Starting my seventh straight day of riding, I was beginning to feel a little bit of the fatigue. I found in my previous long-term trips that three or four days of riding followed by a day off seemed to be the best combination. Getting to the coast of Maine has been my mental starting point, since the coastal Maritime region has been my goal. My plan is to travel a bit more slowly the coastline and try to enjoy myself a bit more.
From Brattleboro, Vermont, Kennebunkport, Maine was a little over 100 miles away but the GPS said it was three hours of ride time. That proved to be true, since the highways transitioned to smaller roads with many small town stoplights. Though I couldn't see the Atlantic ocean, I could smell the salty air occasionally between the puffs of diesel and automotive exhaust in the stop and go traffic, and my excitement rose.
Rolling into the picturesque town of Kennebunk, I was met with a wave of tourists and the little town seemed to show no signs that the summer season had ended. I parked the bike downtown and wandered around a bit before buying a small box of fried clam strips for a snack during my tushie break. There was no shortage of tourists, most of them still in clad in shorts and flip-flops, standing in line at the window of the nearby shack ordering seafood.
But after a break and an expensive lunch snack, my desire was to keep moving. I had considered staying in Kennebunkport for a day off, but the tourist crowds were not something I wanted to be around. After people-watching a bit, I fired up the bike and headed out to Walker's Point to check out the Bush family compound. Needless to say, the homes on the coastline were picturesque and beautiful, where the wealthy elite live their idyllic lives.
Stopping briefly, I snapped a pic of the Bush compound and counted the black Secret Service Suburbans parked side by side near the entrance gate.
I continued my ride up the coast line on Highway 1, passing through small towns and a lot of stop-and-go traffic. I'd briefly checked in on ADVrider.com while snacking and saw @Brett737cap recommendation for Days Seafood in Yarmouth, which was on my way.
When I pulled into the gravel lot to park, two men approached me and begin speaking to me about the GS. They were from Germany and both had GS's back home in their home country. At the moment they were in rental cars taking their wives on a tour of New England. It was fun talking to them and they warned me they had eaten all the lobster so there was no point in trying to get any in the restaurant, chuckling as they walked away.
I ordered my first lobster roll at the walk-up window, waiting a few minutes before it came out and then enjoying the pleasant view from the picnic tables out back.
The sun had dropped lower in the sky and I knew it was time to move on up the coast. I decided to check out the Owl's Head Lighthouse near Rockland, before trying to find a place for the evening. The sun was pretty low by the time I arrived, and I had a nice conversation with an Australian girl in the parking lot before walking out to see the lighthouse.
When I stopped briefly at the bottom of the steps leading to the lighthouse, a couple walked up and asked if I had been to all the places exhibited on my bike. This led to a long conversation between the man, who was from Buenos Aires and anxious to hear about the towns I'd been to while in Argentina, and the woman, who had lived in Maine, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. She said that September was one of the best times to travel to Newfoundland because there was much less fog than in the summer months.
Above, a young couple had just finished their wedding ceremony at the base of the lighthouse so I watched as the photographer posed them in various places, congratulating them and smiling at their happiness as they walked past.
I spent some time alone at the lighthouse, listening to the wind and looking out over the bay and the horizon, colored lobster pot floats sprinkled in the blue water.
From Owls Head, I slowly rode north through Rockland, circling down to the Coast Guard docks before finding a small motel outside Camden in Rockport for the night.