Hiram Falls - Not super impressive
Trip: Portland –
Lovell, ME
Ride Distance: 68
Miles (day total: 80 miles)
Sights: Vacations
Past, Hiram Falls
There was a ton of stopped traffic in front of the Museum of
Science for some unknown reason. As I
pulled up to the end of the stopped cars one thing hit me – smell. It smelled like a Dickens novel. A sludgy gross not burning but heated up oil
smell.
Fuck! The bridge is
opening up! I was running late for the
SECOND train to Portland of the day – 11:10.
Earlier I had missed the 8:50 because it was sold out. Umph!
Now I was stuck on one of the Monsignors waiting for some damn boat to
cross from the river to the harbor.
Stuck in the tons of cars that were for some unknown reason
heading downtown on a Saturday morning I had visions of now missing THIS train
and pulling into Portland at 4 with NO CHANCE of making Lovell.
*****
I made the 11:10
*****
Had difficulty with this bike locking contraption
I got out of the train in Portland at 1:45 and got my
bearings and prepped for the 75 mile ride up to Kezar Lake.
Waypoint 1 – Hayfields:
Buxton
After a 13 mile ride down 25 I was supposed to catch another
road out of Buxton. I started looking
around not only for the road (maybe 112) but also for one hayfield in
particular: “It's got a long rock wall with a big oak tree at the north end.
It's like something out of a Robert Frost poem.”
Maybe I could find it and look for the piece of black
volcanic glass that has no business in a Maine hayfield. I was hoping Red didn’t take all the money
that was there for his trip to Fort Hancock, TX.
Looking for the said hayfield with oak tree and black
volcanic glass – I missed my turn.
Waypoint 2 – Doggerel:
Limerick
Once I realized that I missed by turn in Buxton – and my
chance at the rest of the warden’s money – stopped to look at my directions
only to realize that taking 112 into Limerick would have just been out of the
way as 25 carried me to Waypoint 3 anyways.
But in penance for missing Limerick, I wrote a limerick:
There once was a man from Somerville
Who tried to ride the Western foothills
He’ll never learn
As he missed his turn
And he might be out there still.
(So, It’s not very good – but you try writing even doggerel
at 15 mph.)
Waypoint 3 – Ghosts
of Vacations Past: Cornish
I continued on 25 toward Cornish. En route, I passed one of the many Ghosts of
Vacations Past. As I rode through Steep
Falls there was a sign for Acres of [Birds] Campground. When I was middle school/high school age, I
would camp to here with my parents.
Later I would pass the road to Bridgton where I would go in my 20s to my
friend at the time Marc’s grandmother’s cabin.
Finally, I rode through Brownfield and Frost Mountain Yurts – home of
Yurtin’ for Certain.
Waypoint 4 – Unimpressive
Dam: Hiram Falls
From the looks on the map, Hiram Falls was supposed to be a
cool site… Maybe on release day. But it
was cool to sit in the shade of the woods and eat two peanut butter and apple
butter sandwiches.
Waypoint 5 – Almost,
Almost There: Fryeburg
Fryeburg is only one town away from Lovell – my goal. So close, yet so far. Taking 5 through town from beginning to end
was nearly 20 miles and over an hour!
Also, like riding to
Ancient Olympia, this is where the ride starts to
get hilly and hard. The White Mountains
move from little sketches against the sky that might just be optical tricks of
the clouds to RIGHT THERE! Each hill was
more painful knowing I was almost to Lovell but not really that close.
Endpoint – Farrington
Pond: Lovell
I pulled into the cabin right at 7:00 pm. Beating the sunset by an hour and in time to
jump in the pond and take a shower before heading to dinner with the boys at Ebeneezer's.
