Day 20... was spent on the back roads of Maine...a beautiful state. It wasn't west Virginia, but it was definitely 'country roads'. Country Roads
What a difference one day makes. Yesterday, a Saturday, traffic on the non-interstate roadways was maddeningly slow. The roads were packed with what I believe were tourists going to and from beaches and other attractions. One town, remarkably, advertised a 'whatever' festival as their primary attraction
Today, a Sunday, and I had the roads to myself. There were a lot of motorcycles out today and it was a beautiful day to ride. On the down side, some of these back roads are ROUGH. The biggest pothole/bump of the trip happened today and it actually scared me. There were shadows from the trees across the road and it masked the bump. I thought the bike exploded! I stopped and inspected the wheels and forks... they were OK, but dang it was scary.
Today I finally saw some wildlife. I saw a beaver tugging a tree branch down to a stream. I saw a wild turkey. I saw a doe and fawn white tail deer. And I saw a perfect skunk and 3 perfect porcupines... they were perfect because they were all road kill! Skunks and porkies are the natural enemy of bird dog owners.
I changed my planned route today after I looked at my calendar. I'm 30% into the time I thought it would take and I'm not quite 30% of the way around. So instead of going all the way to Houlton and the Canadian border I decided to trend back towards the west of the state. My goal became to visit Knox, Maine and the Henry Knox (think Ft. Knox) Mansion. If my memory is correct my branch of the Knox family came from a brother who was just a common revolutionary soldier. Henry was a Major General under George Washington.
The town of Knox was a cluster of unremarkable buildings on the south side of nowhere. And, because it was Sunday, the Knox mansion/museum was closed. But I walked around the outside and read the markers. There is a bell on display that Knox bought from his pal Paul Revere and donated to the church or, as they called it, the "meeting hall". There's a piece of history.
it fell into such disrepair it had to be taken down and rebuilt
I could live here....
As I road the back roads it came to me that it is too bad that there is no 'smell-o-vision'. All day today I have enjoyed the smell of wildflowers, alfalfa, new mown hay, and freshly cut grass. With the notable exception of a road kill skunk today was like riding in a "summer fresh" perfume commercial.
As the sun got low in the west I began to look for a place to stay. I was navigating off an iPhone map and had no real sense of what lay ahead, so when I came to a beautiful camping site I pulled off. There was a pizza place in the main lodge along with shower facilities and a rec room. The lady running the 'store' said the troopers and ambulance just left an hour before I rolled up... there was a motorcycle fatality. Evidently someone turned across the road in front of a bike. It give a fella pause to think about the hazards of riding tired, so tonight I type this in the rec hall and will sleep in my tent. Let's hope this works out well!
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