Breakdown in the Rain

Catching up on posts as we were without service in the White Mountains for a couple of days...

Day 2 - Belfast to Damrascotta was 59 miles of rollers.  We stayed in a Church that night.  Everyone got to chose where to sleep and the was a kitchen.  Dinner that night with Richard from Alberquerque and Erik from South Dakota.

Day 3...
We were at the second rest stop at the Shaker Village and headed the rest of the way from New Castle, ME to Naples, ME. We were 15 miles from completing our day when the skies opened up.

Suddenly we were suited up in full rain gear and pedaling with lights flashing for visibility to passing cars.  For me, this was an extremely stressful part of the trip.  We needed to climb and descend on roads with narrow shoulders..but we were on the back roads of Maine where frost heaves wreak havoc in the winter. The roads looked like a sledgehammer came through or a large animal chewed the edges. I was warm in the rain gear and trucks and cars were speeding by as we tried to balance on the white line on the roadside....while avoiding pot holes and rubble and cracked pavement that looked like shiny glass. Every time a large truck came flying by and it felt as if I would be sucked into the vortex that was created.

Anyway, I was so overwhelmed that at some point, I pulled over to ball my eyes out for 60 seconds before gathering myself to move on.

When we got into camp that night after a 76 mile day, I was tired both physically and emotionally.  I set up my tent, showered and quickly fell asleep.

The sun came out the next morning - thank goodness and we enjoyed out rock star location for a bit before heading off the to white mountains....