A few quick notes

The trip is coming to an end here soon, and we can feel it coming fast, although I don't think we quite realize just how soon, and how weird its going to be. That said, we just thought we'd let you know that we are going to finish tomorow, Friday July 17th in Lubec, Me as planned. Currently we are about 60 miles away from being done, its nuts.
We're going to keep putting up pictures as well, as we realized we're a little behind. Make sure you check the previous posts to see if pictures have been added when we update. We will continue to put up the final few posts, and then leave some of our own final remarks etc.
The plan right now is to be done by around 1:00 tomorrow, check out Lubec, go into Canada, and then see the sunrise on the eastern most point of the US Saturday morning just before heading on home.

A True Taste of New England

7/13~ We woke up that morning in the great state of Maine to Linda cooking us a great breakfast of French toast, a first for this trip. It was a great breakfast and set us on our way towards Rockland, ME, 70 miles away.
We rolled out all excited to be seeing the ocean for the first time all trip which we thought would happen within the first 10 miles. However, to our disapointment, we stayed a few miles inland most of the way, fought nasty traffic, and did not actually see the ocean until our final destination. It was a little disapointing as Bobby had even said earlier, "Guys, its gonna be great, there's gonna be lighthouses around every corner." That wasn't quite the case, but it all worked out, and we got to see a lighthouse and the ocean just as we finished for the day there in Rockland.
Because of yet another tailwind, which caused us to average about 20 mph, we ended up arriving about 2:00 which was great. Dietrich called up one of his connections he got through the internet (couchsurfing.com) named Christie andwith just our luck, she didn't have to work today which was great for us. We headed on over to her house and got all set up and met some of her friends .
As it turns out, the people in her house, and her friends, work at this local restaurant which is closed on Monday's and Tuesdays, so all of them had off work as well. Yet again our timing worked out perfect.
They then took us down to show us the lighthouse and took us fishing as well. It was absolutely beautiful being out on the breakwater, with great people, a great sunset, calm waters, and just sitting there fishing away relaxing for the afternoon. It truly felt like New England. The night then just got better from there.
As I mentioned before, all the people we were with worked at the local restaurant as chef's. Now this wasn't just the normal old restaurant, this was the top of the line, best restaurant anywhere around as we found out. We're talking 60 bucks a plate, and the lady that owned it is actually one of the top 10 chef's in the world. She's been all over, in magazines, the Today show, etc. etc. etc. It was nuts. So since we were hanging out with a bunch of chef's, and none of us had ever had lobster before, they decided to cook up quite the great meal.
We had a great bonfire outside where we ate all the incredible food of: Curry Chicken, banging potatoes, 2 great racks of Barbecue Ribs with Ben's special sauce, and even had Lobster. We had enough protein to last the whole week, and it was incredible as well. The blessings were great that night as we got to hang out with some true "Mainer's" and eat some great incredible food. A final true taste of New England.

"Were Going to Lubec"

7/12/09 We slept in until 7:30 in our own apartment and our own beds thanks to the Shillaber's, and walked over to their house for a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, pancakes, and Maple Syrup Annie had produced with her high school. As today was only going to be a 80 mile day, and we already had a place lined up to stay for the night, we went to church with the Shillabers. The church was everything we imagined a New England church would be; situated right in the middle of town in an old white building and a bell tower (the bell was formed by Paul Revere). After church, we knew we had to keep moving and said our goodbyes to our wonderful hosts. The ride went smoothly that afternoon cruising unweighted through the New Hampshire hills, but slowly the terrain got flatter and we crossed into our final state "Maine". Now when people ask us where we are going we can't say Maine anymore, we have to get used to saying Lubec. We rode with a tailwind the final miles to Cumberland Center, Maine to our hosts for the night John and Linda Jensenius. The Jensenius' are family friends of the Linde's, and with three kids out of the house we all had our own rooms again. Linda cooked us a big meal of lasagna and brownie and ice cream, and we spent the evening relaxing and sharing stories of the trip with her while John a meteorologist worked the night shift while we slept. The Jensenius were great hosts and truly made us feel at home during our first night in Maine.... man it feels good to say that.

Deerfield New Hampshire, A Diamond in the Rough

7/11/09 ~ After a great pancake breakfast courtesy of Bobby and his incredible cooking talent, we said goodbye to Adrienne, Will, and Elizabeth and pedaled forthward from Peterborough. The ride instantly climbed up over the mountains and none of us enjoyed it to much because we weren't adequately warmed up. We did however get to enjoy a nice long descent and from there it was fairly flat going into Manchester.
The riding in Manchester was alittle nuts. No one in the town seemed to know how to get to the road we were looking for. So, as we do best, we improvised and rode off of feel using our internal compasses to guide us to the road we needed. Sure enough, we found it and headed out into the beautiful New Hampshire countryside.
Our destination was the quaint small town of Deerfield, NH where Seth had a friend from Wheaton who was willing to put us up for the night. Because the ride was so short, we actually got to Seth's friends house around lunch time. There we met Annie Shillaber and Mrs. Shillaber who both proceeded to provide a delicous lunch for us. We enjoyed sandwiches and great conversation out on their deck in the beautiful New Hampshire weather.
After Lunch, Annie took us to pleasant lake where they had some friends who lived lakeside and were willing to let us swim and kayak there. It was great to splash and paddle around the lake enjoying the beautiful day and keeping our distance from those darn bikes. We were even taken out on a boat ride and went tubing on the lake. It sure was madness trying to stay on top of that tube through the choppy wakes and we had a blast.
Later that evening, we had an incredible meal of hamburgers and hotdogs provided by Mr. and Mrs. Shillaber. We are completely spoiled on this trip and the food was incredible. Afterwards, we played a rousing came of Apples to Apples which Annie managed to win in a tie breaking round. We hit the hay exhausted after a full day of fun.
We would just like to say a huge thankyou to the Shillabers for all the hospitality they have shown us. The food and comfortable beds was more than we could have asked for and being able to relax and spend the day with you guys was a huge treat. Thanks once again.

Small Town New England at its Finest

7/10/09 We woke up that morning, in Holyoke MA, but yet in seperate places. Dietrich was quite confused this morning, as for the first time on the whole entire trip he did not wake up to Bobby's "wonderful" rise and shine. Even after that, he had to eat breakfast without them as well, yet another first time for the trip. The three of us being apart for such a period of time sure shook things up, however, we moved on and ate our wonderfully made breakfast's from our hosts: Some incredible Scrambled eggs for Dietrich, and quite beautiful blueberry pancakes for Seth and Bobby. After that Margaret, Bobby and Seth's host, kindly drove and picked Dietrich up and took him back to her place.
We then began sorting through our stuff to repack just our bikes. Boy was it great doing that and leaving the BOB's behind, there have been few greater feelings then getting rid of those dang things. So we grabbed our one pair for on the bike clothes, one pair for off the bike, some tubes, the sleeping bag, pump, and set forth towards Peterborough, New Hampshire. The ride thereafter from Holyoke was quite stunningly beautiful. It was rolling hills, through just endless amounts of woods that were quite desolate, the sites were great though. We rode 50 miles to the town of Baldwinville where we ate some pizza, and headed forth 8 miles towards New Hampshire. Finally we got a state sign in New England, thank you New Hampshire. Soon thereafter we arrived in the beautiful town of Peterborough, a true New England town. Its actually so great that it was rated in America's top 10 greatest small towns.
We arrived about 3:00, rested in a park and then set forth to try to find a place to stay. We tried two churches before finding the great man himself, Reverened Adrian Robins-Cole. We found him at the local Episcopalian church, where he immediatley welcomed us in, no questions asked. He set us up in great room with couches and lots of floor space.
We then set forth to explore the town, we tried the library, and then went to the park to relax where we enjoyed some live music as we napped by the riverside and seth took a bath.
We left there, grabbed a great meal at the local italian eatery, and spent the next few hours watching the Tour De France in the restaurant.
We then headed back our homestead for the night, where Adrian's two kids Elizabeth (7) and William (11), and their baby-sitter took care of us by giving us showers, incredible entertainment, and even let us use the internet as well.
They were great hosts and we were so thankful that we could find them, in the great town of Peterborough, NH. Thanks again Robins-Cole family.

Massachusetts - New England Does Have Hospitable People

7/9/09 ~ The evening of fun and board games kept us up past our normal bedtime which was fine; it gave us a good excuse to sleep in and enjoy the nice beds provided by Hanles. Mrs. Hanle provided a scrumptious breakfast for us and we relaxed that morning. After awhile, we said our goodbyes and Donny drove us back up to Gaylordsville where our bikes were stashed.
Again keeping with the theme of the trip, we got back on the bikes and got moving. The ride that morning was absolutely beautiful through rural Connecticut. We rode in this valley alongside a river and even saw an old covered bridge.
After Kent, the riding got really hilly and we were dieing trying to pull the BOBs over the big hills. We breaked for lunch in Torrington. A defining moment happened at this meal. We're sitting in McDonalds thinking about how tough it is pulling the BOBs over the rolling hills. Bobby goes ahead and poses the question as to whether we even need the BOBs anymore. We get to thinking and really we realized that we don't. Alls we actually use are our clothes, some tubes, spokes, and our sleeping bags. That stuff can easily fit on our racks. We decided to leave the BOBs at the persons house we stay at that night and go unweighted the rest of the way to Maine.
We rode on with new energy knowing it was our last ride with the BOBs. The afternoon saw us passing the state line into Massachusetts. In Holyoke, we had found a nice woman named Maraget through the internet who was willing to put us up for the night. Dietrich had also been offered a place to stay by another couple named Britta and John. We decided to split up for the night and Dietrich went to stay with them.
We encountered incredible hospitality from Margaret, Britta, and John. We would just like to say a big thankyou to them for feeding us and giving us a place to lay our heads. We couldn't have asked for anything more and we were so happy to share our journey with you.

Finally New England

7/8/09 ~We rolled on out of our beautiful mountain home and trucked down through some beautiful country mountainside. We were excited to yet again be hitting another state border today, this time rolling into Connecticut, officially in New England. We rode some 50 miles to the closet Burger King, which we found in the great town of Poughkeepsie New York. We ate great as always, and rolled forth towards the mighty Hudson River.
After leaving the river, we began climbing some ridiculous hillls, that we did not expect to be there. The remaining 20 miles were some of the toughest we saw as we saw a few 14% grades, however soon enough we made it to the border of Connecitcut, although you had to turn around to realize it as, yet again, we did not get a state sign! We missed New York's coming in, but got it going out as we entered this new state.
We rode a final 2 miles to the great town of Gaylordsville, CN where we found Dietrich's friend Donny Hanle, from Virginia Tech, waiting in his van for us.
Donny lived just 30 minutes from the town, so he decided to come pick us up and take us back to his place so we'd have a nice place to stay, he's a good guy. We chucked our bikes in a nice couples yard and made our way back to his town of Sunbury, CN.
Immediatlely Donny decided it would be a great idea to show us around Sunburry, and a grand tour it was. We actually saw the only 2 story K-Mart in America. After the tour, we made our way back to his place and enjoyed an incredible dinner of Pepporoni lasagna, salad, and some great garlic bread.
After that we found out Donny's church was putting on a special event where a famous exotic animal guy from North Carolina was putting on a show. We enjoyed a great time of watching some crazy monkey, a hissing cockroach, and even a 7 ft aligator. It was pretty intense, yet again some great timing.
Finally, we rolled back to the Hanle's, devoured some ice cream, and began a great night of board games. We played the all and wonderful "Train Game" and concluded the evening with a great game of "Cranium" where Donny's friends destroyed us. I do believe the bikes have made us dumber as Dietrich came in last, and bobby and seth in a close 2nd to last.
It was a wonderful night, having some good quality time, with some incredible people, and so we just want to give a great thank you to the Hanle's, Goof and Cody (Donny's two friends).