The next day (5-1) I rode all the way from Rockland
to Bar Harbor which was a little longer than I had planned, but
which will save me a day on my schedule if I get decent weather
tomorrow. I was going
to stop in Ellsworth (about 62 miles), but decided to push on to
Bar Harbor (another 20 miles) instead.
I passed a lot of beautiful scenery on the way.
Click
on bicyclist to see photographs of scenery. 
Bar Harbor (or Baa Haabaa as they say in Maine) is
the gateway to Acadia
National Park. I
went into the park just far enough to be able to say, “I’ve
been there”, then scurried off to town to find a motel.
Acadia is quite significant for me as it is the 43rd
and last of the National Parks that I will visit in this journey
around the country.
| Click on thumbnails.
|
I said yesterday that I wasn’t confused and was
still riding north. Well
today, I’m not so sure.
Just past Bucksport, it looked like I was going
north, east and south all at once.
Just north of Rockland (yeah, I’m sure it was north
– I looked at the map), I came to the town of Camden. Having been here once before, I knew what I was looking for
– several beautiful schooners anchored in the small
harbor. They were there all right, but unfortunately were still
wearing their winter wraps.
Darn.
I had a big scare just as I crossed onto Mt. Desert
Island (home of Acadia NP) from the mainland.
All of a sudden my chain started slipping on every
crank. I
quickly changed gears, then gear range, but it was still
slipping. I
looked back at the rear cassette and couldn’t see any
teeth on the sprockets.
I thought for a moment |
that the cassette had just somehow disintegrated.
Then I realized that a piece of plastic was wrapped around
the cassette. Whew!
I knew immediately where it had come from. I had just passed a plastic “streamer” blowing straight
out from a guardrail, and it must have blown right into the chain
as I went by. It took
a few minutes to unwrap all of it, but I was greatly relieved that
it wasn’t anything more serious.
By going all the way to Bar Harbor, I managed to ride
80+ miles for the fourth straight day.
I’m tired, but not too tired to celebrate my
accomplishment. Cheers!
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
