July 6, 2019 - Maine

July 6, 2019

(Check back for pictures later!)

Today, we got up early and were on the road by 7am to try to beat the heat. We crossed into Maine and booked it southwest for Bangor. (Alas, still no Stephen King, much to my repeated disappointment!) The I-95 is a gorgeous interstate that cuts a swath through pristine Maine wilderness - nothing but dense forest on either side and, given that it’s a divided highway, we didn’t see any other traffic for a couple hours. We had it all to ourselves. It was blessedly cool and completely void of traffic - a glorious ride!

Coming into Bangor, we hit more traffic until we left the I-95 in exchange for the smaller Route 2 which heads west towards the New Hampshire border. It was a slower road that winds it’s way through beautiful farm land and little hamlets chockablock with little heritage houses and commercial buildings. We poked our way through Newport, Skowhegan (a particularly nice town!) Farmington, Mexico and down into Bethel where we had originally thought we’d stay but we had made some good time so we decided to head into New Hampshire to get a jump start on tomorrow’s plan to spend some time exploring the White Mountains National Park. 

We had just barely crossed into New Hampshire (literally, within minutes) and the storm clouds we had been watching all afternoon finally decided to make their move. We came around a corner and were hit by a wall of rain. And I do mean a wall. It was a complete gullywasher. Within seconds, we were both soaked to the skin and, even though we pulled off right away and threw our rain jackets on, it was a futile gesture. We were drenched to the bone but I have to be honest. AFter the suffocating heat of the past two days (it sat around 35 degrees all day) this instant reprieve felt heaven sent. We carried on briefly but it was raining so hard, the rain left standing water on the road which I don’t like to ride in because of hydroplaning so, at the first campsite, we pulled off. We found a pretty little spot down by the river, popped the camper open in record time and bailed in, squelching and dripping as the sky opened up and then the thunder and lightening arrived. We sure got off the road in time. The thunder boomed and bashed and the ground shook for over an hour. We peeled down to our skivvies and there was nothing for it but to huddle in our bunk, marvelling at the drama of the storm, snug as little bugs in our dry little tent. 

Around 8pm, the storm quit and we were left with a heavily dripping forest and deep puddles everywhere, along with splashed mud all over our bikes and trailer. We cleared wind blown debris and reorganized our camp enough to make a simple dinner, enjoying the much cooler evening and the emerging sunshine. Well hello there, New Hampshire!