September 29th: Houlton, Maine to St. Leonard, New Brunswick

Houlton Maine Sept 29 to St Leonard New Brunswick (88 miles)

Tough day. Rained on me almost all day as I rode. I went to bed at the rest stop in Houlton. The sign said “No Camping”. Well all the truckers were there sleeping in their rigs, so I was just there sleeping in my rig too. I didn’t want to cause a problem so I tried to be a little “Incognito” by not putting up my tent. I just put my sleeping bag in the shadows behind a picnic table and leaned my bike up in the shadows on the pole of one of the little car-port type covered picnic areas. Everything was just fine until I woke up and it was raining pretty hard and my sleeping bag was pretty wet and the roof was dripping into my bike panniers. Real Nice. I put my sleeping bag on the picnic table and moved my bike a little more under the shelter and went back to bed. I got up the next morning and packed up. The ladies at the visitor’s center at the rest stop were very helpful to show me area maps and the restrooms there were nice and open all night.

I got packed up to leave and discovered I had a flat front tire. It had been leaking little by little and I had been pumping it up for a couple of days every morning so it was not a huge surprise. I put the bike on the picnic table and changed the tube and got going down the road. I was just a little late getting going. It takes a little while to change a tire when you have panniers on your bike and I wired mine on because they were starting to rip a couple thousand miles ago.

I started going down the road and was only about 5 miles from Presque Isle when my front tire decided it had gone far enough. It developed numerous “Hernias” and one of them was about half the size of an egg. Plop, plop, plop – bump, bump, bump as I rode. I knew the tire would explode any minute so I stopped and took it off. I put on my old tire that I had kept as a spare back in Kalispell, Montana and I put in a new tube. Another hour down the toilet but I was back on the road. I rode into Presque Isle to the bike shop there but they don’t carry good road tires for my bike so I purchased a low quality tire that they had for a spare and kept on going toward Van Buren.

I have once again encountered the Beloved Hills of Maine as I have ridden farther North into Maine. The terrain here is very hilly and it takes a little effort to get up some of these hills. That’s ok I guess I will keep on going till I am finished with this trip.

I wanted to get to Van Buren if possible so I could ride into New Brunswick on Wednesday morning. I had told myself that if I got to Maine with a little time left I would visit New Brunswick just because I wanted to. I am a few days ahead of schedule so I am going to ride to Campbellton, New Brunswick to touch the Atlantic Ocean there also if I can.

On the way to Van Buren, I passed a little Donut shop. I was cold and wet and it had been riding in the rain most of the day and a fresh donut sounded good to me. I went inside and the shop was owned and run by a Mennonite family. Their donuts were great. I had an Apple Fritter and a milk and the Apple Fritter was the best Apple Fritter I have ever eaten in my whole life. It was huge and had big chunks of fresh apples and was not too sweet and fluffy and it was a great donut. I also bought an extra Apple Fritter and a Blueberry Muffin to take with me and put on my bike for later. That was the best little donut shop I have ever been too and they also served lunch. Too bad it wasn’t lunch time for me or I would have eaten there also.

I got to Van Buren and had a nice little dinner and then crossed the border into New Brunswick, Canada. It took me about 15 minutes to get through Canadian Customs at 8:30 at night. I think they were bored so they took me inside and checked me out. I guess I look like a shady character. At least they were polite to me and helpful with maps etc.

I continued through Saint Leonard, New Brunswick toward Campbellton. It was dark now and raining again, but I had lost some time because of my tires so I was riding late to try and make up for it. I rode about 15 miles and since you lose an hour as you go into Canada, it was about 10:30 at night. I came to a little hotel and the man out front by his car told me his room was $75. I turned around to leave because that was over my budget and he said that they had 4 people and he thought the single rooms were cheaper and if I rang the doorbell the lady would come to the door. So I did. The single room was only $45 so I got a hotel tonight. Very nice.

I got a shower and went to bed and dried out my gear again.

Potato Farm Houlton Maine Sept 29