When in Maine... LOBSTER!

The Long Way Home – Day 2 – Turtle and Lobster

Machias to Dover–Foxcroft:

                                                                                                                                                    

Day two started the way I hope the rest of the days start: Bright, sunny, and perfect temperature.  We ate a quick breakfast of granola bars and water and jumped back on the Down East Sunrise trail from yesterday.  More great miles on this trail with only a few people all morning.  This guy was the only guy who gave us any trouble:

Looks like he was crossing from one pond to another and he didn’t appreciate having his picture taken so we left him alone and moved on.  When the dirt ended, we took some pavement out to Penobscot Bay and had a fun lunch at Young’s Lobster Pound. When in Maine you eat lobster - right?

From there we left the coast and headed west.  All of the trails that appeared questionable worked out and we found ourselves on some fantastic back dirt roads.  We even managed to get the bikes really muddy

At the end of the day we stopped for some homemade ice cream and then continued on to our hotel, where we have our own cabin. 

Day 3 will bring us up into very remote areas of Maine near the Canadian border.  

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Where are they now?

Maine - The beginning of our journey

The Long Way Home – Day One

Start the Riding! …. Breakdown!  Today started out great: The pouring rain from the yesterday had completely cleared and we had clear sunny skies.  Great day for riding and we were excited to get going but it was not to be.  We hopped on our bikes, started 'em up and I rode out to the stop sign ready to make the left turn... where's Hank?  I looked back and he's still sitting on his bike at the hotel.  I ride back and discover that Hank’s bike wouldn’t start!  After looking at the obvious possibilities, we had to dig deeper. 

This looks just like the picture from yesterday only unfortunately, it's today!

We finally found a connector under the tank that had slipped out – not related to our modifications but must have gotten bumped.  With that fixed we were on the road – maybe two hours later.

The rest of the day was fantastic.  We took the highway up to Quoddy Head Lighthouse to make up time (not officially part of Long Way Home so it was not breaking the rules). 

I have to say that I got chills as we cleared the last hill to see the Atlantic Ocean.  I was raised on Long Island but the coast of Maine represents everything Atlantic Ocean to me.  What a fantastic place (in the summer!)  Wow, this is as far away from home that we can get.  The land mass over my left shoulder below is Canada!  We spent some time on the beach, took some pictures and got ready for The Long Way Home.

The trip down the coast was absolutely beautiful.  Mostly paved back roads but a large portion on the Down East Sunrise Trail.  This is a repurposed railroad track so you can imagine that is was not at all challenging, but it did pass through some great ocean front and bays.

We stopped at this beautiful inland bay and laid down for a minute.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  Pretty soon, we were waking up from an hour nap.  Hank was loving it - saying it was the best nap of his life.  Tip: Helmets make a great pillow!

Arriving at our hotel in Machias, we were greeted by two Bald Eagles flying over the river and diving after some Ospreys to chase them out.  We were in awe and I didn’t think to take out my camera until they were clearing out.

‘looking forward to day two

New Bikes!

Here we are with Lou (manager of Friend and Friend ATV) and Nick (half owner of our bikes!)

I can’t say enough good things about the people at Friend and Friend.  Lou, the manager, has been there for us all the way.  Finding the bikes, giving us a fantastic deal, installing the upgrades and prepping the bikes.  Nick, on the right, is half owner of our bikes!  He was nice enough to drive us around today to register the bikes in Maine and loan us his address and name.   He said he’ll be following our blog to make sure we don’t abuse his new bkes.   Tim and Danny were there for us in the shop to loan tools and give advice.  Travis and "ace" were super helpful finding parts we needed.  Alicia was always there for us with the paperwork and following up.  The people make the place and this place is great!

Once we got the bikes back to the hotel, we proceeded to tear them apart… because that is just what we do:

We finally finished installing the handlebars with power and mounts for the GPS, and the panniers.sometime after dark.  Then it was pizza delivery and packing time.  We’ll have a photo tomorrow – It was dark by the time we finished!

We are off to Quoddy Head light house tomorrow for the start of our journey!

The first  day started out 36 hours ago when we woke up, Sunday morning, to realize that we only had one more day to get ready!  Worked frantically to try to assemble the parts for our bikes and gather up the clothes and gear we would need.  We ended up doing an all nighter and when 4:30 am rolled around my wife was wise enough to blow the whistle and hustle us to the car.  We basically threw all the work in progress into four big boxes with the expectation that we would have to ship at least one box back with the tools and things we wouldn't need.

Even our three little ones were helping out:

Our good friend Jeffrey, loaned us his bike to test fit all of our modifications.  (Jeffrey - I'll email you in a separate email about your bike).  

We finally arrived in Bangor Maine around 7 pm on Monday, unloaded our four big boxes into the hotel and walked about 2 miles down the road to Woodmans Bar and Grill.  - What a great group of patrons, employees, and the owner Abe treated us to dinner! -Does that make us sponsored?  Totally unexpected and very much appreciated.  I can't say enouh about how  nice and welcoming everyone was.  I have to give a shout out to our new friends Jim and Daron who were having dinner with us at the bar and the bar tender Ryan.  Great food and the IPA just won first in the Maine Brewer's Festival.  Here we are with Ryan (on the left)and the owner Abe.

From there, Abe took us across the street to Orono Brewery where we met Abel.  Abels a passionate dualsport rider and promissed to post us on IBAR (International Brotherhood of Adventure Riders).  Here we are with Abe and Abel (no, they are not related :)

It was a great end to a very long day.  Tomorrow we pick up our new bikes!

Hello Friends and Family,

On Monday, Hank and I depart on our epic journey.  We are calling it "The Long Way Home" - The longest offroad motorcycle journey we could conjure up within the continental United States.  My wonderful wife has agreed to take on all the kids, dogs cooking, oh.. I guess she already does that.  Well, I'm sure there is stuff she has agreed to take on that I do!  With the house in good order, we start from Quoddy Head Lighthouse which is the furthest eastern point of the US and we are headed home to San Diego - eventually finishing at the furthest south-west corner of the US.  Our finish will be at Friendship park where the California/Mexico border meets the Pacific Ocean.  

We have purchased two new Yamaha WR250R 250cc dirt bikes in Bangor Maine (our friends at Friend and Friend ATV have been a huge help!).  We will be flying out to Maine on Monday and picking up our bikes Tuesday morning.  We have prepared (or should I say still preparing) the modifications for the bikes including handlebars with power and mounts for GPS and saddle bags,  We will bring these with us and assemble them onto the bikes on Tuesday.  Then a trip to the dmv to register them (we've been told you just walk in and talk to someone right away - no waiting no hassle - strange...),   My good friend gpsKevin has been mentoring us as we plan a route that takes us on dirt roads and trails across the country.  If all goes to plan, we will reach Denver in three weeks where we fly home for one week so Hank can attend his Cal Poly Pomona college orientation!  Then we fly back, five days later, to finish the remaining two weeks of the adventure.  

Staying off pavement will present its share of challenges.  We have tried to research the open and legal routes, but I'm sure we will see our share of reroutes and double backs!  200 miles per day and almost 7000 miles total!!  Yes, I know we are a little crazy but it wouldn't be an adventure without a lot of unknowns - right?