Day 15 - August 20 Ride to the Top

The plan for the day was to ride a loop up to Madawaska, the northeastern most HD dealership in the continental US.  Both Torrey and Shannon noted that in was a COLD 63 degrees and foggy at the 8:30am start time.  I point out that it was cold because in other areas 63 degrees was plenty warm when we start riding.  The route was Maine 6 to 1 along the eastern border of Maine to Madawaska and then Maine 11 to US 95 back to Lincoln.

 

 

Torrey noted it was foggy riding on 6, but once they turned left onto 1 the visibility cleared up.  The most notable feature of this road was how rough the paving was.  It was such a bumpy ride that on Torrey's bike one of the bolts that holds the seat to the bike rattled out.  Inside Alan's tour pack, his water bottle sprung a leak somehow and caused a flood inside his tour pack.  A stop at Plourde's HD in Caribou, ME before they closed at noon gave Torrey the opportunity to replace the missing bolt.

 

  The churches along the path were big and beautiful as was the scenery.

 

Arrival at the Plourde's HD in Madawaska, ME was the second check point of Torrey's 4 corners pursuit.  There was a very cool park in town that celebrated the arrival at this northeastern most location. In addition to the monument, there was also some fun photo ops with cutouts and even a place where certificates are issued marking this occasion.

 

At lunch time, the temptation was just too much when this sign was sighted. They had to try it.

 

 The stop also provided views of Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada across the river.  They headed out of town on Hwy 11, also known as the Aroostook Scenic Hwy.  Shannon noted that it was like riding a roller coaster.  Alan commented that they kept seeing road signs cautioning of moose crossings. As they came around corner near Portage, there was one standing there.  Luckily, it didn't cross the road, and Shannon was able to quickly snap a pic.



It was back to Lincoln, ME for night number two as Maine 11 merged into US 95 South.

 

Total Miles for the day: 382.5;

Total Cumulative miles: 5933.3

Tomorrow: New England, Take 2