Day 4 - Brownfield, ME

The doom and gloom of the weather forecasts all were for naught and today was a beautifully sunny day. Cold, yes, but even that was moderate. I planned on being the layer monster again, but when I was outside this morning, prepping the bike, it felt too nice to have to bother with so much, so I pared down a teensy bit. I was totally comfortable all day, and only turned on the grips and vest after I started chasing shadows in Maine.

First stop after leaving the house was to top off with gas, since I hadn't filled up since Philadelphia. One of my trip meters is acting squirrelly, so I had to change which one I use for measuring gas consumption. I got away about 15 minutes later than I'd planned, and the fuel stop added another 15, so I wasn't heading north until 9:30 this morning. I got onto Cross Island Parkway to get off of Long Island, and it's pretty hairy in its own right, but when you have a disabled vehicle blocking an entire lane, it gets teeth and claws. I have been surprised, however, with the traffic that I see and people merging in where there is NO room, I've only heard someone use his horn once, and that was in a rest area and not on the congested roads. About 30 minutes later, we finally got by the car that was broken down in the road, and things really picked up. I headed out on the Throg's Neck Bridge and picked up 295 to 695 to 95. Once again, my EZPass proved to be worth the bike's weight in gold. It will be interesting to see how much all of these tolls add up to be once I'm home.

I started working on my left handed picture taking skills today, lashing my camera to the handle of my tank bag. I took about 175 pictures, and might have 10 that are interesting. Occasionally, the selecter dial would get bumped, and I would think I was taking a picture, when I was actually set to video mode, so I've gotten a few random movies that don't make a lot of sense...deleted. I got to go on some cool bridges today and got a couple of shots there.

My first people stop was in Lakeville, MA, where I stopped off at our branch to meet folks that I've dealt with on the phone. Maria was excited to see me, and came out to meet Mr. Crunchy :) I got some good advice from Bruce and Tom (thanks, guys!) on where to get off in Boston for a quick photo op, and I even met one of the drivers in the branch, and answered a question he'd had about how to send a message from his truck (using PeopleNet). I grabbed a quick 'lunch' while at the branch, which consisted of a Zone bar and a Starbucks Doubleshot. I'd had a pretty good bite before leaving Ben and Sarah's in the morning, and since I figured I'd be up at Frank and Trina's by 6 p.m., this snack should tide me over. (I also chatted with one other lady at the branch, but can't think of her name!)

I stayed at the branch about an hour, and needed to head on out, because traffic in Boston would only be getting worse, and that was my next hurdle, 40 miles north. Maria walked me out and wished me well for the rest of the ride. She might have had a misgiving or two when I rode past the exit of the branch and had to circle around before finding my way out. I did manage to get back on 495 without mishap and started towards Boston.

About 13 miles outside of town, traffic started to utterly creep. It was slow and stop and slow and go and stop and slow. I saw a lane that was moving, and hopped into it. Turns out, it was heading off on a different road split, but I was able to stay moving along until a little before the point of no return, and then hopped back over onto 93. Again it was slow and go, but not as bad as it had been. Once it got closer to the city, it actually opened up pretty well, but the lanes going out of the city looked positively hideous. I took the exit prescribed by the guys at the branch and rode around some in the north end. It reminded me a lot of Manhattan...tight, twisty roads crawling with pedestrian traffic. I wandered my way over to part of the harbor and took a couple of shots before trying to find my way back where I'd gotten off 93. I went right back to within a block of where I'd turned off and got back on 93, going over another pretty cool bridge. From there, I might have had one more quick bit of congestion, but the worst was definitely past.

I rode for a few more miles, and then stopped for gas at Wakefield, MA, at 4:15 p.m. My goal was to be in by 6 p.m. that night, and I had about 115 miles to go. I thought I'd be pretty close, and headed back on the road. Just past the New Hampshire border, I did stop at the welcome center to use the facilities and change out the pinlock lens on my faceshield. The sun was starting to set, and I didn't want to get darked on with a dark shield. I'd also used up all of my battery juice in the camera, so I switched out batteries then as well. Once I got back on the bike, it was time for the final push into Maine (with a cool border bridge). It wasn't long before I was taking the exit off 95 at Saco and starting to find the country roads. All of the route was through pretty heavily wooded areas, and as the sun sank lower, my eyes started opening wider to adjust.

The road itself was pretty horrible, actually. It had a high crown in the middle, lots of places with frost heave and a good many tar snakes. Add darkness to that, combined with annoying headlights behind, and it makes for a tense ride. Make two wrong turns and things get even better. For a final touch, have the final approach road be a mix of dirt with gravel, and no lights to show where houses were sitting far off the road, and it makes for a fun night altogether! I did manage to make out the small sign with the house number and last name that was nailed to a tree at the foot of Frank and Trina's driveway, and made it up the last bit of gravelly road, turning the bike off at 7:30 p.m. Just a touch later than I'd planned :)

However, all's well that ends well, and I had a warm welcome and a bowl of some fabulous black bean soup, topped off with a nice piece of spice cake. I'm hoping to get out early tomorrow and head up to our branch in Oakland to see the boys up there, before heading to the coast and meandering my way back over here again tomorrow night. Before dark.