Day 72 - Camden to Bucksport - Two Far 2022 Reunion Bound (the long way around)

June 20, 2022

Day 72 - Camden to Bucksport

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We left Camden and started climbing mountains! Today's ride was strenuous for us, but such good exercise!

A lot of rock was cut to build US 1 here.

It would be fun to meet the owners of this place.

Belfast was the largest town on our route today. It has a beautiful harbor.

There is a pedestrian/bicycle bridge across the Passagassawakeag River.

We stopped at an outdoor cafe in Belfast for lunch. As usual, our bike drew a bit of attention. When Kerry went in to pay, these very generous people had bought our lunch. They live in Camden.

We have been on and off USBR 1 and the East Coast greenway routes for much of this trip.

Bike route signs - other journals tell me that bike routes are much more developed and better marked in Europe than those in the US.

This seemed like a quintessential Maine image - a small home by the bay with a field full of lupines next to the woods.

In Searsport, we spent over an hour seeing all the exhibits at the Penobscot Marine Museum. It is a large place, with artifacts and displays in several buildings.

One building housed small craft. This is the classic Maine Old Town canoe.

Joseph Ranco canoe

Our good friend, Stan, is close friends with a member of one of the early families on Matinicus Island, the Young's. He gave us her contact information and we had a very enjoyable evening with her and her husband a couple of days ago in Wiscasset. So, we feel a little connection to the Matinicus Young's.

Anyone know what this represents? We did this in a kids' activity room.

The history of Searport is a story of sailing vessels and sea captains.

One of the things men needed on a long sea voyage was a way to keep themselves occupied. Carving and scrimshaw were popular pastimes.

A very small carved ivory cribbage board

I learned something new here - apparently people who do scrimshaw are known as "scrimshanders".

And here is a truly unknown item. There was no information with it and two staff members we asked had no idea what it was. It is in the museum's visitor center, but we didn't see any items around it to give us a clue.

Shortly after leaving the museum, we stopped at a convenience store, where we met Janika and Rob. They're on a six-day trip "Down East". We will be in Machias in two days, as will they. Perhaps we'll meet again.

We had a long day of touring with another stop near Bucksport - Fort Knox and an observatory at the top of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. Kerry took the elevator to the top, but I decided to stay on the ground with the bike, so Kerry wrote the rest of today's journal.

There are only 2 floors, but they're 400 ft. apart! Once you get off the elevator, you walk up 2 more floors to get to the observatory.

Looking down upon the Penobscot Narrows Bridge

Looking downriver at the Penobscot River. I could not find any information on these buildings - it looks like an abandoned town.

After leaving Observatory, we toured the adjacent Fort Knox. Interesting tidbit: Both Fort Knox (ME) and the better-known Fort Knox (KY) are named after Major General Henry Knox, America's first Secretary of War.

Looking towards Bucksport from Fort Knox.

Two smaller canons. The stone and brickwork are impressive

The fort was designed to have 135 cannons, but only 74 were ever installed

Info about the Fort. Zoom in to read if you're interested.

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 2,409 miles (3,877 km)

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