Day 12 - Fort Knox & the Coast of Maine

Day 12 - Augusta to Bucksport, ME - 65 miles - 4,035 ft of elevation gain

Staying at a Super 8 is a bit like walking into a Walmart, you are never quite sure what you are going to see or experience. As Super 8 motels go, this one was clean and offered a shower and bed, so it provided what we needed. In the morning it was a minimal continental breakfast, but enough to carry us to our first rest stop. As we were packing up and getting our bikes ready, a man approached asking where the nearest bike shop was and some other ramblings. Later he came towards us wearing a cymbal on his head saying he was riding a bike from China and it was very expensive (there was no bike). I’m not sure if he was making fun of one of our bikes or just being a little off, either way it was something to write about!

You know you are in Maine when in the morning you are questioning whether to wear additional layers. I decided on wearing my sleeves (just a pull on sleeve to cover my arms) and I’m glad I did because the air was cool and the temps were in the mid 60s. I think it was perfect biking weather, especially when there are climbs involved. The hotel was on a busy road, but thankfully there was a traffic light to allow us to cross safely. We made our way through Augusta and headed northeast towards the coast. There were 13 registered climbs today, and most of them were in the first half of the mileage.

After our first rest stop, the clouds started to look questionable, but it wasn’t calling for rain. Well, shortly after that stop it started to spit. Thankfully the van passed us as the rain began to pick up. I put on my waterproof socks and opted to just keep my sleeves on and not add a rain jacket. Almost everyone else opted for the rain jacket. Thankfully the rain never got too heavy and it wasn’t too long before we pedaled through the rain clouds and had a dry rest of our ride.

We lunched in the parking lot of a convenience store, but unfortunately they did not have an indoor restroom, just a port-a-john. I opted to wait for the next gas station on the other side of the river in hopes they would have a proper restroom, thankfully they did! The gas stations and convenience stores are few an far between on most of our routes, so I grab them when needed. The guys all know that when I speed ahead it’s because I’m in need of the facilities ahead.

All day we were riding the rolling hills, and our entire way up the coast will be the same. Everyone is doing great, but I know these last several days with lots of climbing is taking its toll on everyone’s muscles. My legs feel each climb and my thighs want to revolt, but so far they keep performing. It was nice to see the water and know that we are along the coast of Maine. Our route will mostly follow US 1, which does have some traffic but so far a decent shoulder to keep us away from the cars.

Since today was Aaron’s birthday (and his 30th at that) I decided it was a night to try a place that served fresh lobster (when in Maine after all). So we loaded in the van for a short drive to Carrier’s for a little lobster roll for the boys to share and delicious burgers and chicken to boot. After dinner, I told everyone we were going to visit Fort Knox. There is a fort here in the Bucksport area named Fort Knox and gave us more to see than we initially expected.

As I pulled into the fort there was a sign with all of the prices, and for our crew it would have been expensive for a short visit, so I asked the lady if we had to pay for a visit after 6pm and she said we could just make a donation. I expected that we would just get to see the outside of the fort, but there was a gate open so we went exploring. It was amazing how much of the fort we could get around. Everyone had a great time seeing what was around each corner. We may or may not have needed to make our own escape because we couldn’t find the front entrance.

We had devotions outside on a picnic table behind the fort and then did a little more exploring on the outside of the fort before leaving. We were the last car in the parking lot and the maintenance man, Jack, was making his rounds on the golf cart to lock up the place. It was well worth the donation to explore the fort. Thanks to Al actually reading the signs, we learned that the fort took 20 years to build and it was never actually used. I’m sure those stone masons earning $3/day would have been thrilled to know it was never be used as a fort, but instead served as a place for teen boys to run around trying to get lost. Well, the visit certainly capped off our day!