Before I left on my cross-country tour I stumbled on the Maine Department of Transportation web site. They've put together cue sheets for 25 bike tours, each of which starts and ends in the same location. Well, they call them tours, but for me they are really day trips. It turns out that several of the tours are in the south coastal area of the state, so that gave me a real jump start in planning my explorations. I wanted to do a trip along the coast, and I wanted to do it as a one-way trip with no backtracking. I know that when I ride a route in two directions that it looks different in each way, probably because my eyes are caught be different sights, but I wanted to see if I could plan something that wasn't out and back. I also planned this as a credit-card tour - no camping.
It turned out that the planning was pretty easy. I would take the train from Boston, MA to Portland, ME. I planned to stay in Portland two nights. I'd ride from Portland to Brunswick and back on one day, then head south the next day, using the Maine DOT cue sheets to help me stay off of Route 1. In some places Route 1 is a reasonable road for cycling, but in others it is a fairly ugly commercial strip. I figured I'd use the Freeport-Brunswick, Portland Lighthouse, and South Coast tours as a base for my route. I would only follow the lighthouse and south coast routes one way since I wanted to head north to south rather than doing a loop. I also figured I'd use at least part of the Kittery to South Portland route posted on the Maine DOT bicycle page. Then I'd probably follow the Granite State Wheelmen century route along the coast of New Hampshire, and use Rubel bike maps to get me the last chunk of the way from the edge of Massachusetts to my house. Not too bad for a thrown together tour...
The Amtrak Downeaster runs from Boston to Portland with some intermediate stops. Bicycles are allowed on the train, but they can only be boarded at Boston, MA Wells, ME, and Portland, ME. So I had two options for the train. The first was to get on the train in Haverhill, MA, which is ten miles from my house. Since Amtrak rules say that you can't take a bike on-board at that stop, I would ride my Bike Friday Pocket Rocket, and I would take the (nylon)travel bag with me. I'd ride to the train station, fold the bike and pop it in the bag, and board the train with my bike slung over one shoulder and my panniers in my hand. That should work. Option two was to take commuter rail into Boston and to board the Downeaster at a station that allows roll-aboard bikes. There's a commuter rail station a little over a mile from my house, but the schedule on that line looked too tight - I always like to leave time for things like trains running late. I found a commuter rail station on a different line where the schedules dovetailed with the Downeaster schedule a bit more safely, and that commuter rail station is also ten miles from my house so I could easily ride my bike to the train. Either option would work for me. If I didn't have a folding bike, I'd have to use the second option and trek into Boston to catch the train.
I planned to make a reservation for a place to stay in Portland, but I would play it by ear between Portland and home. I figured I could easily find a place to stay in one of the southern Maine beach towns (maybe Ogunquit) or in Portsmouth, NH - especially since I was planning on traveling mid-week.
OK, all planned, now time to make a reservation for the train. I was a bit wishy-washy over when I'd take off. I was keeping an eye on the long-term weather forecast, and trying to figure out when I wanted to leave. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I wanted to sleep in my own bed at night. Guess I'm still a bit burnt out on travel after being away from home for 2 1/2 months...
After having trouble getting myself in gear, I decided to switch to a series of day trips. That would allow me to be home most nights, but would also allow me to spend some time in Maine. It also allowed me to miss a bad weather day in the middle of the week. My changed plans were to drive to Wells, ME and do the Southern Coast ride from Wells to Biddeford and back on Tuesday, returning home at night. Then on Thursday I'd drive to Portland or Freeport, do one either the Freeport-Brunswick or the Portland Lighthouse tour, stay in Portland overnight, then do the other tour on Friday and drive home.
I had some beautiful early fall weather days, beautiful scenery, good food, and a good time. And I have a ready-planned tour in my back pocket for a future trip.
