New Developments

Last night I sent an email to an old friend who lives in Maine and whose employer is located in North Conway, NH, just letting him know I'd be in the area next week, and if he was around, I'd pop in and say hi, but if it wasn't convenient, no worries. Haven't talked to him or seen him since my dad and I were up in Maine 10 years ago, hiking to the top of Katahdin and climbing in the White Mountains in NH. Today I got an email back from Frank with a subject line of "You better come see us!" I got out the map (or went to googlemaps, more accurately) and looked to see how far they were from Old Orchard Beach, which is where I was intending to spend Monday night. Thirty miles. Um...sold!

The weakest link in my lodging was the night at Old Orchard Beach. I found a really promising ad on Craigslist for a little efficiency right off the beach, but never could get anyone to call me. I finally got a live person after my fourth call, and she said she'd call back that afternoon with confirmation information. No call. I called two hours after the time she said she'd call, and got her husband, who launched into this windy spiel about how his sister in law had posted the ad, and it should have said 'two night minimum', because you know, they can't make any money if they rent it for just one night and have to clean the room when I've gone, but they'd go ahead and work with me, because it was their mistake, but his wife was exhausted, because her friend was in the hospital, but she'd call me back on Monday or Tuesday. Eyeore inflection with Maine accent, and yes, he talked in run-on sentences.

Now, I can email the sister in law who posted the ad to let her know their services will not be required. I wasn't looking forward to wrestling with that alligator to get the information of where they were located, how late they were open, etc. The only thing of mine they have is my phone number, but I assume that is safely lost somewhere, so it's all good.

Got to thinking some more, and I might even adjust my itinerary to include a second night with Frank and Trina (instead of using Charlie's cabin), which would let me have a day to tour around without luggage, which is a rare treat on a trip like this. I'll confirm the last details tomorrow night, most likely, but this tweak is going to have some nice side effects. It will make Wednesday's ride to Vermont a lot shorter, as well, which will either help me dodge rain earlier, or allow for some extra side road excursions. I'm liking it!

I got a balaclava last night from a local outdoor store, but the more I was fiddling with it at home, and trying my helmet on, the less I was satisfied with it, and decided to try one from Power Sports of Greenville, where I've gotten quite a few items. They had one balaclava left, and I went by and tried it on tonight after work. It rode up a little and fit funny under my eyes, so I tried pulling it farther down, but then it would get stuck under my nose. It was motorcycle specific, but it wasn't Krystn specific. Kevin, who has been a great salesman throughout my visits there, didn't try to pressure me into getting something I wasn't sure about, and he had some excellent advice. He said once I got up to Maine, bike stores would have a much better selection of them that would fit the way I wanted it to, which makes perfect sense, since the temps up there would warrant a higher demand. That's taking care of his customer :)

This morning, I went by TJ's to drop off the bike key, filter and oil, and he came over to the house to pick up the bike and give it the once over. It was waiting for me when I got home, looking ready for what may come its way. Won't be riding tomorrow, as they're calling for 100% mega mama rain and possible flooding. Of course, they were doom and gloom for this past weekend and missed that one by a country mile. I'm hoping to ride through some of those country miles (missed rainy forecasts) in the next few days...