Dixfield
ME
Loaded
Sophia and rode north to Frenchville where I had spotted a family restaurant
when I was venturing around the local area on my day of arrival. My treat for successful USA Four Corners
completion was eggs over medium, potatoes with onions, thick slice of ham, and
multigrain toast with unlimited coffee.
‘Twas soooo good.
While
eating I reviewed my route for the day to reach Hermon west of Bangor and get
my oil changed at Central Harley. And
then I attacked the blog updating effort with a vengeance. From there I then went to Tim Horton’s and
ordered a coffee and some donut holes and was able to post about half the
stories with pics before my 10am departure time arrived.
On
US1 I headed north then south then west to its termination in Fort Kent. This was the beginning of a nice ride with
easy speeds around 55, gentle turns, dips and climbs. Beautiful vistas of the
St. Johns Valley area and Canadian hills as well as Maine’s country side and a
nice road surface.
At
Ft. Kent I turned south on ME-11 and was treated to some great spectacles! Just before Portage I crested a mountain
summit and gasped at the panorama of Maine that was laid out before me. Absolutely beautiful. And regrettably, I didn’t stop to take a pic. Also passed by Eagle Lake which is very
picturesque sitting inbetween the mountains. At one spot there was a family
splashing about having fun on inner tubes.
I honked the horn and waved and they all waved back.
Highway
11 seemed to take forever and I finally saw a sign to make a left turn for the
95. This didn’t seem right to me as the
map displayed the road going all the way south and then intercepting the 95. So I continued straight and again, it seemed
to take forevvverrr. and I began
getting a little concerned as I entered a small town and saw no evidence of
I-95. A roadside ice cream shoppe showed up and I spied two middle aged ladies
sitting at a picnic table under a tree near the road enjoying their cones. I
slowed down, steered over onto the shoulder, cut the engine and gave them a
cheery “good afternoon”. They responded to my ’95’ query with instructions to
continue straight ahead for a little less than ‘forever’ and I will see the
connection on the left. About 6-8 miles
later the road split and an arrow directed the 11 as heading to the right. I almost took it when I spied a ‘95’ sign a
bit into the left turn of the road…then I saw the I-95 about 200 yards
away. A gas station was also on there so
I tanked up both Sophia and myself and then rumbled into the up ramp and headed
south to Bangor about 80 miles away.
I
reached Bangor and turned off onto US-2 heading for the Central H-D and arrived
about 4pm. Unfortunately, since I was
supposed to be there at 2pm, they gave my slot away to another customer and
they were unable to squeeze me in.
Bummer, but there were other Harley dealers in Vermont so I will give
them I try.
Back
on the road I continued west on 2 and had an absolutely delightful ride! Gentle hills and curving roads weaved thru
the New England country side and small towns,,,,this was the America I wanted
to see.
I
reached Dixfield around 7:30 and easily found the The Mountain View Campground.
The owners, George and Polly Welch, are real sweethearts. Their
campgrounds are immaculate and with excellent facilities…restrooms, showers and
pool….all for only $22. There were only
a few RVers in the grounds and the tenting area was completely empty. So I picked a nice spot with a picnic table
near some pine trees and also near the restrooms and shower and began setting
up camp. Here’s a pick of the mountains
that can be viewed from my tent….it reminds me of something…
One
of the first things I did was to power up the notebook on so I could have it
ready for writing and posting to my blog.
And this is when a mini nightmare started…..the screen stayed dark, with
a note in the middle advising me the system had to be restored! A couple of clicks more and the system went
into self-evaluation and restoration. So
I continued on with my camp set up but kept glancing at the screen noting it
was working on fixing itself.
I
got the tent set up, bags arranged back on the bike and the cover draped over
all of it in the event it rains during the night, and discovered another note
on the screen. It seems that battery
power was not sufficient for the restoration and the screen was advising me to
connect to the power adapter. So off I
went to the office and found an outlet near a picnic table at the door. I plugged it in, and clicked ‘continue’ and
was presented with a full screen menu of restoration options, help options, and
hard drive back up.
I
panicked! Holy crap…what is the
implication of all these options??? I
made a call to David, my Boeing buddy and computer guru but there was no
answer. Now I was getting frantic and
concerned something could really go bad…so I selected the backup option….and
that took a good 20-30 minutes. Then I remember that Peggy knows computers so I
called her. After reading the various
options to her, she helped me select the best one and later that night the
system finished restoring itself. So all
is well…..hope this doesn’t happen again L!
The
sun completely set while working on the computer with Peggy so I’m glad that I
got the tent all set up. My dinner for
the night was around 10pm and consisted of a cold can of beans and chili. Sounds horrible but it actually was very
good. Oh, silly me, I was famished…so of
course it was very good J.
After
washing up I crawled into my tent and went to sleep trying to recall what those
mountains reminded me of….hmmmmm.
C ya mañana,
Gonzo
Twitter:
@GonzoCrossUSA
Email:
GonzoCrossUSA@gmail.com
Cell:
949-433-0761
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