We officially started pedaling on Thursday, August 18. What a relief to finally be on the road! Our first two days were a bit of a “shakedown” trip. We had wanted to start in Maine, but the logistics with the train situation slowly killed that plan. So, we decided to start from John & Laura’s house here in New Hampshire and do a loop into Maine, which worked perfectly!

We took off Thursday morning and on our way out of the driveway began to realize (again) how much gear we have! Sure, we knew it was more than we normally carry, but actually taking off on more than a test ride was a bit of a painful reminder. Our goal was Saco, Maine. Nothing particularly glamorous about that city, it was just about the right amount of mileage we thought we could handle in our first day.

We were blessed by the friendliness of everyone in this area! Everywhere we parked our bikes to take a break, people would stop and talk to us. We sat outside of a closed-down gas station for a snack, and the men inside working to renovate the place came out and asked if they could help us with anything or if we wanted to use their facilities. When we passed the “Welcome to Maine” sign, we stopped in the shoulder of the road the shoulders were all VERY spacious, also nice!) to take a picture of our bikes and each other with the sign. Some guy in a yellow jeep actually did a U-turn and looped back around to pull off the road. We almost expected him to say something about cyclists getting out of the road, but instead he offered to take a picture of the two of us together in front of the sign! What a treat!

We made it back to New Hampshire safe and sound on Friday afternoon. We put in just under 90 miles on this two-day loop, and one thing we’ve realized is that we have a lot of getting in shape to do! But we know that comes with time. We take off again Monday morning, and we’re headed west toward Niagara. More updates to come as we truck along!

 

Leaving from John and Laura's driveway on Thursday morning.

Garths on Tour in Maine!

We stopped at a roadside market for strawberries for only 99 cents, and they were delicious!

Our glimpse of the Maine seacoast

The remains from our delicious Maine lobster dinner at John & Laura's house.