Final Destination!!! Squapan Lake, ME 4400 Total Miles Traveled!!

I finally made it to my final destination – Squapan Lake, Maine -- 4400 miles total – (4500 miles if you count my extensive 4 day training period just prior to leaving for the Washington coast)

Saint Agatha, Maine to Mapleton to West Chapman, Maine – Oct 2nd and 3rd (70 miles)

I had planned on riding all the way to the final destination of my trip today, but I didn’t quite make it. I got a late start because I went back to take a few photos at Madawaska, Maine (The most North Eastern point in the United States) and I visited with Ken and Arlene Lerman in St Agatha. So I arrived in Washburn at O-Dark 30 and still had a ways to go. I decided that I wanted to at least get to Mapleton, Maine before I quit for the day. It was pretty cold and rained on and off all day and I found plenty of hills to ride up and down on the way. I rode to Mapleton and on to West Chapman in the Dark. I wanted to find the old barn that my Grandfather built many years ago but I missed it in the dark. It used to have a sign on it that said “Jack Buck” but the sign was gone. With a little help from a friendly lady, I found the barn (about 2 miles behind me) – took a look and went to find a place to sleep. I found a nice place to sleep in a mowed field on the edge of some trees. I had a good night’s sleep.

Got up the next morning and watched the sun come up (See photos). It was still cloudy but it wasn’t raining anymore. I took a few photos and rode back to Grandpa’s old barn and took a few photos. I could tell the people were up so I knocked on the door and Felisha Buck came to the door. I explained who I was and she very graciously showed me the barn, the farm and all around and then fed me a sandwich and a great piece of homemade Apple Pie with ice cream. The old Barn that my Grandfather built is still in great shape. The Bucks have done a lot of work to make sure to maintain it. The Barn was very well built and the inside showed good craftsmanship. There are still old wooden potato barrels and a potato barrel lift pulley system in the barn. They still store potatoes in the barn and the potatoes keep very well they said. Felisha also took me up on the hill behind the house to get some photos of the farm and of Haystack Mountain in the distance. That was very nice of her. Thank you very much Felisha.

Maine has been very Beautiful to ride through. The Fall Colors are beautiful and the smell of the woods is very pleasant. As I have gotten close to the Potato farms you can smell the earthy smell of harvesting potatoes. The smell of harvesting potatoes is also a unique but pleasant smell. The smell of some of the big cities that I have ridden through as I have come through the US has not been quite as pleasant.

I left the farm and went down to see the potato harvester operation and I made a nice potato launcher and threw a potato. I am pretty sure I threw my potato clear to New Hampshire. It was a pretty good Potato Launcher. I then went to the Old Staples Homestead and took a few photos. There is nothing there anymore but just a potato field and memories. I also took a photo of the old Jimmy Roope place.

I went back to the Buck Farm and took a photo with my bicycle and me in front of the Barn and house. Their nice daughter Mallory took the photo for me. Thank you Mallory.

I then started riding toward Squapan Lake to go to my cousin Dwight and Ida Burtt. I passed a mail box with the name Roope on it and found Jimmy and Annis Roope. Jimmy was a childhood friend of the Staples Family. I went to the house and Jimmy was standing there and I told him who I was and we had a nice visit and his wife Annis fed us some beans and biscuits. It was very nice to see them and visit with them for a while.

I finally left and rode up Haystack Mountain and down the other side to Squapan Lake to see Dwight and Ida Burtt. Dwight is my cousin and I will stay there a few days. It is really nice to have a nice bed, a shower, and a warm place to stay. It is good to be finished with this ride but I will miss some of it.

Summary --

Well I am finally finished with this ride. It seems pretty strange. There were times that I wondered if I would ever make it to Maine. But I finally did make it. Maybe someday I will ride from Idaho to Alaska, but not today. Lori thinks I should come home get a job and start earning a living again. Women!

So – Why did I go on this ride?

Well part of it started when I was working in South Carolina with a good man named Tim Wertz. He told me he rode his bicycle from California to Georgia. (I think that is right anyway) He told me it was pretty difficult and he struggled with it. I always thought it was pretty neat that he rode his bike all that distance and wondered if I could do it. When I was a kid a couple of friends and I rode our bikes from Bisbee, Arizona to the Patagonia River. A distance of about 15 miles or so. We were going to ride back home but it was all uphill and we were tired so we hitch-hiked back home instead with a guy in a pickup truck. So when Tim told me he rode clear across the U.S. – I always thought I would like to do that and wondered if I really could. So I guess you could say that the seed was planted for this trip by Tim Wertz. So the bottom line is ---- This trip is Tim Wertz’s Fault.

Another reason for this trip was I have always thought about our Pioneers crossing the United States with hand carts, and wagons, and walking. They struggled and suffered crossing the plains and in some small way this is my way of touching base with the Pioneers. Obviously, what I have done by riding my bicycle across America is not the same as what the Pioneers did and the hardships the Pioneers endured do not compare with my trip, but in some small way it is my way of touching base with the Pioneers.

Many people that take on the challenge of riding their bicycles Across America do it for some cause. I thought about trying to set up some pledges etc for this trip but I didn’t have much time to plan for everything and I was a little concerned about whether or not my decrepit old body would allow me to do this trip. I have had 5 major surgeries on my knees including 3 ACL operations and a pretty damaged right ham string . I just didn’t know how my knees and body would hold up. In the end they held up ok. I had a fair amount of knee and IT Band pain the first few weeks of this trip but as my legs got stronger the pain lessened and during the last few weeks of my trip, my knees hardly hurt at all. In the end my legs have become a little stronger and feel better but I was not sure that would be the case when I started this trip. When this trip started I thought about doing some type of fund raiser but I just didn’t.

Lori (my wife) and I do try and save our money and go down to South America or Central America and help orphanages once in a while. There are a lot of sad things happening down there and we will save up some more money when I get a job again and go down there and try and do something good for these kids when we can. If anyone is interested in helping out with one of these ventures please send me an email: at “ dan_staples@msn.com “. We do not want anyone to send any money at this point, but if you are interested in helping at some point in the future, please let us know and when we do something again, we will let you know and at that time you can decide if you want to help out and how much. If you do want to help, please be aware that any money you may contribute to any cause like helping out an orphanage will go 100% to help the kids. Any overhead personal expenses for Lori and I like airfare, personal food, hotels, etc, will be paid for by us. Your contributions will go completely toward helping the kids. Let us know if you are interested in helping in the future and we will keep a list of names for the future and contact you when we can go again. We will not bug you otherwise.

In the end, I am very, very, grateful that I had the opportunity to go on this trip. Sometimes it was pretty difficult. Sometimes my body hurt and I had a few bruises and scrapes and my rear end got pretty darn sore riding long distances every day. My legs ached quite a bit, but in the end they got a little stronger and I am in a little better shape than I used to be. I thought I would lose a little bit more weight than I actually have. I lost about 15 lbs on this trip. I guess I was able to learn to eat a lot of food because in the end I do not appear to be malnourished at all. I still have plenty of extra fat so if I plan on getting rid of that, I will have to cut a few calories when I get home. Oh well.

I have met a lot of Great People on this trip. I have met some new friends. I have had some wonderful experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything. This trip was a little rough at times and I am a little tired and sore but I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to take this trip. I have learned to persevere even when times get a little tough. I have learned that hard things don’t last forever. I thought at times that I would never get over some of the mountains that I had to climb. But eventually I did, and eventually the ride got easier. Then when I was having a nice time because the terrain was more gentle and easy to ride on, the terrain would get rough again and my legs would ache and I would wonder if I would ever get to an easier place to ride again. But eventually the road always got better. It always does.

I have learned that hard things don’t last forever. I have learned that most people are nice and there are a lot of very wonderful people in this world. There have been a lot of people back home that have given me moral support and physical support. Thank you. My family and especially Lori my wife and Kalia who did the Blog have been a great support. Thank you. I have met strangers that have treated me kindly and taken me in and given me help and support. I have met strangers that have become my friends. Thank you. I have, in some small way, become a better person because of this trip.

And finally, I have grown some legs. They are not the longest or biggest legs in the world but they are legs none-the-less. Perhaps now I can be called “Creeping Frog” instead of “Creeping Tadpole”. Now if I can just Hop back home and talk Lori into giving me a Kiss -- Who knows? – Maybe I can become a handsome Prince. Maybe that is stretching it a little – If Lori will give me a kiss maybe I can just become a Regular Old Guy – I think that might be better than a “Creeping Tadpole” or a Frog.

In either case, I am very glad I had the opportunity to go on this trip. I hope in some small way this trip has been of some value to the people that have followed along with the emails during this small adventure.

Thank you.

I will go home soon and continue on with life. Maybe someday I will go on some other trip. I haven’t ridden across Russia yet! – I have read a little bit about 2 guys that are doing that right now. It sounds interesting – but for now I need to go home and get a Hug or 2 from my wife Lori and figure out how to make a living again.

Thank you,

Sincerely,
Dan Staples
dan_staples@msn.com
(208) 484-6444

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