Leaving Bangor, Maine on Route 2

In Bangor we washed laundry, completed our college homework and got some rest. The next morning we took the most direct route west toward New Hampshire and Vermont. It was route 2 which was not a major highway. The route is heavily traveled. We saw the stimulus money at work first hand. It seemed that every half mile we had to stop at a flag person due to construction. The construction spots closed one lane so we had to wait until oncoming traffic finished with the lane then the flag person would give us a turn. At many of these spots the wait was long enough to turn off the engines while we waited. Despite the road construction we could not have asked for better weather. The temperatures were in the 60s to low 80’s during the day. Not too cold and not too hot for riding. The small towns we rode through on route two were neat. We stopped at a post office in Palmyra, Maine to mail some post cards. Brad almost had the postal worker to close up and join us on the ride. Back on the road we came to so signs that said welcome to Mexico! I am the navigator and didn’t realize we’d turned south. It was a small town called Mexico, Maine. I was still on course to find New Hampshire. I figured it should be difficult as long as we headed west.

We were enjoying the country side. Riding in and out of small towns and kept stopping for the construction projects. It seemed like the entire road from outside Bangor to the state line was being resurfaced. I’ve seen many road construction spots but we came to one that was a little different. Brad noticed workers suspended from the side of a mountain drilling and blasting away the rock so the road can be widened. Brad has experience hang from mountains drilling and blasting making room for a road in Alaska. So on our left there is a rock face of a mountain with construction workers and on our right sides was a river. We were accustomed to the signs alerting us of “flagman ahead” but we saw a sign that said “Road Ends.” There was no place to turn; a sheet of rock to our left and river to the right. Being the navigator I was getting a little concerned. The pavement gave way to a dirt road. We were in a turn and wondered if we should have turned around because there was no trail or anything. Then ahead of us in the turn I saw a tractor trailer coming toward us. I figured if that truck didn’t get stuck in the dirt then we should be ok. After continuing forward we did come to a spot where the pavement started again. I suppose we’d only had to turn around if the road sign said “dead end.” When the “pavement ends” we just keep going until we find pavement again.

Bar Harbor to Bangor- Bill's Orange Vest.

After seeing the top of Cadillac Mountain, Brad and I spend the second half of the day tooling around Bar Harbor then decided to start heading west toward Bangor. The sun started to set and riding west into the sun is not a good idea no matter how dark your sunglasses are. So near Bangor Maine we stopped to get gas and directions to an affordable hotel. I fueled up, moved my motorcycle out of the way and went inside the gas station shop. I noted that this shop had two pay phones hanging inside with two old fashioned phone booths painted on the wall behind them so it appeared the pay phones were in the painted phone booths. I thought it was neat since phone booths are becoming a thing of the past. I'll try to take more pictures next time...

I walked back outside and Brad is talking to another customer pumping gas. This guy is associated with the military too such as the National Guardor Army Reserve. So we got to talking for some time. We got directions to a good hotel and bar near the airport in Bangor. Brad and I start talking about motorcycle vests. Notice our pictures - Brad wears a leather vest proudly displaying his ride pins. Bill wears the orange vest that meets the military regulations and no ride pins. Bill actually out grew his leather vest and is too cheap to buy a larger one! Anyway Brad told me that many people were asking him questions about his pins and the vest was causing others to start conversations. He suggested that I stop wearing my orange vest and wear my leather vest with pins because no one will come up and start talking to me about my vest! Well later we find our way to the hotel. While unpacking our bikes a woman comes up to me in the hotel parking lot telling me that I have a cool orange vest! So ha! Turns out that woman wears one just like mine! My orange vest does get attention and invites people to talk to me.

We did laundry at the hotel. The hotel even had complementary laundry detergent and scented dryer sheets! I know we are tough bikers but we like clean and fresh smelling clothes. We ate dinner at a bar near the hotel and planned to continue west thought New Hampshire and Vermont tofind some covered bridges we heard about.

Acadia National Park and Cadillac Mountain

After lunch at the Bar Harbor Lobster Pound we rode into Acadia National Park. We stopped at the entrance so Brad could tighten up his shifter peg that was coming loose. Good thing he had his tool kit with an allen wrench that fit! I took a picture of the Acadia sign to use in the 2009 ABC’s of Touring Contest. That is the picture above.

We started riding up Cadillac Mountain and stopped at the first scenic pull over that overlooked Frenchmen Bay. From 1613 to 1760 the French occupied the small islands pictured and battled the English for possession of the islands. By 1800 Bar Harbor became known as a popular summer resort with pleasure boats. I suppose it is still known as a resort with some pleasure boats. The bay with the islands and mountains is a great back drop for a vacation!

We slowly rode up Cadillac Mountain’s smooth and curvy road. The road had large rocks in lieu of a traditional steel guide rail. Yes, guide rail-some say guard rail but I read somewhere where a civil engineer referred to the rail as a guide rail to guide vehicles through a curve. I think the use of natural rocks was a great idea on this breath taking road. The road was cut into the rock of the mountain and there was an occasional small waterfall over the rocks.

At the top of Cadillac Mountain we found a small gift shop and some walking trails. I bought some post cards at the gift shop and then found Brad out on one of the trails. He renamed the mountain Cardiac Mountain! Here are some pictures from the top of the mountain. Notice the view of the bay and islands. There was a wooden fence across the rocks to keep us from stepping on some sort of moss. Beautiful views! I would really like to see the views in the early fall when the trees are full of colors.
We were walking toward our motorcycles and noticed two more motorcycles had parked next to ours. There was a tall white haired man and his bride bending over reading the names of the states listed on the license plates. As Brad and I got closer we heard the gentleman call out Illinois and Utah. We quickly responded that those were our bikes. The four of us stood behind the motorcycles at the top of the mountain. We initially spoke about our trip and how Brad & I met and started our annual rides. Then the gentleman’s bride…I am calling her his bride because they looked so happy together! I am sure it has been many decades since they were newlyweds! Anyway the woman told us about her husband being on a satellite radio talk show a couple weeks prior. The radio DJs had her husband talking about taxing methane gas from cow droppings. There was a proposal to tax farmers per cow due to the amount of gas cows produce. I am still puzzled about this conversation but it was comical. Later Brad handed the couple our 2BikerGuys card. The gentlemen replied by handing us one of his cards. He turned out to be a State Representative for Maine! That just made the cow gas tax conversation even more comical. He did not endorse the tax simply an entertaining conversation. As the Representative handed us the card told us to give him a call sometime. Brad is witty and asks if we can call in him to get out of jail while on our bike trip. This caught the gentleman off guard and he stated that he wasn’t sure about that. So we asked if we could simply hold the card up when we ride past the toll gates without paying!

Route 1 to Bar Harbor, Maine. September 1, 2009

Gregg, the General Manager, at Bentley’s gave us directions to Big Moose Harley Davidson in Portland. The service department at Big Moose installed a new rear tire while we ate breakfast that Monday morning. They even washed three days of rainy road grime off Bill’s bike. While at Big Moose’s we pulled out our paper maps and had some fellow customers help plot our course north on highway 1 and 3 toward Acadia National Park at Bar Harbor.

Along the way to Bar Harbor we learned about the Penobscot Expedition of 1779. The bridge behind us in the picture was taken at a point on the trail where American Colonist fought a disastrous battle against the British during the Revolution. The failure caused the Colonist to sink or burn over 40 ships to keep the British from taking using them.

Along highway 1 and 3 there were many roadside signs advertising fresh wild blueberries. This area had wild blueberry everything including blueberry soda and beer! Our favorite roadside business was the Lobster Pounds. The lobster pounds were common along our route to Bar Harbor. These pounds had tanks of live lobsters waiting to be ordered and cooked. We stopped at one near Bar Harbor for lunch. We ate a fresh lobster dinner, some shrimp and Brad ate 2 pounds of clams. It was a bit pricy compared to the lobsters at Bentley’s. We experienced the fresh Maine lobster, clams and shrimp. The lobster was pretty good. The clams were ok and we discovered than Maine shrimp was very small like popcorn shrimp.

Rhode Island to Maine (Bentley’s) August 30, 2009

Bentley’s Saloon http://www.bentleyssaloon.com was really easy to find off highway 1. We arrived long before lunch and were the first customers there on this Sunday morning. One of Brad’s goals for this trip was to eat some Maine Lobster. Luckily for us Bentley’s was having a lobster cook! We got two large lobsters with side dishes for only $15! There was a crane/claw machine where you could try to catch your own lobster. Since the people were friendly, food was tasty, drinks priced well and Bentley’s had a few hotel rooms onsite we decided to park the bikes for the day and stay. Brad was still telling stories after last call! Great People! Great time!
Oh, we have to thank the bartender once again for being patient with us…we opened and closed our tab many times and I think she was getting a little bewildered as to why. We were trying to keep track of our spending and the pay as you go works best. Of course if we ran out of money I am sure we’d figure out some way to work off out tab – we’ll give Brad an open microphone for entertainment!

There were a few organized motorcycle rides from New Hampshire and Massachusetts that stopped Bentley’s on August 30th. A custom bike builder had a booth set up and was raffling off a custom motorcycle. There was literally hundreds of motorcyclist there. Brad and I were telling stories of our rides and people wanted to see what kind of motorcycles we were riding. So we’d walk them out to the bikes and let them see our Illinois and Utah license plates. After the fourth trip to the parking lot we thought we’d better stop before someone thought we were selling something illegal from our saddle bags. All we were doing was handing out our business cards for this blog site—honest! I had to write this for the policeman and dispatcher who made sure we did not drink and ride that night!

Here is a picture of the unique grill with handle bars at Bentley’s and the “No Burn Out” signs on the parking lot. Notice the tread on Bill’s rear tire. I failed to mention why riding through the Catskill Mountains with those switch back turns was so exiting. It was exciting because it was pouring rain and Bill’s rear tire was BALD!!!

Connecticut to Rhode Island

While in Putnam, Connecticut we heard reference to a great biker place called Bentley’s Saloon in Arundel, Maine. The next morning our plan was to ride through the northern corner of Rhode Island and then head for Bentley’s for lunch. We entered Rhode Island on highway 44 and took a photo at the state sign. We didn’t see much of Rhode Island…by the time we put on our brakes to stop again we realized we had left the state already! We found ourselves in Massachusetts pretty quick that morning and decided to ride the 495 around Boston. On the 495 we noticed many signs advertising tax free alcohol. There were no more than a couple miles between each package store along the highway. Later we found out that alcohol was cheaper in Massachusetts than Maine due to taxes.