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On the Kancamagus Highway through the White Mountains National Forest, I stopped off to see the Albany Covered Bridge on Sunday. A thundershower meant that I got to inspect the bridge thoroughly while waiting for the rain to clear.
The national forest had no Wifi, so I'm a bit behind on posts.
A rainbow over the Friends and Family Campground near the end of day.
July 10, 2010 — LAKE SEBAGO, Maine
Friends and Family Campground had a campsite open. Only $37.
Yie! But they also had a pool and hot tub and showers and a Hawaiian Luau
potluck supper and dance. First place for best Hawaiian shirt! How could I stay
anywhere else?
My campsite overlooked a small otter pond. No otters but lots of bullfrogs. Across the pond was a camping family that played loud music and talked in their outdoor voices. I knew that a Saturday night at any campground was going to have this. I’m sure they’re very pleasant people when they aren’t camping.
I wandered away from my campsite and called Al. Could barely pick up a signal and my battery was getting low, but it was sure sweet to hear her voice.
After a shower, I crawled into the tent and fell asleep promptly. In spite of the amplified rap music, the rhapsodic bullfrogs and the Don Ho karaoke, I was asleep.
I camped at a small private campground near Lake Sebago last night. Next to my site is a small otter pond. No otters that I could see, but bullfrogs were as loud as foghorns.
I head into New Hampshire tomorrow.
July 10, 2010 — LAKE SEBAGO, Maine
The ride out of Portland was mostly uneventful but a little
stressful in places. I had studied Google maps of the area showing the
northwest side of Portland and knew the route I wanted to take. I had to ride
through a short spot of “authorized vehicles only” at the airport to get to the
street that I wanted. Google, apparently, did not report me.
I followed a residential street with some shoulder northwesterly to a pedestrian bridge over the interstate, and then resumed my trip along residential streets until they ran out and I ended up on a two-lane road with no shoulders and crumbling pavement, mild hills and medium traffic.
This took me out to a small road that led past the Maine Correctional Facility. I did not pick up any hitchhikers. A couple miles north of Little Falls-South Windham, I caught my first bike trail of the ride. I had seen a picture of it on the Rails to Trails Conservancy site, but it showed what appeared to be a gravel path running parallel to the old rail line.
I was willing to give the gravel path a try if it was something like crushed limestone, but if the path was made for a mountain bike, I would skip over to a parallel roadway.
As it turned out, the trail was paved. I hopped on it and let my stress from the two-lane wash off my back. It was narrower than the bike paths in Fayetteville and had been squeezed between the rail line (a very lightly used line) and the forest. I followed it for about 2 miles until it simply stopped, sort of in the middle of nowhere at a gravel road crossing. The train track ended too, although the old railbed continued and looked ideal for someone with a mountain bike. I took the gravel road, went past a YMCA Summer Camp area and eventually came out near the community of South Sebago.
I planned to bivouac in a nature preserve near the southern end of Lake Sebago but found lots of signs saying that one cannot camp in the preserve. Hike, yes. Birdwatch, yes. Pick berries, yes. Camp, no. Before I could decide where to go next, I came upon a privately operated campsite called Friends and Family Campground.
Arrived in rain, but it cleared while I was putting the bike together. Hitting the road at 3 pm Eastern.
July 10, 2010 — PORTLAND, Maine
I arrived at Portland International with rain falling on the
tarmac. At baggage pickup, I got my gear bag and then had to go to a separate pickup
spot for out-sized baggage to get the boxed bicycle. I asked the guy who helped where it might be OK to
reassemble the bicycle, and he suggested the southern end of the baggage claim
area. A relief.
It was still raining lightly outside and although there was room outside to assemble the bicycle under a canopy, there was a security person keeping the pick-up and drop-off vehicles moving. They might not like the idea of me dawdling with my hex wrenches and screwdrivers surrounded by wheels and panniers and racks and baggage.
After assembling the bike, I went to the bathroom and changed into bicycle shorts and shirt and then wheeled the bicycle through a revolving door. Yes, a very big revolving door.
July 10, 2010 — Flyover USA
Since I'm on a plane en route to Maine, I thought I would try entertaining you loyal readers with a bird's eye view of today's stage of the Tour de France.
While the riders in the tour will cover about 165 kilometers today, I plan to ride only about 35 kilometers before camping near Lake Sebago, assuming the bicycle and I arrive in Portland on time.
An advertisement at Chicago Ohare explains bicycle touring succinctly. Avoid obstacles however you can.
If you have a Twitter account, become a follower of Riding the White Line. Just don't expect too many tweets while we're not on tour.
