Day 70: Ellsworth, ME

I wasn't too excited about getting out and riding today.  After all, we had a great time last night with Chris and Deb, and we awoke to more cool, overcast skies.  But we were also anxious to draw closer to the end of our East Coast tour, so we reluctantly pressed on.

Belfast Harbor, our day's starting point.

The pedestrian bridge over Belfast Harbor.

Most of today's route was on US 1, which meant that the grades were easier, and there was generally a nice, wide shoulder to ride on.  The only hiccup occurred 17 miles down the road, when my front tire blew out.  I expected to see a huge hole in both my tire and tube, but a gash part way through the tire casing was the only evidence to be found.  I put a boot batch on the tire and tossed in a new tube and was quickly on my way.  Once we stopped for the day I bled the air out of that tire and put some super glue in the tire gash, hoping that we hadn't just ruined another $50 tire.

A little tourist Kitsch at the Nut House.

The highlight of today was the fact that the sun came out in the afternoon for about four hours.  It was a very welcome and long overdue reunion, and it made the day's 46 miles much more comfortable and pleasant.

We ended our ride in Ellsworth, ME and opted to drive a considerable distance to Schoodic Woods Campground ($30, power, no showers), which is a newer part of Acadia National Park.  To lure folks over here, the campsites all have power, whereas those on Mt. Desert Island (the main part of the Park) are all primitive.  It is just as awesome, but with far fewer people.

Views of Schoodic Point.

We'll return to Ellsworth tomorrow for the final miles of our ride up the Atlantic Coast...

Woo-Hoo!  Tide pooling - Big Fun!