Motorcycle Ride to Nowhere

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 w...

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 b...

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 ...

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...

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 t rip 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 o...

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 advertisin g 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.