25 July 2010

For the first time this trip we woke to the pitter-patter of rain on the parking lot. A visit to <weather.com> indicated that the front was moving through, and would be mostly gone by 0900, which was our projected departure time anyway, as we didn't have a long day planned.

 

We ducked the raindrops over to the best 'free' breakfast we've had: two kinds of omelets, three cereals, four fruit juices, sausage, huge muffins, bread, bagels--and a very helpful attendant, who was suggesting hikes, boat trips, and ways to spend a wet Maine Sunday.

The rain stopped as predicted, and we packed up and moseyed over to the Acadia NP visitor center, where we got our Maine stamp, which will qualify us for the Iron Butt "Silver" version of the stamp quest. (It was also the 25th we've collected, which means we're half way to the basic award.)



Then it was back out to the mainland, and points farther north. The new gps projected us turning off on a road I didn't recognize, and as I got more details, I didn't recognize any of them--I knew I wanted to take I-95 to SR11, and that was pretty much it. Zooming out showed us going into Canada, which wasn't in our plans--we're both carrying passports, but border crossings are a minefield of delays, so saving a couple of minutes on better roads isn't an attractive option.

On the way up 11 we found a couple patches of rain <weather.com> didn't know about, but by the time we got up to US1, the clouds were well broken, with lots of sun shining through.

20 miles of low speed limits put us in Madawaska, where we got gas and a receipt, and finished the paperwork for the fourth and final corner. They've built a "Four Corners" monument there, celebrating the ride; the town has always been very supportive--in early days the postmaster would rush out and greet each participant, get his picture taken with them, hand-cancel the envelope, and wish them luck on the remainder of the trip, or congratulate them on finishing.



The monument has a place to park the bike to take a picture, so we did that, and also has a plaza covered with 'pavers,' available for purchase to support the monument. A couple of years ago they offered finishers the opportunity to buy one, and at the time I had some extra money, and did so. So we found that, and a couple of other names I recognized, along with one amazing stone commemorating the quickest Four Corners ride: 4 days, 10 hours and 42 minutes--not much sleeping going on there!



We'd noted a motel across from a grocery store on our way into town, and they had a homey double available, so there we are.



No 'guest laundry,' but they let us use the motel's gratis, so we have clean clothes for the next five days, too!

State: Maine

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