September 28, 2021
Day 120: Trenton to Bar Harbor
Exploring the tourist town
“I can get you a little closer where I turn around,” the driver says as we pass the Narrows Campground that is the end of his route. We are now only a mile to our campground, the traffic is relentless, so it’s nice not to have to ride too far.
We have a lazy morning, coffee and oatmeal at picnic table. Paul joins us. He has shipped his bike from Bar Harbor and is flying home today. He is a retired family practice physician who just completed the Northern Tier. In the past he traveled around world a year with his wife and two children and we share stories about Africa and India.
Around 10 we start out towards Bar Harbor. There are more hills than we expected, it’s nice to have the bikes unloaded. Traffic is very busy, nonstop. The weather is cloudy overcast; we stop at an information center to find out about the free shuttle buses. Rather than ride the Loop road today, we decide to continue the ride to Bar Harbor and explore the downtown area. We’ll ride the Loop road in the park tomorrow.
On the outskirt of town we pick up a bike path to the waterfront and downtown. It’s lunchtime so we wander into an Irish pub for Shepard’s pie and blackened fish sandwich along for each of us a pint of Guinness beer. The pub prides itself on being the Irish pub in the US closest to Ireland.
At the Town square we see where the shuttle buses collect passengers. A very helpful and friendly man explains the map, and bus connections. As a longtime local he warns about riding the Loop road, according to him we should stay on carriage roads. We take shuttle bus #2 to the park Visitors Center and then #1 to the Narrows Campground. The driver takes us a bit further to the spot where he takes his lunch and turns the bus around, so we are closer to our campground.
Back at cabin, we find the internet is faster this afternoon and catch up with the journal. We walk to a diner across from the campground entrance, and have a fried shrimp dinner and homemade clam chowder.
The weather is turning cooler and damp.
Today's ride: 15 miles (24 km)
Total: 4,592 miles (7,390 km)
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