Maine is less than an afternoon away (from NYC)
I woke up early yesterday, ready to begin a grand adventure
around Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, my partner in crime Jay had a last minute
work call, and we didn’t end up hitting the road till 3pm. We’re booked on the 12pm Wednesday ferry from
St. John New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia, so with half the day gone
already, I decided we would just push as far as we could, and make up any
outstanding mileage the following day. Leaving from Harlem, we criss-crossed across
the Bronx, up through Connecticut, scissoring through EZPasses and traffic in central
Mass and New Hampshire, making incredible time.
We hit I95 just south of Maine a little after 7pm, and when an
eight-lane highway suddenly arrived beneath our wheels, pristine and empty,
and when we began to see moose crossing and motorcycle caution signs (as well
as notice of an apparent severe penalty for contraband out of state firewood),
we knew we had entered motorcycle country…
We hit South Portland Maine sometime around 8pm,
shocked that this great northern state was less than an afternoon’s drive
from New York City by motorcycle. Maine
occupies some mystical, nearly foreign corner of this country in my psyche,
like Montana or Alaska, a fallacy which I was happy to have dispelled by its
actual proximity.
With plenty of daylight left, we found the cheapest motel we could find and went looking for dinner. Jay wanted anything but Mexican, as he and my
buddy Cam, who recently went cross country on an Aprilia Tuono and a Ducati 899
Panigale, had eaten nothing but from Kansas to SoCal. We got a drink at a place called the Maine
Table, only to be informed that the Kitchen had closed since we sat down, and
that he only place open was the Mexican joint across the street.
© 2013 Tigh Loughhead
Jay and I camped on the beach in Meat Cove last night. Although we're quite far north, the temperature only went down to about 55 degrees, but the wind
blustered around consistently, and neither of us got that much sleep. As a result, we woke up before dawn and got to
watch the sun rise over the bay.
