Memorial Day Weekend Shakedown - Sunday

About 360 km (225 miles)

Sunday we did the obvious: we rode.

We talked about but decided against packing everything up and loading the bikes for practice. We both agree the loading had gone quite well, and we were happy with our 'systems'. We wanted to ride down to the coast to enjoy the views and hopefully the cool air. We thought about Acadia National Park, but decided on Boothbay Harbor.

Jess and I discovered Boothbay Harbor when we rode from Toronto to New Brunswick (east through the US, west through Canada) in 2005 - me on my Honda VF750 Magna and Jess on her Kawi Ninja 250. 250! It was her first big trip. She's amazing. We camped at Gray Homestead Campground for a night, and enjoyed some fantastic lobster from a Robinson's on the wharf.

The next time we visited was just last fall when I was delivering my Dad's R1200GS to him in New Brunswick. Jess and I had decided to take a few days to get there, so we hit up Whitehorse Gear then headed down to Boothbay for the night, this time staying at Sprucewold Lodge. If you've got a thing for wood grain, you'll love Sprucewold Lodge. The room and bed weren't really impressive, but the atmosphere was great and the buffet brunch was even better.

Anyway, Dad and I had lunch at the Fisherman's Wharf Inn right in the middle of Boothbay Harbor, and enjoyed sitting out on the shaded patio watching families and friends and tour groups come and go on the wharf next door. We then rode down the the southernmost tip of the area, Newagen at Cape Harbor. I forgot all about showing Dad Sprucewold Lodge, so I led us out of town right after that.


View Memorial Day Weekend - Sunday in a larger map

The plan was to ride east on 1 up to Belfast before heading back towards our campsite at Newport, but thankfully we managed to miss Belfast and kept on riding until we reached the rather stunning Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory. I'd happened upon it about 7 years ago before it was opened, and even then I was quite taken with it. It's a gorgeous and elegant structure, with some pretty cool engineering including continuous cables that don't actually anchor in the pylons, and are encased in pressurized nitrogen to prevent corrosion.

We crossed the bridge just to do it, then corrected our course and headed back to camp. The grocery store had just closed when we got into Newport, so we ate at the Pizza Hut. Large Supreme for $10! Cheap and sooo good, even if 1/2 a large was a bit much. I don't have Pizza Hut very often, and it still happily reminds me of being a young teen in Fredericton when Mom would get two medium Pizza Hut pizzas (one Supreme, one half Hawaiian, one half vegi), 2L of Pepsi, and some movies from Blockbuster. That wasn't every Friday - those were special Fridays.

The day's riding had reminded me that I simply cannot wear a bandana in my current helmet. I wore one in my previous Arai Profile e for years and it never bothered me, but since getting my latest helmet a few years ago I'm always left with a wicked headache if I try having anything else besides my head in there. (Earplugs are difficult, the headset nearly impossible, and a bandana can only last a few hours.) After having a headache most of the day, I was happy to be fed and heading to bed. We had another fire, I lost my new bottle of soap by dropping it behind the shower stall liner when I tried to place it on the (non-existant) top ledge, and then bedded down.