Healthy Lucille and I headed to Maine

Clean bill of health

With her clean bill of health, Lucille and I were ready to head to Maine.  I was really looking forward to Acadia National Park and Stephen King’s house.  Plus, Acadia would mark the furthest east I would go before turning west to head home. This would be a milestone.

Cold!

I eventually got a bit of Interstate before heading inland and it was cold! I don’t think it got above 53 degrees Fahrenheit all day. I made decent time though and soon took the turn east towards the coast.

Welcome to Maine! 

The campground

I made it to the campground around noon and quickly got set up. The clouds were still threatening to rain and I wanted to see the park. I was hoping there would be a bus to make the loop so I could concentrate on seeing the sights rather than on riding Lucille, but no such luck.

My campsite all set up. 

Acadia National Park

Acadia is unusual for a national park, at least in my experience, because it is in areas. There are several islands that are part of the park. And the mainland part of the park is spread into a couple of areas separated by non-park town. I was camping at Seawall which is not part of what I would call the main park. In order to ride the loop road, I’d have to ride over to the main part of the park.

I drove the 40 minutes or so to the visitor’s center and checked out what little I could, it still being under COVID restrictions.

The Acadia visitor’s center sign. 

A ranger there gave me a map and directions to follow the loop road. So away Lucille and I went

Clouds

The clouds were getting more threatening by the minute but I was determined to at least ride through the park. This place was beautiful! I think Yellowstone, Teton, and Yosemite have it beat for beauty, but not by much! And Acadia has the dramatic ocean. The traffic was crazy and people seem to leave all the sense they may have once had when they enter a national park, but I was thrilled to be seeing it. With the crowds and such, I didn’t get off Lucille and I had trouble again with the GoPro freezing up on me, but it was an amazing place.

After I’d traveled all the open roads in the main part of the park, Lucille and I headed back to the campground. The parking situation was not ideal for Lucille, but I’d gotten braver.

Lucille parked in the grass and gravel parking area. 

I got her situated and headed off to the site to make dinner.

Cooking some of my homemade dehydrated food for dinner. 

Yummy pasta with garlic and mushrooms. 

It was still cold,  so I had to stay bundled up to keep from freezing while I ate.

I’m wearing both regular and motorcycle clothes trying to stay warm. 

The mozzies were awful and as soon as I was done eating and cleaning up, they chased me into the tent.

Hiding from the bugs! 

Bed

Eventually I crawled into my sleeping bag to try to stay warm and went to sleep. Tomorrow I’d start heading back west and I would see Stephen King’s house! It would be an exciting day and I couldn’t wait.