The Rain in Maine Stayed Plainly in Glenn's Lane

Thanks for the input about the Trivia Question from yesterday!
Three great answers came in and we found that they were ALL CORRECT!
Everyone wins Maine Wild Blueberry Jam!

What is this area of Maine called and why?
Wendy Kapiloff guessed MID COAST MAINE
Barb Kay chose JEWEL OF THE MAINE COAST
and the answer that we had in mind was suggested by
Marty Homeijer  - DOWN EAST.
The meaning we found was:
 "When ships sailed from Boston to ports in Maine (which were to the east of Boston), the wind was at their backs, so they were sailing downwind, hence the term 'Down East.' And it follows that when they returned to Boston they were sailing upwind; many Mainers still speak of going 'up to Boston,' despite the fact that the city lies approximately 50 miles to the south of Maine’s southern border."


Just a quick little note about some stores that I have noticed in the last few days.
The use of the state name in the store name seems to be quite popular here as witnessed by:
Mainely Sewing
Mainely Pottery
Mainely Music
AND
Mainely Meat on Main Street

Ready, get set.....

It seems today was lubrication day!   First the chain.....

Next the cleats on the bottom of his shoes!

So much to do to get ready to ride!

Rain day preparation!

Glenn's comment after today's ride,

"Rain, rain go away....don't come back tomorrow"!

The starting point for today's ride could not have been 

more color coordinated with Glenn's gore-tex rain gear!

Glenn took off at 8 AM this morning from Searsport, ME hoping to

dodge the rain drops and thunderstorms that were predicted.

Our plan was for me to head directly to Ellsworth to try to check in to

our next hotel very early and Glenn would follow.   If the weather turned bad, 

he would ride into the hotel for shelter until the storm subsided.

Of course, I couldn't go DIRECTLY to the hotel without stopping for

some photo ops.  This bridge and observatory were very interesting 

and unexpected in this rural area of Maine.

The top of the left pylon of the bridge is the observatory.

At 437 feet, it is the world's tallest observation tower.

  The Penobscot River across from Bucksport is a beautiful vista.

Another try at "Drive by Shootings" from the bridge.

At the time, I was the only one on it so I had plenty of time to stop and shoot!

After checking into the Ellsworth hotel and unloading the car, I headed to

Bangor to meet an old friend for lunch.  Nancy Anderson Davis was my

next door neighbor in Lakewood, NJ, from the time I was 5 until I was 13.  

We probably haven't seen each other in 40+ years but reconnected on Facebook and had

a great time catching up.   Nancy lives in Dover-Foxcroft, ME, about an

hour northwest of Bangor and we have been waiting for a few years for 

this ride to get Glenn and I close enough to visit!

More support for I Care I Cure I Cycle!

Thanks, Nancy!

Back to Glenn....He did stop at the hotel to dry off and relax while it

continued to rain.   He suddenly noticed that it had stopped and when he

checked the forecast, no major rain was expected during the afternoon so

he decided to head out again and added another 50 miles to his total

for today which is 80.18 miles!   He worked off 3947 calories and

ascended a mere 4503 feet.   I left Ellsworth to find him at 3 PM 

and finally caught up to him at 4 PM.    

The scenery along my route to find Glenn was very pretty and very rural.

I think I may have seen three other cars on this road that I traveled for

24 miles.  This lake was the highlight of my wanderings today.

I finally found Glenn along Rte. 9.

No rain and comfortable temperatures.

Since there are no shops, restaurants, houses or any
kind of landmark to remind us where to start
tomorrow, we'll go back to mile marker 242 on Rte. 9

Glenn took this photo about 5 miles before I picked him up.

He was very excited to see a sign for Calais, a town that

has been our final destination for 47 months!   It is

amazing to be this close to the goal.   Coincidentally, Glenn has

about 47 miles to go before he reaches Calais.  I will drop him

off where I picked him up and I will head north, maybe even crossing

the border into Canada....I have my passport, just in case.

Glenn will stop about 5-10 miles before reaching the border 

to allow our children and grandchildren to be with us when he

completes the ride next Monday, which is also our 40th

wedding anniversary.  

More rain and thunderstorms are predicted so we'll need 

lots of positive thoughts to accomplish what we need to

do tomorrow! 

Click here to donate now :)

Pedaling for $10,000 this trip!