Bike Across the US? Done That!

The biker and the bike rode into the Atlantic Ocean this afternoon a little after 1:00 pm EST.  It happened!  We did it!  Such an amazing day.

Neptune woke up from his nap to watch Joe take off this morning about 10 am.  The ride was in 2 parts.  We both traveled to our camp spot in Trenton, Maine, about 12 miles from the harbor in Bar Harbor.  He had an uneventful ride down a major highway.  It was 17 miles and he just wanted to get it done.  It took him a little over an hour to get to Narrows Too RV Park. Neptune and I arrived about 10 minutes after him at 11:30 am.  That was the earliest we could check in.  We parked the RV and Joe was off for the final ride at noon. Neptune and I followed behind with the truck. The ride from Trenton to Bar Harbor was an uneventful 13 miles.  He had 2 hills to climb, and this last ride took 1 hour and 5 minutes. He was very excited when he called me - He was only a mile away from the meeting spot!  The epic 3559-mile journey was coming to an end (Paul would have rode 1 more mile to make it an even 3560) Neptune and I waited on a hill at Agamont Park until we saw Joe turn from Main Street onto West Street towards Ells Pier. There is a ramp down to a rocky beach and Joe rode down. And into the Atlantic Ocean he went!  How very happy and proud of him we are. Neptune even touched the water in his excitement to be with Joe.

After dropping off the bike (and Joe got out of his bike gear) we walked around Bar Harbor village.  The pier is a great place to walk and look at the harbor, islands and boats of all sizes.  It is a very busy area with many people and a lot of dogs.  We celebrated at the Paddy’s Irish Pub, with a beer and lobster rolls.  We have a list of 3 foods to try while in Maine – lobster rolls, crab cakes and popovers.  We were able to take 2 of those off the list today.  The lobster rolls and beer were delicious.  Neptune was very well behaved and sat under the table as we enjoyed our lunch/celebratory meal. We walked along the harbor on The Shore Path.  It was amazing to see all the buoys on the water which mark where the lobster cages are underneath.

We stopped at Ben and Bills Chocolate Emporium for Joe to get an ice-cream.  Someone had told us that this place had the best ice cream and Joe enjoyed his salted caramel cup of ice cream.  We picked up a couple popovers to go at The Stadium.  We were both still full from lunch but didn’t want to miss a chance to check the 2^nd food off our list.

Before leaving Bar Harbor we enjoyed a beer at Stewman’s Lobster Pound. Our table was on the pier, and we could see the water when we looked through the slats under our feet. We got back to our campsite at about 5 and we are relaxing. This evening we are planning our visit to Acadia National Park and the Schoodic Peninsula.  We haven’t spent 3 nights in one spot ever.  We are looking forward to not having to take down and set up again until Sunday. 

We find it hard to believe that the journey has been completed.  The places we’ve been, the people we met, including the many people we met biking and RVing, the many things we’ve learned, the challenges overcome, the support from all of you.  It has been wonderful.

Thank you so much for reading the blog and looking at the pictures and for your enormous support this summer.  We hope that maybe other people will be inspired to do something amazing they’ve always wanted to do.  You can do it!