October 4, 2021
Day 126: Bath to Portland
USBS 1 and East Coast Greenway
Mike and Alicia fix us a nice breakfast before we set off for Portland. Patrick navigates us on back roads back to USBS 1. From here on out we will be mostly following the well mapped bikeroute 1 and the East Coast greenway route. There are good maps on the internet and many signs along the route, but the signposting is not perfect so we need the GPS frequently. We don’t have any luck of finding a café, but eventually a Dunkin Donuts so we can us the free Wi-Fi to contact our host in Portland. The route is nice, mostly on quiet roads, but there are frequent short steep hills. As we near Portland we ride through very nice neighborhoods with beautiful houses and sea views.
Our host won’t be home until after 2:30 so we are in no hurry. The weather is warmer again today and dry. It is noon when we reach the outskirts of Portland and although we were thinking of clam chowder for lunch we instead stop at a Thai restaurant for Pad Thai. We’ve been missing this food and figured we will continue to have plenty of fish and clam chowder in the next week.
We are on many bike paths getting into the city of Portland and around to the Old Port area and waterfront. The place is crawling with tourists. We find a nice spot on one of the piers to park the bikes and wait. Patrick takes a few walks, we eventually push our bikes up a few streets away from the waterfront, find an ice cream shop and sit in a park until it’s time to go to our host.
Doug lives in the perfect location in a nice new apartment building. We roll our bikes right into the elevator and into his spacious apartment. Immediately he makes us feel very welcome. We meet his golden retriever Slicker who is a sweetie. Doug has cycled toured and knows what cyclists need; offering water, snacks and beer. We get set up in the “den” and visit exchanging stories and future plans. Later, Doug takes slicker for a walk and Patrick picks up pizzas that he has ordered. Friends of Doug’s come over and visit.
Facebook has been down for a while today meaning messenger isn’t working, our means of contacting Frosene and John. We find her phone number and we arrange time and place to meet tomorrow for lunch.
Today's ride: 38 miles (61 km)
Total: 4,797 miles (7,720 km)
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