Miles: 57.4 Today / 2767.74 Total
Elevation Gain: 3196 ft. Today / 84,379 ft. Total
When we left Thomaston Baptist Church the chance of rain was 1-2% for the entire day, so all but one of us left our rain gear behind.
Riding with Butch through our lunch stop, we both had different plans for the day. We had, independent of each other, decided to take a couple of shortcuts to shave about 20 miles and over 1000 feet of climbing off our day. Sounds like we’re getting lazy, but it’s really just exhaustion.
The roads were hilly and smooth, as they wound through more New England countryside, passing farmland, lots of forested areas and the quaint historic towns of Rockland, Rockport, Camden, Lincolnville, Bellfast, Searsport and Stockton Springs. Each one of these towns consisted of lovely Colonial era homes and historic downtowns. We came upon some vistas that we had to stop for.
Crossing the Penobscot Narrows Bridge was another big deja by moment. Such a a amazing structure!
Once off the bridge, we passed through a corner of Verona Island before crossing yet another bridge to Bucksport. After finding our way to the local United Methodist Church, we settled into our accommodations, which were private rooms (classrooms, halls, offices, etc.).
Tomorrow, the Bike the US for MS team reaches their destination in Bar Harbor. As you know, I will continue on for a couple of days to Canada. I have contemplated ending my ride with the team and just heading home, but this is a goal. I have to accomplish it.
P.S. Remember that weather report? Those predictions ended up being wrong, and at our lunch stop, it started raining. I ducked into a restaurant and ordered a drink, so I could stay warm and dry. Checking the weather radar, we could see that the rain wasn’t going to let up for 2 hours. It was around 54 degrees out, so getting wet could turn into hypothermia, but waiting for the clouds to pass, based on the weather radar forecast, didn’t make much sense. So the 4 of us who were contemplating this together jumped on our bikes and started riding, and as we rode, its started sprinkling. When the full on rain started coming down, I pulled off the road and ducked under the overhang of a vacant building till it stopped. The clouds looked threatening for the rest of the day, but thankfully, the rain was over.
Living Our Bucket List 
Yes, I am glad you all were safe. Good decision.
JoBeth DeVore
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