Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Day 81
Concord, New Hampshire to Freeport, Maine
Miles: 129.6 – Total accent: 4,180 – Hours: 3 hours, 34 minutes
Totals:. Miles- 4,597.7 – Accent- 143,035
355 hrs 22 minutes in the saddle
The Atlantic is coming! The Atlantic is coming!!
It’s so hard to believe, at this stage of my life, that I’ve never bathed my feet in the Atlantic Ocean!! The anticipation of seeing the Atlantic ocean and how it differs from the Pacific is so exciting.
We are on a countdown having made reservations to fly home on Friday. Only 4 more days and we have to return to our usual diet which does not include Dr. Pepper, ice cream, vanilla lattes and cider. Dunkin’ Donuts seem to be everywhere so we stop to see what they’re all about. We discover they have designer coffees and food, like breakfast sandwiches. Drew has a donut. The first and only one I’ve ever seen him eat! lol!
From Concord, we wind through dense forests to arrive in Portland, head to Two Lights State Park where two light houses can be seen at one vantage point.
The coastline looks so different and the tide is out. The waves gently lap the shoreline so unlike the crashing force of the Pacific.
Looking at the rocks, one can see lighter colored threads of rock running through it, similar to the ‘spines’ in the rocks at Joshua Tree. So cool.
Winding our way in and out along the coastline, basking in the beauty of the architecture of old homes and buildings, it is evident this is an area we need to revisit and spend more time exploring.
Along the road, we happen upon Gritty McDuff’s and stop for a late lunch/early dinner. Is it bad to have fish and chips a second day in a row? While cod and halibut is commonly served on the west coast, haddock is used here. The food was fabulous!
Now that all of our equipment is off the bikes, we need to find a way to get it home. A trip to Goodwill and we find a suitcase for $6 and a nearly new, Samsonite rolling briefcase for $3…perfect for cameras, electronics, battery banks, Garmins, lights and so on. How in the world did we carry all of this on two bikes?! The art of Tetris!!
We passed into the state of Maine today. Traveling by car is not at all like the bike. So fewer photos as we are not up close and personal with the environment. We decide to be tourists the rest of our journey not knowing when or if we’ll ever get the chance to return.
One never knows what the fire holds. Events, like the fire in
Lahaina, prove just how uncertain life can be. And, how important it is NOT to postpone living your dreams.
If not now, when?
One more day and we should be in “Baa Haa Ba”.
