We've been pretty busy since Boston. We were originally planning on riding straight to Maine from there, but as usual, our schedule changed. We met the Hanson family - whose son Sean had cancer and happened to know Carolyn from DC - in Cape Cod. We had a standing invitation from Erika, one of the people from Vineyard Vines, to visit her house there, so we called her up and asked if it would be okay if we stayed with her. She was great; she drove up to meet us, showed us the beach, and took us to the store so we could barbecue some chicken. It was a fun time.
The next day, we met Sean and his family. At a local dojo, they were having a fundraiser called Kicks for Cancer, where a bunch of the students had gotten sponsors for the amount of kicks they could do in five minutes. They managed to raise over fifteen hundred dollars, and after they were done they showed us the right way to kick. We had a pretty good time . . . kicking around.
Kicks for Cancer
After doing that, we quickly swung by a Vineyard Vines store, and then we grabbed some dinner with the Hansons.
The Hanson Gang
All this was on Friday and Saturday. Cape Cod was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it meant that we still had to ride to Maine by Monday. Not only that, but we had a 1:00 bike ride with some other Vandy alumni in Boston on Sunday that we didn't want to miss. So we headed back to Boston, where the Moores had been such great hosts, first to get a quick tuneup at QuadBikes and second to do a little riding. There we met up with our fellow Vandy grads and took to the trail. Despite ominous skies, we (including Nick, who jumped on the spare bike for this loop, ducktaped brake and all) made it to an ice cream shop at the end of the trail . . .
ice cream .... mmm
We had a lot of fun, doing twenty-odd miles and seeing what some other folks had done after college, something Austin and I will have to figure out soon.
Anyway, after saying our goodbyes, we headed off to Maine. We didn't get started until about 4:30, so we knew some night riding was ahead of us. Nevertheless, we pushed ourselves in an effort to preserve daylight, stopping only for my flat tire (the rear one, of course). But despite our best effort, we couldn't set a pace that would get us to Portland before nightfall. Still, I got to see one of the best sights of the trip so far.
Just south of the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border, we were pedaling on a small back road, fenced in by trees to either side. Suddenly, the trees just to the west of us opened up, and I saw the sun, a brilliant white, hovering just above a field. The field had a slight dip in it, a valley in miniature, and the way the sun hit it made the green incredibly vivid. Some clouds hanging a little above caught the sunrays and framed the entire thing. For about a minute I forgot that I had just ridden sixty miles. Of course, reality kicked in, and I realized that not only was I tired, but I had a long way to go, and the sun setting would hinder more than help. Still, it was a great sight.
Anyway, after one wrong turn, we rode into New Hampshire, put some new batteries in our lights, and rode on. That wrong turn may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because as we rolled into Exeter, New Hampshire, we heard a few loud bangs. We looked around and saw some fireworks being set off over the river. Apparently, every year Exeter sets off fireworks two weeks after the 4th of July to commemorate the Revolutionary War. We stopped on a nearby bridge, one of the best seats in the house, to take a look. While we watched, we talked to some people in the gathered crowd. After hearing what we were doing, one woman gave us some cherries, and another family told us the shortest way to Kittery, Maine, apparently only about 12 miles away. So when the fireworks ended, Austin and I hopped back on our bikes and headed to Maine. Somehow, we got lost along the way, but we met a couple ladies who were willing to drive ahead and show us the way. In no time at all, we had made it to Maine.
We started in Atlanta. We biked to Maine.
So we only have about 3,000 miles to go. With the high fives out of the way, Austin and I headed off to Portland, arriving a little before 11, and then stopped at a Denny's for some dinner since every other restaurant was closed. After that, we headed to an apartment that one man, Michael, had let us use for the night.
This morning, we got up and went to Maine Cancer Center to pass out some goody bags. We met a couple nice people there, including one woman who had biked across the country a few years ago (apparently, it's easier to head west to east because the winds tend to follow you. Too bad we start heading west now.) We even got to meet a couple people involved in some research, which we don't get to do that often. Anyway, the kids were fun, and they seemed to enjoy our goodies.
With the hospital visit finished, we took the chase car to a dealership to check out the oil, we visited a cycling shop to get some Maine stickers, and then we headed to the beach for about an hour, visiting the family of a guy we met in DC, Will Lombard. After a little rock climbing and a quick dip in the ocean, we headed to the home of the Winslow family, who offered to put us up tonight. They made us a big dinner and let us use their internet to catch up on e-mail and blogging. With that out of the way, we can get some sleep, leave Maine, and head back into New Hampshire.
~ Tom
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