Bicycling New England, the
Erie Canal, & around Lake Ontario 2005
Bethel to Wilton ME

June 10, 2005
Distance 47.7 Miles
Climbing Elevation: 2,380 feet

After a full breakfast at the B&B we left the motel around 8:00 and headed east on highway US 2. We have been following US 2 since we started this bicycle tour. The first 30 miles were really nice especially after I put at least 30 more pounds pressure in both bicycle tires. We have ridden for 3 days on tires that were greatly under inflated. No wonder we have been so tired at the end of the day.

For those first 30 miles we followed the course of the Androscoggin River. There wasn't any wind and we seemed to fly those first 30 miles.

At Runford, we crossed the Androscoggin River where I took pictures of the dam but George suddenly decided to stop for coffee where Jane and George struck up a conversation with a couple of clients in the coffee shop and suddenly we were going through the middle of Rumford when my plan was to miss the center of town and its traffic on narrow streets. We needed the rest but I do not drink coffee and that was the only beverage served.

The last 17 miles were either up or down and we worked like mad to go up only to fly down so we could go up again. Finally we reached Wilton and George and Jane suddenly turned off the route. We immediately began going over rollers that almost required dropping into the granny gear to go over the top. I was tired and cranky so we turned around and went into Wilton via US 2. In Wilton we found a restaurant where George and Jane joined for lunch. As we sat waiting for our food, a thunderstorm occurred and it rained very hard. We were lucky that the restaurant had a covered entry so we put our bicycles in that covered entry and waited out the storm by eating lunch and desert. The motel did not have any place to eat so we bought food at a grocery store. George, Jane and Mary Kay walked to the grocery store and I waited with the bicycles. As I was waiting a great blue heron landed in the middle of the stream that flowed past the restaurant. I grabbed my camera and took a picture.

After everyone returned to the restaurant, we headed back to the motel. It was raining lightly as we arrived at the motel so it became a priority to get the bicycle under shelter.

On top of everything else, my new Garmin Quest GPS locked up. The same screen shows all the time and it will not turn on or off. Good news we called Barb & Scott and they were able to tell us how to fix it.