Mile 413

5:30 AM, the alarm clock goes off and we are up in no time as this morning we will start on our trip up North.  Breakfast is done quickly and then it is to get the last duffle bag strapped to the top rack and out the door we go.  We follow I-91 north to Brattleboro, VT to join Rt. 9 to bring us over Keene, NH to join  Hwy-202 to bring us Concord, NH.  We continue East toward Portland, ME to quickly enter I-95 and a short section of I-295 to joint Hwy-1 to bring us up to Gouldsboro, ME.  Taffic is for a Saturday rather low, except for the many bikers all traveling towards Laconia Bike Week in Laconia, NH.  But this is of no big deal to us, and neither are the occasional showers we get bathed with.  All that was fine till we hit Belfast, ME, and a single huge cloud gave a deluge.  Klim riding gear passed the test, and all was good.

Penobscot Narrow Bridge, ME

The Penobscot Narrow Bride is one of only four bridge observatiories in the world.  The other three are in China, Thailand, and Slovakia.  The observatory is at 420 feet in elevation - which makes it the tallest public occupied structure in Maine and the highest bridge observatory in the world.

In Gouldsboro, ME we found a bed at a friends place and we spent the rest of the evening sipping beer, G&T and Whiskey, having dinner and exchanging stories.  A perfect ending to the first day of travel.

"There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends that become family." - unknown