Day 125: Whitefield to Bath

October 3, 2021

Long time since riding in the rain

“Are you touring?” Rachel asks the cyclist going downhill, then slows down and stops. The cyclist stops and comes over. “I’m meeting some friends in Acadia. I live in Boston,” Kate says. This is a treat for us to see another touring cyclist who stops to talk. First, this is the first cyclist we’ve seen in awhile, and we’ve noticed that it is less likely these days, touring cyclists will stop to talk.

We visit at breakfast with Chris and Patty about cycle touring. Chris fixes us scrambled eggs and we enjoy Patty’s baked blueberry bread. Then we set off with sprinkles of rain on a back road to Wiscasset and US1. The rain comes down stronger when we get to the busy road and we are disappointed that we don’t see a café for a second breakfast. Further on though, we find a Dunkin’ Donuts and stop for hot coffee and hopefully wait for the rain to subside. Also DK has good Wi-Fi which we use to contact our hosts in Bath to make sure they are okay with our early arrival.

We reach Bath and cross the bridge over the Kennebec River. On the other side of the bridge is the large Bath Ironworks shipyard where several navy destroyers are under construction. Patrick stops halfway across to get a picture of a Zumwalt-class stealth guided missile destroyer. He waits for a gap in traffic so he can cross 4 lanes to the other side. Then he has to wait another 10mins to cross back. It’s Sunday and the traffic is just about non-stop. Bath looks to be a quaint New England town, reminiscent of Brattleboro NH. Patrick navigates us to Mike and Alicia’s place, a beautiful spot amongst acres of forest and fields.

Mike shows us our room, we get cleaned up and then visit until Alicia and their daughter Rebecca return home. Mike is a family physician while Alicia a real estate assessor. Rebecca is a traveling nurse and her first assignment a few years ago was at St. Al’s in Boise! Rachel and Rebecca compare notes before she leaves to go back to her work place in New Hampshire. We have a very nice dinner. Alicia is also a bee keeper and is retrieving the honey. Patrick is happy to hear that Mike is exited for the much-hyped football game this evening where Tom Brady is coming back to New England to play against his former team. The game starts late and lasts almost until midnight. We have not stayed up this late since we started the trip.

Tomorrow, to Portland and a rest day. We will meet up with Frosene and John who have been on the road about a week longer than us. They cycled the ACA Parks to Prairie Route to the Midwest then parts of the Northern Tier, ending their coast to coast in Portland. We plan then to cycle 4 days together to Boston, where we fly to Amsterdam, and they will take the train back to Seattle.

We say goodbye to Chris and Patty, and hope to them visit us in Boise someday

Time to put on rain pants again after many months of carrying them

Kate from Boston cycling to Acadia NP to meet up with friends

Navigating through Bath to our warmshowers host

Candace joined us for dinner. She is an organic farmer manager and accepted the Bear Spray from Patrick that he no longer needs to carry

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Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 4,759 miles (7,659 km)

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