Belfast, Maine

Seriously, am I in Europe? Two nights ago I stayed in Dresden.
Now I am in Belfast?

Is this a fake hang-up? It's a fake hang up!

So, my brain is scattered. I can't seem to collect my thoughts.

I'm 78 miles from Bar Harbor. I will be there tomorrow.

Weird. It hasn't really sunk in yet.

I rolled into Camden, Maine (much nicer than Camden, NJ!) yesterday, another beautiful day.
I've been blessed with amazing weather the past 4 days. Sunny - highs in the 70s, lows in the 40s or upper 30s.
There was a frost warning the other night and boyyyy were they not kidding!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr chilly dog.

Anyway, I got into Camden, which is tourism central, took a secret sidewalk that looked very appealing for some reason - I just felt compelled to follow it.
Follow the yellow brick road and the secret sidewalk.
And wouldn't you know - OCEAN! It was a park overlooking an inlet, not the official 'water for as far as you can see' ocean. But still. It was salt-water in the harbor, with boats that go directly to the ocean without passing GO - I even saw a cruise ship, those dastardly floating garbage heaps.

I stood there, just looking. After so many miles it hardly seemed real. I was there, or almost there.

I love having the ocean as a destination, or goal. There is something expansive and free about it. I leaned my bike up against a bench and just sat there for awhile in the warm sun. Listening to my iPod.
My iPod! That's another story for another time. The moral of the story is that two days ago it rose from the dead. Hip hip, hooray!

A special thanks to Steve and Jennifer from Dresden for bequeathing an iPod charger to me.
I stayed with them two nights ago. It was a great time, I'll have to write more about that later.

I left Dresden yesterday, armed with sweet precious music, and rode up and down the backroads of Maine. Maine doesn't have a lot of flat ground. Or roads with shoulders for that matter. More on that later too.
Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' came on and I smiled when I heard the line 'you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.' Made me think of my good and crazy homeless friend Daniel.
Then, The Coast by Paul Simon... fitting. Then Graceland!
The Mississippi Delta, was shining like a national guitar. Reminded me of my original cross-country trip to California with two great friends 4 years ago. What a time it was, for many reasons. Boomland and all!

I still don't know how I feel about seeing the ocean. It feels like I'm seeing the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding - and you're not supposed to do that!
I was riding along Route 1 this morning up the coast of Maine, and I kept seeing it.
I would look at it, and it, me. I almost felt like I didn't want to see it yet, or wasn't ready for it.

Go away ocean, I'm not ready for you yet.

To me, it signals the end of a very unique and amazing experience.

I'm like a kid at a playground, where the mom has to drag the kid off the monkey bars, kicking and screaming.


I wanted it to just appear out of nowhere in Bar Harbor - where I'd jump off my bike and into the water in some glorious final scene, like two lovers being reunited - running in slow motion towards each other with cheesy music playing in the background.

Alas, I've seen it. Tomorrow I will arrive in Bar Harbor and thus conclude a most incredible experience.