53.8 mi / 4:53:20 time / 11.0 mph avg. / 2869 ft. climbing
Staying at Rodeway Inn

In the morning, everything was dry. If we had experienced a morning previously in camp when there was neither leftover rain nor heavy dew covering everything, I don’t remember it. But now I remember how much nicer it is. It’s so much more comfortable, easier to make coffee, and faster to pack up. The only rain we had to contend with was the rain of acorns that were still coming down in waves as the wind would hit a pocket of trees. There was one sitting on my pannier, one inside my helmet, and I might still be carrying some with me. I’ve never seen so many acorns. 

Rett’s tumble down the rocks last night didn’t actually make that night much worse than it would have been otherwise. The overlong hike meant that even without a fall, there still would have been sore hiking muscles, a cold shower,  and unappetizing tent picnic to make it bad enough. No, it was when she went to ride on in the morning that we would understand the consequences of the fall. Luckily there seemed to be no structural damage, so it would be mainly pain and swelling from bruising to deal with. 

Camden did turn out to be exactly the cute no-delivery-chain-restaurants town we expected it to be. Breakfast outside at Marriner’s overlooking the harbor was good enough to at least temporarily put a smile on Rett’s face. 

Unfortunately, after that, it was mostly a joyless slog to get through the miles. But as usual, she got through them, even though it was our biggest day in a while. It was also the first sunny day we’d had in four days, so that made it especially sad that she couldn’t enjoy what otherwise was a pretty nice day of bike touring. 

Along the road, we ran into Rick, a guy out on a weeklong bike tour. We rode together for a stretch, until we dropped him going up a big hill where he had to stop and walk up. Ha! Even in her weakened state, Rett is out here leaving other bike tourers in her dust. Until that point, Rick was happy for the company, since he can’t convince his wife to do anything more than drop him off at the start and pick him up at the end. I felt like he was a bit jealous of me and my girl who comes riding with me. And he should be! I’m pretty lucky! 

Beyond dropping Rick (in his defense, he eventually passed us while we took a break), there were some other moments of smiles for Rett, like kisses from a doggie at a stand where we bought some Maine blueberry jam, and a good lobster roll lunch in Wiscassett (though not from Red’s, the place recommended by John and Lauren, and Rick, because it was a 40 minute line in the suddenly unbearable sun, and we’re learning things about overextending ourselves here!) 

It took some arm twisting, but eventually I convinced Rett that a motel stay would be better for her recovery than a night at a private campground I wasn’t particularly interested in. Hopefully tomorrow will feel better for both of us! 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 21st, 2016 at 8:00 pm and is filed under 2016 Bike Tour, bike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.