August 31 Day 61 Sanford ME to Portland ME 38 Miles 985 climbing

Today we ride into Portland Maine. There is a different feel around the trailer today. Everyone knows this is it. All of us have made the journey. This entry is to say "Thanks for the memories, everyone."

 Nancy, thank you for coming up with this trip. With your persistence and planning you gave yourself a marvelous 60th birthday present. We all really enjoyed being a part of it.

Sharon, with your ability to plan and organize you helped Nancy pull this off. Thank you

Chris and Mary, what hard work you did to make sure the routes happened each day. I hand it to you there were a lot of adventures these past 60 days.

Nevin became our kinder soul, however he stood up and voiced his opinion when needed. He could ride anyone's pace.Thank you for being Nevin.

Harold was able to meet his goal and pass it. 250 beers plus 6. I loved the way he would explore the small towns we visited and always came back with history lessons none of us would have never found.

Suzanne was so funny and happy and boy could she ride. She did develop an obsession for Lays Potato chips. We made a vow to change our habits back to normal after this trip.

Roger was the man. All you needed was a tow rope and you could ride like the wind. We all enjoyed his smile, bright blue eyes and his gift of story telling.

Larry, in case you didn't know he was a Marine and will always be one. A heck of a cyclist. Always up front. Had to get there so he could unload the luggage.

Recumbent Pete, taking care of the back of the group, making sure we all made it in. Always had kind words to say.

Paul and Jean Mykitin joined us for the last two weeks of the trip. We really wished they could have been there for the whole enchilada. They would have had a blast and we all would have enjoyed their 

Spirit. So glad you made it for the last two weeks Paul and Jean.

Patrick wasn't here for the whole journey, just the last few weeks. We learned quickly he would have been valuable to have around for the entire trip. His navigational skills were incredible. 

Ah Pat. A cyclist from the old school. I enjoyed the fact he was convinced we were all bike racers because we wore Lycra. I am enviable of all the thousands of miles that he has ridden in his 70 years. Pat the only race we are in, is the race of life. We are all doing our best to enjoy it.

Brother Mike, thank you for the prayer this morning. We have had a blessed trip. The weather was awesome and everyone finished the ride. Oh and you were never lost, you only misplaced yourself a few times.Your rest stops were great!

Me and my Mr. Jimmy. I remember when we talked about riding across the States. Then two years ago you said let's ride across with Chris and some of his friends. We did it!

Diggity and Doogie. A 12 year old and 22 month old pup. 52 hotels and 10 camper stays and counting. You little guys have been pretty darn good. Love you guys

Today we all rode together.we waited at turns and no one was dropped. Many parts of the ride were on the Eastern trail bike path.

The path was hard packed and tree covered. Also with it being Saturday and the Labor 

Day weekend the trail had many people out enjoying a ride, running or just a stroll with family and pets.

We finally got to the city and made our way down to the East Beach. No barns today, but I did spot this pretty cool old boat.

They have this small gauge train that runs up and down the coast line. Just like so many of the big freight trains we passed out west the conductor blew the whistle for us.

This is it we all lined up to dip our front wheels in the Atlantic.  

Victory pose. 

Jim and I and our great bikes doing a happy dance.

Below is my Garmin 3364 miles, total climbing for the trip 102,133 feet

This trip would not have been complete without the help of some great friends. Keith and Martha who did the sag support for the first two weeks. Since they were the first, getting the routine down was a tough job. They made it look easy. We all knew that what they were putting together was a lot harder than riding our bikes. The photo below Martha became cone head for the day.

Damon and Cindy were the next ones to come. They were dynamic. They could whip up a lunch stop like nobody's business. They introduced us all to Lays potato chips, Oreo cookies and Chips ahoy cookies. Darn you two!

Then along comes Sam. You couldn't pull anything over on Sam. He could do it all by himself. Finally he let us help. Of course with some direction from him.

We were fortunate that Chris's daughter Tessa was able to take on a week when we found out Jim's brother Mike would not be able to make it. Then Sondra , Roger's wife was here as well. They made a great team and the food presentations improved immensely.

Finally would like to thank all of you who have followed this blog. It's been a blast. We still have our journey home with friends and family to visit along with way. Hopefully maybe get a few rides in as well. If you are curious check in and see what we are up to.

Dang that was fun! Rhonda and Jim 

August 30 Day 30 Tilton (Franklin) NH to Sanford ME 53 Miles 3728 Climbing

Clouds were still around this morning, there was no threat of rain. Forecast said only sunshine and getting warmer. Chris gave us a run down on the route. He said to be careful and watch the cue sheets. There were a lot of turns to be had. We headed out and immediately started to climbing. That always is a heart rate starter. The hills were persistent. we'ed climb a little and descend a little. This old cemetery was kept up pretty well. 

There are a lot of Elk out there. The only ones we saw were these and they we being raised. They started to run and missed the opening in the fence at first and banged into it. They eventually figured it

Out. 

Our next turn took us to South St. Well of all things it turned into one challenging gravel road. E all made it up one climb that Jim it registered  16 % on his GPS. We all were gasping for air. The gravel was a bit damp and made it really hard work to ride. We all stopped and I was going to take a photo. This fellow drove up and asked if we would like all of us in it. We were happy to let him take the picture. When he got out of his car he asked the question. " you do know you are on road bikes?" We all laughed, but we were pleased he knew the difference. We told  him what we were doing and he was most impressed. We all said our good byes and rode on.

We rode many lanes that were long rolling and tree covered.

I don't think this boat gets out on the water much.

There are not many interesting barns in New Hampshire. I spotted this Church. Very typical New England church

This road we did not have to ride. It kept going up. We went on to the right.

Nevin mounts his IPhone on the front of his bike. Occasionally we catch him bending down Nd talking to it.

Crossing over this lake we were now into Maine. There were no signs for us to stand beside, no hoopla. So we all said to each other"Welcome to Maine!"

The newer barns have these metal roofs. I early like them. Jim has heard me for sometime about metal 

Roofs. We may wind up with one on our house. Just got to pick a color.

Dogs are pooped. All stretched out in the room for the evening. These little guys have had a blast they have spent the evening so far in 54 hotels. They have also stayed in the camper 7 nights on the way to Portand Oregon and a few nights where they would not let them stay in the hotel. Jim and I would staying In the camper with them. The only issue each day is which door is the right door.

August 29 Day 59 Quechee (Woodstock) VT to Tilton NH 58 Miles 3527 Climbing

Last night  it continued to rain very hard, so this morning it was very damp and foggy. 

As we were getting ready to roll. Doogie had a great forest adventure. Jim thought he would follow him out to the trailer, which he did then he made an immediate left turn into the woods. Jim went in after him and found him. However when Doogie saw Jim he hauled off running all over the place. Ya Ha! Jim eventually came out with Doogie under his arm. Chris gave us the Que sheets and an overview for the day, he said it was a 30% now, 20% in an hour and 10% chance of rain the rest of the day. Off we roll and you can see the fog creeping across the road

Add another state to our cross country adventure, New Hampshire.

We rode the Purple Heart Trail which was the 4A road we were on. I read a little bit about Karl Haartz on the Internet. Seems while he was in the army he stole Westmoreland's new white Mercury and went for a cross-country joy ride. Busted and court martialed and in the brig in Colorado. Westmoreland said he souldn't be wasted there. On to Viet Nam and he became a point man. An E-4 and two Purple Hearts later!  Haartz and Westmoreland had a lot of respect for each other.

Webster Lake looked likes a wonderful place for a summer home.

I have heard of the Shakers, but really did not know anything about them. If you read about them you will discover like I did that there are not many left. This is the result of one of their tenets, celibacy.

The favorite snack of the trip is Lays potatoe chips. The classics most definitely. We could go through two bags a day, if not more depending on how hot it was. This is the second time we ran into a Lays truck. We seriously considered hijacking it. Maybe we should have contacted them for sponsorship.

The stone wheel came from the McElwain  Blacksmith shop. It is placed here and dedicated to the mills and businesses that helped this area develop and thrive.

We have ridden for 59 days and we have not ridden in the rain. Many of our rest days were rainy and it has rained at night. Today Jim and I got about 5 minutes. Others rode for about 20 to 30 minutes. When we got to the rest stop Mike set up he told us he only had a few sprinkles. The rest of the day it was cloudy but dry.

Barn for the day. In New Hampshire there were several like this that we attached to the home.

Jim had been wanting a hair cut for a few days. When we got to Franklin we found this shop on Main St. Sandy looked at Jim and I'll cut it but you've got to have a shampoo first. She also cut my bangs for me. At first we couldn't understand her. She looked at us and said "Yah Naht from around heah, are yeh?" ( hope that translates right) 

Sandy and her sidekick Rose Mary. They were a pleasure to visit with. 

This rail bed bridge doesn't function anymore. This is the Winnipesaukee River it runs through the town. Suzanne told me Winnipesaukee Lake is her favorite place. The bottom of the lake is rock and the water is so clear you can see the bottom. She vacationed here with friends and their young children many years ago. Two more days to Portland. As Jim would say we are short timers!