today, and this was the first:

We've seen a few of these barns that have been converted to other uses, as this one has.

Happy was not happy about missing breakfast and wanted to bike into Ellsworth to look for something. I was not so inclined since it would add about 10 miles to our route (already at 63) and would take us off some nice side roads (and onto busy ones). Happy apparently did not want to strike off on his own and took off on our appointed course. He got far enough ahead of me that he missed a real opportunity for breakfast at one of those hideaway grills located in a convenience market. Me? Always looking for opportunity!

Breakfast at the Lamoine General Store: $6.36. Friendly local people: No charge!

I lingered maybe too long and didn't really get going again till a little after 10:00 AM. But I was happy and full, and the road was flat with sights to check out.

Unfortunately, after a short while, we were back on US-1, but sometimes US-1A or Coastal US-1. There are lots of "1's" here, and the character of each varies a bit.

On busy sections, there are often wide shoulders.

And in other sections it looked like this with little or no shoulder. We mostly saw this north of Milsbridge.

US-1 is the backbone of transportation along coastal Maine, so it traverses some pretty spectacular scenery.

And this one near Harrington. We've seen a lot of dry or nearly dry streams. Maybe they are mostly fed by the snowmelt.

At one point, looking to use a secondary road, we went about 4-1/2 miles (up and back) only to find we had been routed to a rocky dirt road that had no end in sight. We decided to stick with US-1 after that, but we did pick up a great view.

And then there is that endless parade of odd structures, more here than I have seen in any one state.

Blueberries are a big to-do up here (remember my pancake in Bristol?).

This one is for sale. Own a piece of Maine!

We finally made it to our motel . . . not the preferred one in the town center but one on the outskirts. Apparently the first naval battle of the Revolutionary War occurred near Machias, and there is a huge festival in town, making rooms a bit hard to get. So we rode our bikes into town to eat dinner. I have a fuller appreciation for our padded shorts now as I rode unpadded casuals to dinner. I think the two miles to dinner were harder than the 67 from Bar Harbor!

Today's ride: 67 miles (108 km)
Total: 2,702 miles (4,348 km)

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