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Deb & Walt bicycle Nova Scotia! Starting in Portland Maine, and then continuing through Newfoundland and back! Page 1: Hotter than Hell in Maine ! |
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| We had just
arrived from Boston, having flown in from our home in Anchorage, Alaska the day before. It was
hotter than hell in Boston, right at 100 degrees. It was a little
cooler in Maine... about 95... We had no real
plan... Just an idea. Bicycle north through Maine to
Nova Scotia...
and if possible, get to Newfoundland... And after this night, we
had no reservations either!! Mighty risky during the summer
season...
Deb visits with Mark and Eileen Long, our gracious hosts, who live between Portland and Bangor, in the great state of Maine. Mark was a fraternity brother of mine... from when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and is now a pilot... |
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Just
outside Mark and Eileen's mansion, we sweltered in the Maine heat, and
posed for a 'before' picture. If I didn't move at all, stood in
the shade, and was completely naked, I would just sweat a little.
Any motion at all and I was really wet...
The previous evening, we fought the mosquitoes, and put the bikes together. Being from Alaska, at least we are used to mosquitoes, but this heat!! We were very glad we didn't try to bike further south...
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| We started biking on Highway One just outside of Rockland. It was over ninety degrees, but didn't seem too bad because the road was too terrifying to let us think about the heat. Lots of traffic and no shoulders. But that didn't keep up too long.. | 
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After
a little while a shoulder opened up and the ride was much more enjoyable.
There were more hills than I figured, but that always happens.
Especially when someone tells you that its pretty flat.
It was pretty crossing rivers, and the graveyards were very old. People have been living and dying on this coast for a long time. |
| Looking
ahead to one of the largest bridges we had to cross. We went about
75 miles the first day, and it was nice until shortly after this
bridge. With about 20 miles left, the heat started to get to
us. It had been well over ninety degrees all day, and we had been drinking
gallons of Poweraide. About ten miles from here I walked up a
hill. I didn't really feel all that bad , I was just taking a
break, but Deb was concerned.
A few miles further we were stopped taking a drink when I saw a Trooper driving by the other way. While I watched, he stopped turned around and came back to us. |
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He
pulled off the road right behind us and turned on his
lights.
I thought, "What now?" He asked us if we were all right. I wondered, " Do we look that bad?" I knew we were tired, and probably looked it, but I didn't think I was anywhere near dying. We reassured him and he drove off. It was only a few miles into our destination, but it seemed a lot further. We arrived at about 6PM. Click here! to see what the sign in the picture says... |
| We
decided that night to drop our original plan of biking all the way up
through Maine and New Brunswick. It was just too damn hot!!
I was sunburnt to a crisp.
We were just a short ride to Bar Harbor, where we could catch a ferry to Nova Scotia, so we ditched Highway One and went to take a ride on 'the Cat'! |
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'The
Cat' is an amazing high speed ferry that just flies across the
water! We thought we would have to spend the night in Bar Harbor,
but it turned out we got there in time to take an afternoon ship to
Yarmouth.
I was burnt and tired, and I really wanted to spend the night in 'Bah Haba' (Bar Harbor), but it was a very expensive place to stay.... We took the ship! |
| This is Deb taking a picture of me going up the ramp to the ship, and in the process blocking all the Harleys that were trying to board. |  |
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We found a good place to park on the ship... |
| ...and I locked the bikes up. Now we could go upstairs and relax in an air-conditioned environment!! |  |
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We
got off the ship about 90 minutes later in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Thank
God it was much cooler!
The first thing you do is go through customs. |
| And we got put in the same line as the motorcycles! It turned out the were having a big Harley Rally in Halifax! |  |
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