Thursday, August 24, 2023
Day 83
Bar Harbor, Maine to Bangor, Maine
Miles: 99.85 – Total accent: 4,619 – Hours: 2 hours, 58 minutes
Totals:. Miles- 4,852.42 – Accent- 155,167
362 hrs 33 minutes in the saddle
Life choices.
Over the past 3 months, we’ve had lots of time to think, to discuss and to decide what’s important, what’s fluff and where to go from here.
While maybe a small decision, we love waking up at 5:30 in the morning so we can get the day started. And that includes enjoying a cup of coffee. While the alarm is set, most often, we just wake up on our own. The first hour of the day, watching the sun come up, time for quiet reflection helps set the tone for the day. Feet firmly planted, we can take on anything that comes our way.
And in the case of this morning, it means heading to Jordan’s for blueberry pancakes! Annie is our server and we have the best time watching the team. The cooks have no written tickets to reference and rely on the orders being called by servers. They are fast, accurate and the food is great!! Of course, one has to have REAL maple syrup while in Maine! After breakfast, we spent the morning walking through town, looking at buildings, the cemetery and a walk to the water. The traditional ’tire dip’ would have to be replaced with a ‘toe dip’. To reach the water, we walked down a concrete path and across rocks…smaller ones at first than larger ones as we neared the water. If I could only find one more ‘heart’ rock on our trip! Moments later, the most perfect rock appeared. How special!! And since we were no longer on the bikes, I could take this one with me!!
Exploring the area, the morning went by quickly. Before long, we were on our way to visit friends Mary and Kevin who live on the water’s edge of Green Lake. Their home is simply lovely and we spent time on the deck overlooking the water, catching up. Where had the time gone? Hours turn into days which become weeks and then years. So many times over the past months, we’ve met people who told us how they wished they had done this and had seen that but never did…never found or made the time.
Recently, two very talented cyclists were killed in our area, both in separate incidents. It drove home the idea that you never really know when your last day…your last moment may be. Many mornings, as we headed out to ride I wondered if ‘today’ would be my last day. When seeing rays of sun pierce through the clouds or the sound of the water spilling over rocks, I truly appreciated its beauty, living in the moment and not taking for granted that tomorrow will come. None of us are guaranteed it will.
That evening, we were able to share dinner with Mary and Kevin. It was so fun…talking about travel, family and life experiences. The smiles, laughter and twinkle in their eyes will forever be etched in my mind and heart.
As the evening came to a close, we returned to our hotel to prepared for our flight home on Friday. A storm was expected and we are hopeful we don’t have delays.
As sleep crept in, thoughts and memories danced in our heads. We had just traveled across the United States, over 4,000 miles on bicycles. The thought is overwhelming at times. 
