I decided to go on the Moosa and Lighthouse trips after meeting Steve
Bell on the Florida Safari in April.  He was very convincing that I
would enjoy riding through Maine and Canada.  Several friends I had 
met on the 1996 Santa Fe Trail ride were also going.  I sent email to
my friend Gill in London to see if she could escape to Maine for a 
week or so.  That accomplished, the trip neared.

1997 Moosa report

I'll learn in the future to call before going to the airport when there
has been a plane crash at the airport I am scheduled to fly in to.  My
flight was cancelled, but I didn't discover that until I arrived at the 
airport laden with luggage. :(  After 40 minutes of phone calls, I had a 
new schedule to get me to Bangor, via Huston and Boston.    

Day 0

I arrived (after much hassle) in Bangor.  Since the shuttle wasn't scheduled
to arrive until 12:30 p.m., I had lots of time to wander around the airport
looking for other Moosites.  They appeared after a few hours and soon a
small knot of cyclists were gathered outside the airport terminal, except
for the couple from Hawaii who were sleeping upstairs.  I was checking
every arriving flight looking for Gill.  She had flown in from England
and we had originally been booked on the same flight to Bangor.  That flight
had been cancelled.  I didn't know where she was, or even if she had made it 
to the U.S.  I was a bit worried.  Being on the move for the last 24 hours 
myself, I had no way to reach her.  I knew she was resourceful, but I'd 
feel better if I knew she had at least arrived in the U.S.

All worries were laid to rest when Steve arrived with the shuttle.  He
loaded us into the vans and our bicycles were packed into the cargo van.
I was really tired and probably not too coherent.  "We've lost Gill." 
Steve reassured me that Gill was somewhere on the East Coast and would
be in on a later flight.  Whew - one major concern alleviated.

The drive to Skowhegan is blurry.  I really wanted to take a nap but tried
to stay awake to talk and look at the scenery.  I'm not certain that my 
conversation skills were very good.  And I don't even remember who was on
the shuttle.  (Sorry gang.)  We drove through countryside that vaguely
reminded me of northern Florida (hey, it was green).  I was told by the 
Floridians that Maine looks nothing like Florida, but to a west coaster,
they look similar.

We arrived at the camp and unloaded our gear.  I wandered around looking
for friends who were supposed to be on the trip - By, "Gator" and Jan from
Florida, Virginia Jerry, and Gill.  I had a pleasant surprise as several
other friends were there who I didn't know where coming.  "Share-a-soda" 
Bob (from Sarasota) had been the driving force to get me through a 
century ride on the Florida Safari.  We used to split a coke after our
rides, hence the nickname.  And Lou was there!  Lou is from Alabama.  We
had met on the Santa Fe ride last September.  Our contact had been reduced
to exchanging a few postcards during the past year.  I heard that she was
going to do part of the Santa Fe trip again and I was trying to figure out
how to get to Santa Fe for a day or so just to see her.  No need now,
she was in Maine!  This was going to be a great two weeks.

In typical Susan style, I had packed in a hurry and didn't have everything 
I needed for the trip.  I couldn't find my groundsheet when I packed, so By 
drove me to a paint store in town to buy something suitable.  At the store,
I asked the man if they had dropcloths.  He replied that they were too thin.
He had a heavier piece of plastic that was 6' x 25'!  I told him it was
too big.  "How about a top?" he said.  A top? I'm thinking.  A top to what?
I was reluctant to ask him what the top went to.  He took me to another part
of the store.  "A top should work fine."  Then he pulled out a bright
blue plastic TARP.  Perfect!  And I was sooo glad I hadn't asked what
the top went to.  Gotta love those accents!  My "top" worked out just fine -
even when I used it as a bottom for the tent.

Day 1
It rained that evening and I awoke at dawn to a lovely red sunrise.  I
was to see many more sunrises on this trip. :|  We packed up for a 
6:30 departure (probably the earliest I ever started off the entire trip).
A quick stop at the bicycle shop for some tools and a browse, then it
was off to breakfast.  We ate a filling meal, talked with other cyclists
and generally kept the entire restaurant entertained.  This was to become
a common pattern as the trip progressed.  I doubt any town, village or 
restaurant failed to notice our presence.  The group was quite chatty.

Steve had mentioned that the first day was the toughest.  I believed him.
(More on THAT later.)  So I tried to ride at a comfortable pace.  There
were a lot of hills that first day.  There were a lot of hills *every
day*.  People fanned out and found others to ride with.  I spent most
of the day riding with By, while Gill (the speed demon) rode with Bill.
Gill has always been a strong rider.  Everyone knows that except Gill!
She had just ridden 417K in 23:59 the previous month.  So there weren't
great expectations to spend much time riding with her.  This could be
a good trip for her to discover how good a rider she really is.

True to form, I forgot my map.  It was packed away with my clothes.
So I was following the road markings and other cyclists.  I ended up
riding most of both trips without maps.  Once I figured out Steve's
logic about placement, it was fairly easy to follow the route.  A few
times the markings were in odd places, IMO, which seemed to indicate
that the markings had been placed at a different time.  But I never
got lost, so they had to be pretty good.  I had fallen on my last 
bicycle trip and had broken my computer.  I didn't get around to replacing
it before this trip, so a map only told me how far I had come and where
the restaurants were.  The bikes parked outside of stores also told me
where food was.  Some days I didn't want to know how far I had ridden.

We were riding along through some nice country, appreciating the fine
vistas, the cool weather and the wildlife for most of the day.  On a 
small hill, my rear pannier need adjustment.  I stopped at the side of
the road across from a rest stop.  Gill suggested that we cross the 
road and stop in the rest area.  It turned out to be a good decision,
as the snack stop was there!  I had failed to see the vans, the bikes
or the people through the trees.  I was rather hungry and so the ubiquitous
peanut butter/jelly/banana sandwich tasted great!  The bread had little 
ears on it, so we nicknamed our snack "Mickey Moose" sandwiches.  (That's
what you get when you take a bunch of Floiridians to Maine.)

There were loons on the river near our stop.  They are lovely birds, 
with black heads and red eyes.  You could hear them calling now and 
again.  This confirmed the fact that I wasn't in California.  We also
found an interesting sign near the trash cans "For your health, no trash 
picking".  A heated discussion followed to determine if this was meant 
for people or if the raccoons in Maine were literate.  I don't think we 
ever reached a conclusion on that topic.

After chatting with other riders and the support folks, we pressed on.
The weather was overcast.  We saw a stuffed moose head on display outside
a shop and some roadkill, but no moose.  Well, this is only the first
day.  There is plenty of time to find moose on this trip.

More climbing and fast downhills.  We passed riders and they passed us 
back.  The scenery was still forest.  We saw moose wallows but no moose.
Up and down, on and on.  I'm starting to get tired.  I didn't have enough
time to get into condition before this trip started.  Too much to do at
work.  I knew that going in but unless I just bagged the entire trip
it was too late now.  Finally, I spot the yellow letters saying "the 
last hill".  At the top of the hill there was a gift store and currency
exchange.  We were heading into Canada tomorrow and Steve had suggested
that we exchange money here.  Oops, I had also packed my cash in with
my clothes.  Oh well, I'll just find an ATM in Canada.  I browsed around
the store, marvelling at what was sold and some of the clever displays.
Have you ever seen a 50 lb beaver?  It was big.  I wanted to buy a small
loon for my bicycle.  No luck.  I thought about buying a little moose,
but loons had caught my fancy.  I was really tempted to get a cup of 
coffee.  We were close to camp so I decided to wait.  I was feeling the
effects of lack of sleep and too much exercise.

The town of Jackman, Maine is pretty much a company town.  The train
pulling the sulfuric acid tanks was my first clue.  There was that
scent of wood pulp.  It was misty by the time we reached camp and 
started to set up tents.  Then it started to drizzle.  Hmm, I don't camp
in the rain in California (since it rarely rains in the summer or fall).
I wonder if my tent is waterproof??  Guess I'm about to find out.

Dinner that evening was served in the school.  Spaghetti.  It was good
and the cafeteria style seating allowed us to meet some new people and 
visit with friends.  Don was telling riddles that kept several of 
us occupied for a few days.  I enjoy the meals where everyone is in the
same room.  It provides an opportunity to meet others and start to 
recognize new faces.   

After dinner a small group of us wandered over to a little store.  I
still wanted coffee.  While searching the shelves to see what was
there, I discovered some granola bars that I had seen in Kansas on the 
Santa Fe Trip.  They were excellent and only $.25  I had brought one back
to California to see if they were sold there.  No luck.  So in a 
moment of absolute overindulgence, I grabbed 10 to use as snacks.
I was still searching for coffee, so I left my stack of bars near
the register and asked to gal to protect them for me.

One of the guys on the trip saw my horde and tried to buy them.  The
cashier saved the day.  So Sam bought all the bars left on the shelf.
He confessed later that he had tried to buy my bars.  So, if any of 
you didn't get granola bars in Jackman it's because Sam bought them
all out!!

Day 2
It rained off and on during the night.  My tent was damp in the morning
when it came time to pack.  We had a reasonably early start and rode
a few miles before stopping for breakfast.  The small restaurant was
packed with cyclists (no surprise) and we joined By, Bill and a few others
at the trucker's table.  Luckily, no truckers came in while we were
eating.  We talked, told the riddles to any newcomers who wanted to hear
them and drank coffee.  After an hour or so, we finally started off
through the hills to the border.  It was overcast again and there was
forest bordering the road.  By and I stopped at a dirt road leading to
a cemetery.  We rode our bicycles along the dirt road to the little
cemetery.  It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.  The graves were
mainly from the late 1800s and early 1900s, surrounded by a low stone wall
and the metal gate was locked.  Kind of strange when there doesn't appear
to be anyone around for miles.

On our way back out, we met Jane.  She was riding alone and was walking up 
the road rather than riding.  We found it funny that we were on road
bikes while Jane had left her hybrid to walk.  We chatted for a while
then left to continue our ride.  Jane was from Georgia and soon became
one of the group.  She was always cheerful and was content to ride along
alone or with others.

When we hit the border the entire flavor of the trip seemed to change.
For the guys it probably started with the border guard. :)  She was very
nice.  After showing my driver's license, I was allowed to cross into
Quebec.  Suddenly, the sun came out.  The fields were well tended, flowers
adorned houses.  And the signs along side the road no longer had pictures
of moose but of deer.  I still hadn't seen a moose (though later I discovered
that several people had seen fresh moose roadkill that morning.  Uggg.)
The roads were rolling.  The hillsides were the foundation for picturesque
villages.  Life was wonderful!  I was really enjoying this trip.  The
downhills were wonderful.  I was singing and shouting and smiling.

At a small cafe along the road, I spotted Gill's bicycle.  There
were a bunch of other cyclists there.  I suddenly remembered that I didn't have
any Canadian money with me.  Share-a-soda Bob had his video camera out catching
everyone on film.  Great helmet hair!  Thanks Bob.  It was a memorable moment. 
Everyone was happy and the scenery was lovely.

We rode on through more villages, past small farms and pretty houses where
people were actually sitting on their porches.  I was waving at everyone
I saw.  Almost everyone waved back.  A far cry from some other areas I
have ridden through.  I was amazed at how many people we saw outside in
Canada.  I often ride through areas in the States where you see about 
1 person every 5 miles.  In Quebec, about half the houses had people in the
yard or sitting on the porch.  Perhaps it was due to the magnificant weather.

The snack van was my next destination.  I wanted some gatorade, so while
the others stopped at a little restaurant to eat I went on ahead looking
for the van.  It was parked along the river on the far side of town.
As I pulled in, Vince was offering peanut and jelly sandwiches to us.
What service!  Somehow we got into a discussion of whether or not women
ate more jelly on their sandwiches than men.  It became quite amusing as
both Vince and I were trying to prove our point.  One guy asked for more
jelly and Vince said he was an outlyer and had to be thrown out.  I 
discovered that when a woman came to get a sandwich, Vince asked if
she wanted more jelly.  A biased survey, if you ask me.

While I enjoyed the view, drank gatorade and tried to engage others into
this highly philosophical discussion, Meghan and Steve rode up on their
tandem.  There were several tandems on the trip.  And many of the stokers
were under 18.  (Can this be considered child abuse??)  Meghan is a neat
kid.  She is kind of shy and so it took a while before she got into the 
joking around.  I think that this trip would have been very difficult for
the kids.  The days were long and once we got into camp there wasn't much
to do but talk.  (Though we did find the occasional diversion.)

We camped that night in a field near "Le Grand Tour".  2000 cyclists riding
through Quebec on a 7 day trip.  The only problem - the Moosa group didn't
speak very much french.  People kept talking to me and I could only reply
with simple words or in spanish.  It was odd, when I was taking spanish
lessons in Baja earlier this year, I remembered a ton of french.  Now 
that I was trying to speak french, I could only remember spanish!  Someone
must have an explanation for this phenomena.  (I'm seriously thinking about 
doing Le Grand Tour next year.  It would be really interesting to ride with 
french speaking riders.)  Our lime green wrist bands came in quite handy to 
help determine whom I could talk to about the next day's ride.  

Most of the tents were setup on a football field within arm's reach of 
each other.  I wanted a bit of isolation
(so I could sleep later) so I joined a small group on a little ridge and 
claimed the land for the crown.  "Which crown?" Alan asked.  I had a picked
a spot near the Barr family - Alan, Pam and Ewan.  They lived in Glasgow
and at 10.5 years Ewan had quite the accent.  Alan and Pam were from England 
originally.  They were doing both trips, with Ewan the stoker on the tandem 
with Alan.  Pam had a mountain bike - circa 1985.  During the days to come, 
I would spend a lot of time riding with them and visiting.  Ewan was good fun 
to talk with.  We sometimes had difficulty understanding what he said, but he
was always willing to repeat it.  His classic remark "Pedal harder" 
(which sounded more like "Ped A Ar Da") was to become a greeting when passing 
people on the hills.

Since we had gotten in at a reasonable hour, we decided to ride out to see the 
covered bridge.  It was hot and I was tired but when you are a tourist...  
First I tried to negotiate with Steve to get a van to drive us.  That failed
and so we got back on the bicycles.  The road out was slightly uphill and we 
had a headwind.  I was ready to pack it in, when we saw Don returning with a 
group of cyclists.  Actually the bridge was very nice.  We did our best to 
decipher the plaque at the bridge telling it's history.  The bridge was 70 
years old.  Not bad.  Another visitor translated it for us.  Our version 
wasn't too far off the mark.

I was tired from all the riding and the heat.  The weather was hotter than
I had planned.   On the way back we decided to stop in town and 
eat *before* riding up the steep hill back to camp.  A good decision.  We
ran into By, Harriet, Bob, Gator, Jan and Bill drinking beer.  They offered
us some and invited us to dinner with them.  I still didn't have any
Canadian money, and I was a bit concerned about how much money I had been
spending.  At first I didn't want to go, but after looking at the huge 
selection of food, I gave in.  We ate at a buffet that had everything from
pizza, roast beef, and shrimp to chinese specialities.  I didn't think I
was hungry until I started to eat.  I packed away a lot of calories that
evening!!

Gill was game to ride her bike back to camp.  I walked up the steep hills.
I'd eaten a lot and I wasn't eager to get back on my bicycle just yet.
We stood around and chatted with some of the others for a while on our
return.  I did take an informal poll of who had seen a moose.  A couple 
of people had seen a cow and calf, and one guy claimed he had seen a moose
rump.  But his description was weak, so I didn't count it as an official 
sighting.  Then I heard about the moose roadkill.  Glad I missed that one!

Official Moose count: 2 alive/1 dead

Day 3

I awoke to overcast skies.  It was actually cold, so I stood around drinking
coffee and talking to people hoping that the weather would clear.  I can
prove that it was cold because even some of the folks from Maine were wearing
coats!   We watched Le Grand Tour riders taking off.  What an assortment of
gear, bicycles and skill level.  But everyone seemed to be having a good 
time and that is really what vacations are all about.  Vince and Mary had
the coffee ready every morning by the time I got up.  It was really nice 
to be able to buy a cup of coffee without having to pack everything up and 
ride for a few miles.  I'd have been a real grump if it weren't for that
morning coffee.  Vince is a fun person to spar with.  He is quick on the 
comeback and can take as good as he gives.  Mary is amazing.  She runs 
marathons and ultras.  She is a strong cyclist as well.   They seemed to
function on very little sleep for the entire trip. 

The weather didn't seem to be cooperating so I finally started out.  Gill
was somewhere around for the first 2 miles, then I stopped to take off
my jacket and she was gone.  A rider was laying on his back on the grass
and when I jokingly asked if he had crashed, someone said he had.  I talked
to him and he was a bit lightheaded and his ribs hurt.  He decided to
sag that day, a decision that I strongly supported.  I was concerned that
he may have broken a rib.  Mary (another rider) offered to stay with him
until the sag came by.  I headed off to find the others.

I saw Gill's bicycle in front of a small restaurant.  I parked and went in.
She was just finishing and lent me some $$ so I could eat.  I ordered 
french toast and coffee.  Then I went from table to table talking to 
people as new riders came in and others left.  This is the part of 
bicycle trips that I enjoy - socializing with the other riders.  The 
coffee was good, and I wasn't in a hurry.  After an hour or so I went 
out to my bicycle and there was a little stuffed puppy on my rack with a
note: "My name is pookey pup.  I want to ride the Moosa trip with a 
different person everyday."  Share-a-soda Bob was there with his camera
recording the whole thing, so I suspected him of planting the pup.  He
said he didn't.  I was surprised, honored and thought it was a terrific
idea.  (Though I wasn't certain if the sign meant that I was different
or what.)  I never did discover the original owner of pookey pup.  He (she?)
rode with me that day, attached to my pannier.  I passed pookey pup on the 
next morning and he made his rounds to the delight of the next selected rider.

Bob and I rode together for a while. I was having a difficult time getting
into riding that day.  It seemed that I stopped every ten minutes for one
thing or another.  Water, fix the pannier, take a picture, visit the 
bushes, look at the road markings, more pictures.  We were still climbing
and each vista was prettier than the last.  There were a few "required"
stops that day - the chocolatier being one.  I wanted some candy as I was
tired, so I stopped at the chocolatier to look.  Nothing interested me -
I don't have the chocolate gene.  I backtracked a bit to a small store
to buy some candy.  A rider had crashed just by the store.  She was OK, 
except for road rash.  Her wheel had slid out on some gravel.  Everyone 
was helping to patch her up and I realized that I had left my first aid 
kit in my bag on the truck.  Not too bright.  One more thing to get out 
that evening.  I bought some hard candies and retraced my route.
Back at the chocolatier, Debra offered me a piece of chocolate.  It was 
very good.  

We rode on to the snack van.  But first we made a stop at Lac-Etchemin,
where I finally found an ATM and got some Canadian money.  On the way out
of town Bob had a flat.  When I reached him, "No Pay Ray" was there.  No Pay
is unique.  He follows rides but doesn't participate.  He rides a 1973 
Schwinn that I wouldn't trust to ride around the block.  He carries all his 
gear and seems perfectly happy to be on his own among a crowd.
I talked to him for a while.  He seems to enjoy his nomadic lifestyle.

Since Bob and I were running late, I was surprised when we reached the
location of the snack van, that they were still there.  It was quite late,
1:30 or so.  I had been dwaddling all day and figured that the van had left.  
I sat down to enjoy my pb2j sandwich when my rear tire suddenly blew out.  :(  
This was an omen.  I was not meant to ride today.  Taking the tire off,
I discovered the rim tape was shot (the wheel is only a year old) and the 
tube had punctured.  I fixed the hole and used electrical tape to patch most 
of the spoke holes.  Now it was really late, but Bob was patient so I 
continued on.  We had some road work to ride through and it was a bit tricky 
to ride on the soft road and avoid the cars.  More hills.  More lovely views. 
Finally a steep (15%) grade and as I churned my way to the top, my rear tire 
blew again.  Better on the uphill than the downhill!  I was annoyed when I
discovered that the same thing had happened - the one spoke hole I had
neglected to patch.

As I was getting everything ready to repair the tube again, Don drove by 
in the sag.  Forget it.  I'm sagging.  I don't trust this wheel to
survive and the hills are very steep.  Bob went on and Don and I drove
back along the route I had just ridden.  We stopped for an ice cream
and chatted with some of the riders.  Then we located the last riders out 
and headed back to camp.

Camp was at a school up the hill from a graveyard.  I toyed with the idea 
of camping next to the graveyard, but I was afraid that someone would come over
during the night and play a practical joke on me.  (I watched too many 
horror movies as a kid, and I'm still trying to overcome that silly fear
of graveyards.  When I was in Australia many years ago I decided to walk
through a graveyard late at night.  I was proud of myself for not being
scared, until a flying fox took off about 3 feet away from me.  Talk about
your worst horror movie scenerio.)   I decided to dry my tent and see if I 
could find a place to sleep inside.  If I'm going to ever get an early start, 
I've got to figure out some time saving measures.  Sleeping without a tent 
was one of them.  The weather cooperated and the nights were generally lovely.

Jackie, our resident mechanic, fixed my wheel.  I neglected to put my
bicycle back together that evening, so I had a task to complete in the
morning.  Instead, I drank a coke, took a shower and ate dinner.  I was
trashed, not so much from the riding as the heat and lack of sleep.  I
was sunburned, inspite of using sunblock.  Things were not as I had 
thought they would be.  I was having fun, but I wish I felt better.

Dinner was acceptable.  Lasagna and salad.  I drank a lot of coffee to
wake up enough to survive the evening.  My sleep schedule was all out 
of kilter.  I was getting up at 5:30 a.m. - 2:30 a.m. California time!
I was sleeping soundly, but I really needed a nap every afternoon and I
wasn't getting one.

After dinner I tried to get the group to bond by suggesting we go for
ice cream.  Someone seemed to think they knew where to get ice cream in
town.  Well, after a lot of discussion and walking we found a place that
sold vanilla or chocolate soft-serve ice cream.   Not my idea of real
ice cream.  I passed on dessert.  The others seemed to enjoy the sundaes.

The big excitement of the evening (besides Steve's 8 p.m. meeting) was 
the race Ewan had challenged me to.  There was a grassy slope in camp
and Ewan thought we could slide down the hill on plastic bags.  He said 
he was more aerodynamic than me.  But I had *MASS* on my side!  So the 
challenge was accepted and several folks came over to watch.  The plastic
bags didn't work as well as we had hoped, so the "lost and found" box was
donated to the cause.  Ewan and I had a few crashes and finally we had 
a successful run.  A rematch was declared and I barely managed to defend
my victory when Ewan fell out of the box.  I had grass everywhere and was
picking it out of my clothes for the next few hours.  But it was great fun!
(And we might have actually worn Ewan out for once.)

Day 4

I slept quite well inside the gym.  It was warm and dry!  Breakfast was
served close by so I didn't have far to get food.  I packed and fixed
my bicycle.  It was a short downhill ride out of town 'til we hit the 
hills again.  More climbing.  The view was wonderful.  Bob had a series
of flats in a row.  I went on ahead, up and down, down and up.  We finally
stopped at a small town where Gill, Lou and I went in search of a birthday
card for Sam.  I had overheard him tell Vince it was his 40th birthday.  
Well, let no secret go unannounced!  We had a great time shopping for a
card (in french of course) that was suitable.  Then we bought him a
small squirt gun for payback.  I also bought a little sign that said  40  
inside a gold circle.  It was going to be fun to roast him after the meeting
tonight.  A group of us sang "Happy Birthday" to Sam when he rode up.
The locals were amused at the going ons.

In order to improve my french, I bought a harlequin romance novel.
Unfortunately, the phrases didn't help me much on the trip.  It was fun
reading bits out loud to others in camp.  Who knows what I was saying 
at times.

Getting everyone to sign the card was tricky.  I'd catch them at rest stops
and then at dinner I picked up most of the rest.  Occasionally someone 
would say "I don't know who Sam is."  They would know after the meeting! :)

One highlight of the day was a stop at an ostrich and emu farm. The kids
were selling lemonade and great spice cookies.  There weren't any emus
as the last pair had recently been sold.  But I did learn that I weigh
more than an adult emu!  Ostriches can weigh up to 450 lbs.  Emus are
significantly smaller, weighing in at 130 lbs.  Just a bit of roadside
trivia that might come in handy one day.

We found a flattend toad on the road, and Gill put it under her map
cover.  Since people were purchasing stuffed animals for their bicycles,
we thought this would fit right in.  Someone commented that all the 
legs had better be there when Gill arrived at camp, since she had eaten
frog's legs the night before.  When I asked her where the toad was later
on, she said that she had thrown it away when someone rode by and commented
"Oh, that's sick."  So much for roadkill animal decorations. 

It was a long day.  I got separated from the gang since I was taking the
card around.  I stopped quite a while at the snack stop.  More gatorade
and pb2j sandwiches.  I ate them everyday for nearly two weeks and I
never got tired of them.  I was enjoying the time talking with the other
riders when Vince announces "How long have you been here, Susan? An hour?"
Time to move on.  I rode with Ian and his crew from Kentucky.  But the 
others took off, so Ian and I rode together for a while.  He knew Virginia
Jerry, my friend who was supposed to be on this trip but wasn't here.
I missed Virginia Jerry.  He's quiet and very witty.  I met him on the 
Santa Fe trip and quite enjoyed his company.   He had done the Moose trip
the week before, so people had seen him.  Perhaps something came up that
he needed to take care of.  I was quite certain that he would show up for
Lighthouse, next week.

Ian was a much stronger rider than I was.  But he was polite and was
willing to let me tag along.  We found the group at the junction to 
a town.  We decided to go and eat.  We found a little place that had
only been opened for a month.  The food was good, though they were
running short on some items.  It seemed that every place we stopped
to eat was understaffed for groups our size.  Someplaces ran out of
things and other times it just took quite a while to get served.

I didn't mind waiting as the conversation among the group was quite
lively.  Jim didn't ride the century the day before and no one would
let him forget it!  Earl was laid up in the van due to an injury he
received the second day.  You had to be quick with these guys.  Comments
were flying around like shrapnel.  I got hit once or twice and managed to
get a few off myself.  It took a lot of energy to keep up with what was
going on.

I stayed at the restaurant after the guys had finished.  More card signing.
I talked to some of the riders and finally started out again with Thom
and a few others.  We had some road construction to contend with.  The
new tarmac was so soft that I chose to ride the shoulder instead.  The terrain
was flatter but I was tired and so I just plodded along.  Thom bought a
basket of fresh blueberries at a roadside stand.  He shared them with us. :)
They were good!

We rode on through farmland and over hills.  It was getting late, I'd spent
a lot of time talking and getting the card signed.  We reached the turnoff
for the camp at Lac Aylmer.  We had a dirt road to descend, not too steep
but since I was tired it took some concentration.  Almost everyone was
at camp already, which made finding my bags easy. :)  That evening we were 
using the shower trailer which Steve had built.  I was impressed with 
it when I went inside.  There were four showers, plenty of hooks for clothes,  
a removable wood floor that helped keep things clean, benches to sit on
and a shelf that was easy to reach.  We commented that Mimi must have had 
input on the shelf, since it was lower than men would probably have placed
it.   

Dinner was served at the restaurant in camp.  I wasn't hungry so I just
drank coffee.  I could drink 4 or 5 cups in the evening and still sleep
right through the night.  Probably not the best idea, but I was so
sleepy when I stopped riding that I was afraid I'd just go right to
sleep if I didn't drink coffee.  Some nights I drank coffee and then
beer.  The coffee to wake up enough to drink the beer.  Go figure. 

Steve held the 8 p.m. meeting on the balcony.  Sam played right into our
hands by standing right in the center of the crowd.  The people in the 
restaurant had been very nice and provided me with a piece of cake and
a sparkler as a candle.  Lou and Tom were going to light the sparkler
when we presented Sam with the card and "gift".  Steve let me do the 
honors of roasting Sam.  So after the important information had been
distributed, I was accorded the floor.  Sam was unsuspecting (I think)
and as we started to sing "Happy Birthday" I could see Lou and Tom
frantically trying to get the sparkler to light.  They finally succeeded
and we presented Sam with the whole works.  Sam had said that he really
wanted to go to Jamaica for his bday, but the package was sold out.  I
guess that made us his second choice. :)  Well, I think he will remember
that birthday for a long time to come.  And now *everyone* knew who Sam
was.

Scott wanted to get a group to play volleyball.  I went down to see how
things were going and it was a pretty sad sight.  A group of folks had 
built a bonfire on the sand and they were standing around.  I'm not 
wild about the smell of smoke on my clothes so I went to talk with By
and Bill.  It looked like it would be a nice evening, so I just slept
out on my "top".  I watched the stars for a while before falling asleep.


Day 5

My dream on any vacation is to get coffee in bed.  I had chosen my site
well the night before as I was about 10 feet from the morning coffee.  As I
lay warm and cozy in my down bag (and fairly dry even though the bag
was damp) I debated the merits of getting up to buy a cup of coffee.
Vince and Mary were having a difficult time with the electricity, so
the coffee wasn't ready yet.  I chose to stay put and watch the other
riders milling about.  I'm one of those people who is actually awake in
the morning.  That means that I talk in the morning (and throughout the
day).  I said a few "Good mornings" to people.  Hmm, doesn't look like
today is my "coffee in bed day".  It was a bit chilly when I finally
got up.  The air was damp since we had camped by the lake.  I packed up
quickly and carried my stuff to the truck.  The early morning ritual
of packing and carrying all your possessions to the Ryder truck is 
a familiar one to cycle tourists.  This Ryder truck was white, instead 
of the familiar yellow that I had bonded to like a duckling on the Santa
Fe trip.  It was rather amusing to find myself instinctively riding towards
any parked Ryder truck for a few days after the Santa Fe trip.  It was even
more amusing when a whole flock of us chased the wrong truck.  

I checked the pressure in my tires.  The rear tire seemed to lose about
40 lbs pressure each day.  All packed up and ready to go.  Where is Gill?
She must have left.  We took off for the 6 mile ride to the first restaurants.
We rode over the same hills we had ridden to get to camp.  It certainly 
warmed you up.  There were two restaurants to eat at.  The first one we
came to had some bicycles I recognized, so I stopped.  There was a table
for two next to By, Gator and Jan.  I sat down just in time as a mass of
cyclists pulled in shortly thereafter.  Gill arrived a few minutes later.
Oops.  We had left her at camp.  Sorry.  As I sat drinking coffee, Ed from
?? walked in.  "Morning, Ed.", I said.  "My name's not Ed." He replied.  
Uh, oh.  I've done it again.  The only 
problem with trying to call people by name is that you occasionally get
it wrong.  On my last bicycle trip I had asked another "Ed" how he was
enjoying the day.  "I'm not Ed." was his reply.  It turns out I had mixed 
Ed up with Monte.  Well Monte never was called Ed again.  And by the end
of the trip everyone knew who Monte was. :)

I whispered to Gill, "What's that guy's name?"  "Ed", she replied.  "But
he told me his name wasn't Ed."  Score one for Ed.   It was his dry sense
of humor that had totally thrown me.  More cyclists came in and tables
switched personalities.  I was ordering in french and enjoying the morning.
Another hour spent eating and socializing.  Finally after everyone had
eaten and put on sunscreen, we started off.  There was a long climb this 
morning.  We puttered along in low gear trying to talk without getting
in the way of traffic.  The scenery was nice and at the pace we were
going conversation was possible.  When we reached Nante, we crossed
paths with Le Grand Tour again.  I tried to check my voicemail but the
800 number didn't seem to work.  Oh well.  We rode on towards the snack
van. 

My right ankle was very sore and swollen.  It was the reccurance of an
injury I had about 1.5 years ago.  I had gone to the doctor several
times and had received the typical advice "Stay off of it."  Impossible
on a bicycle trip.  My ankle hurt and the climbing was making it worse.
I was trying to push easy gears but I was concerned that I wouldn't be
able to ride next week's trip.  Great!  I figured I was home free since
I hadn't been bothered bicycling for nearly a year.   It was obvious that
I was going to have to give it up for today at least.  I kept going until
we reached the snack van.  Then I asked Vince if I could sag with him.
Walking was more painful than riding.  I'm trapped!!  

I mixed some gatorade for the troops while I was waiting.  There wasn't 
a lot for me to do but talk and wait.  I didn't mind too much but felt
quite left out when the others got on their bicycles and rode off.  I 
wanted to ride but couldn't.  That was very frustrating to me.  

Don drove up a short time later in one of the sag vans.  I asked if I
could go with him.  So I abandoned Vince and chased the riders down
with the help of the van.  At Scotstown, Don stopped for a bit to get
something to eat.  Gill and Bill were eating near the river so I went
over to say hello.  Other riders arrived while we talked.  They were 
making good time!  It was now a lovely day and I felt trapped riding
in the van.

We drove the rest of the way to Notre Dame des Bois.  There were some
serious hills on the way to camp.  OK, I feel better about my decision.
I arrived in camp rather early by my standards.  I dragged my stuff into
the arena and staked out a spot for the night.  Another night sans tent!
The local people were very friendly at Notre Dame des Bois.  Two men 
were selling beer for $2.00 at the camp.  Perfect, I don't have to
walk anywhere to get a drink.  I tried the Canadian beer.  Tasty.
I was having a grand time talking to the riders as they arrived.
A beer for the victorious riders.  The conversation got quite lively
around the beer sellers.  Steve and Mimi were organizing a trip to the
"Observatoire du Mont-Megantic".  I decided not to go for several reasons,
so I sent my camera instead.  I asked Thom to take pictures for me.  I
haven't developed the film yet, so I don't know if I trusted the wrong
crowd or not. :)

Back at camp we continued to put a dent in the beer.  The local people
were catering dinner and the menu looked really good - chicken, potatoes,
meatballs, rolls, even the "chief's" salad and "desert" looked good.  
Dinner time came and the first wave went through.  The tables had paper 
placemats on them, which had a quiz about drugs and healthy lifestyle
choices aimed at school kids.  I decided to try and answer
all the questions, even though the questions were in french.  While I was
diligently working on the questions, I asked if someone had a pen.  Wait,
I had one in my pack and as I triumphantly pulled it out of the pack the
top flew off and hit the ceiling.  Behind me I heard "Where did that come
from?".  I suddenly knew that I'd better not turn around.  I had no idea
who was sitting behind me but I hoped they were a friend.  When I did
look, I saw my pen cap sitting in Sam's water glass!  I was laughing so
hard that I could hardly breathe.  Poor Sam!  He had just gotten the water
and was all set to drink it when the pen cap splashed down in his cup.  I
think he believed I had planned it.  I was still laughing at the irony
of it all.  I think it might have been a Kodak moment to catch his expression.  
Cenora kept trying to tell him it was an accident.  I just couldn't help
laughing.  (I did get Sam another glass of water.)

After dinner, I walked down the hill to a house that had a display of 
Mars Rovers in the front yard.  The people who had ridden into camp had seen it
and told me about it.  I had to see what this display was about since
I work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  Whomever lived in the house
was certainly interested in space.  The displays were home-made.
The Sojourner model looked kind of like the real thing.  So after
reading the cards I went back to camp to get my pictures of the rover and 
lander models from work.  I recruited some others to go with me in
case I needed to escape.  However, when I knocked on the door no one was
home.  After looking around I left a shuttle sticker on a workbench.
That should keep them guessing as to where the sticker came from.

Back at camp it was time for our nightly meeting.  Steve told us that
a couple of people had ridden their bicycles to the observatory!  After
the meeting we were treated to music by some of the locals.  The people of
Notre Dame des Bois were terrific!  I think it was by far the best stop
on the whole trip.  The food was excellent, the people were quite proud of
their town and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening.  Smily was in the
kitchen washing dishes with the local women.  It was quite a sight to see
this american lad chattering away with Canadian women.

When it got dark, Scott and I set up the fireworks we had purchased several
days before.  They are legal in Canada and since we were heading back into
the States the next day we decided to set them off.  The only problem was
that I didn't want to wake the early sleepers.  The entertainment was still
going so we finally just set the things off to the enjoyment of the crowd
that happened to be standing outside.  The screamers got some people's 
attention and the roman candles worked fairly well.  Not a bad little
display.  But not the effect we had hoped for.

The women's dorm that night (the arena) was warm and cozy.  Gill had 
located a small room with a private toilet!  This is high class!  We 
even had a door to close so people didn't disturb us.  I slept quite
well in our warm little dorm.  

Day 6

Since my leg was still bothering me I had volunteered to drive a sag
vehicle.  I got the keys to a Westfalia from Tim. I have been thinking
about buying a Westfalia so I was thrilled at the prospect of driving
one.  I was taking Ana as a passenger (since the vehicle was a stick
and she could only drive an automatic) to the border where she would
join her husband Steve on the tandem.  Earl also came with us.  He was
still on crutches from his accident on the second day.  I had heard
about Earl from the Kentucky "boys" and now I had a chance to get to
know Earl.

We had a leisurely departure since driving would be much quicker than
riding.  We made several stops along the way, checking out the sights
and talking to the riders.  We stopped at a fish farm where someone
was feeding the fish.  They splashed so much that they were getting
Ewan wet!  

We drove to the border where the guard was trying to deal with a bunch
of cyclists and several of our vehicles.  Steve told the guard that he
should check our van, especially the driver!  Thanks!  Of course I didn't
help matters by telling the border guard that we were the recreation vehicle.
Luckily the guy had a sense of humor.  We made it through without being
detained for too long.  I guess I must really look conservative. :)

Our next stop was at a small store where I bought a cup of coffee.  
Our riders were lined up buying food and drinks.  When the guy told
me the coffee was $.75 I asked the most frequently heard question
in Canada, "Canadian or American?"  I think the humor was lost on 
many of the folks there.  I never did understand why so many people
assumed that prices quoted in Canada were in American dollars.

It was a fine drive to Kingfield.  We stopped at the snack van
to talk and pick up Ewan.  He was tired and the road was heavily
travelled by logging trucks.  Sagging was the best answer.  We 
loaded Pam's bike in the van and she rode on the tandem with Alan.
Ewan added to the fun of our drive with his chatter and energy.

We went out to a salt lick where you could sometimes see moose.  I
wanted some moose droppings to give as prizes to people who had seen
moose on the trip.  But there weren't any suitable specimens to be 
found.

We stopped for pie at a roadside stand.  It was wonderful - not too
sweet!  I ate the last of the All Berry pie.  Yum.

As we neared Kingfield we were flagged down by one of the sag trucks.
It seems that there had been a misunderstanding about the van.  I 
was driving sag but the owner thought I was driving straight thru.
We pulled into camp and quickly unloaded the Westfalia.  Ewan ran off
to play and Earl needed a lift to the hotel in town where he was 
staying.  I was left with a pile of bicycles and a sudden let 
down to what had been a fun trip.  I went over to the shade to sit 
down and put ice on my leg.  I think I could have used some ice for my
temper as I was rather annoyed about the whole thing.

After a while, Don offered us a lift into town.  Walking was very 
painful know so I accepted.  We stopped at a small restaurant and
went to the upstairs patio to have a Carrabassett Pale Ale.  It was 
good. :)  I went out to the van to get another ice pack and heard
my name being called by the Kentucky guys across the street.  I went
over and joined them on the second floor balcony for a short chat.
Well, they offered me a beer and then we got talking and pretty soon
I has switched parties without even realizing it.  My friends across
the street had ordered and eaten before I got back there. 

I went to eat with the guys in the Hotel restaurant.  I wasn't too
worried about getting back to camp as Steve had been driving a shuttle
from the camp to town.  There were lots of other bicyclists around so
I thought that there was a good chance I could get a ride back.  Ha!
Dinner took quite a long time but the company was great and the food
was good.  Jim was bragging about going 55 mph on a downhill and he 
even had his computer to prove it.  I asked if I could see it and he 
innocently handed it down the table to me.  Well, if there was one 
thing the Kentucky boys had taught me it was to strike first and strike
hard.  I took Jim's computer and went from table to table telling the 
other riders about how wonderful Jim's downhill ride had been and showed
them his computer to back it up.  I think Jim was ready to murder me. :)
It was pretty funny.  Luckily most of the patrons were on our trip.
After that he was referred to as "Monseuir Gravity".  

Dinner was a long affair.  It started to  get fairly late and I realized
that I wasn't certain how to get back to camp.  One table of cyclists
was getting ready to leave so I asked if I could go back to camp with them.  
I had to get my dessert to go (a novel concept at this hotel) and the 
lads picked up my tab.  Thanks!!  I hobbled off with the others for
the walk back to camp. 

It was a nice moonlit night so I decided to sleep under the stars.
I picked a spot far away from the tent city and near the water and 
bathrooms.  I was very happy even though the trip was coming to an 
end.  I'd had some great fun, ridden quite a bit and life was good.
I usually judge a trip by how often I think of home or work or my
cats.  I hadn't missed any of that the whole trip.  That meant that
this really was a vacation.  My mind was calm.  

Day 7

Finally, I got my coffee in bed!  Vince took pity on me and brought me
coffee.  Yippee!  Another lucky day.  I was determined to ride today as
it was a short day and I wasn't going to drive a "sag" today.  Gill had 
splurged and stayed in the Hotel last night.  She arrived all ready and
refreshed.  We took off to the edge of town for breakfast.  The place was
small so you ordered and then picked up your order.  I decided to be social,
so I was delivering meals to the tables.  By this point I knew many of the 
rider's names.  It was kind of fun to interact on a totally unexpected
level like that.  The locals were watching everything we did.

The ride to Skowhegan was nice.  We rode along the river for a while.
I was looking for moose but they all seem to be like the Loch Ness
Monster - invisible.  We passed by an old windmill and I stopped
to take pictures.  Gill was riding with me today and she was patiently
waiting while I was playing around.  We stopped at a small store near
North Anson and the lady working there was very pleasant.  We had decided
to buy a Thank You card for Steve and Mimi for the group to sign.  The
selection wasn't too good, so I picked out a couple of things that might
work.  We needed a man's opinion on our selection so Robert gave us the 
approval.  The card was not my style, the colors were a bit odd.  Lou 
decided that we should pick a clashing envelope to add to the effect.
Orange, purple and yellow.  It certainly got your attention.  I ended up
being in charge of gathering signatures again.  I started with the folks
at the store and worked my way along as I met people on the road.  

As usual, we ran into a detour on our route.  Being tired of detours we
tried to talk our way through.  No luck.  The men just kept telling us 
we couldn't get through that way.  The machinery was all sitting idle and
they appeared to be on a break.  What gives?  Gill was negotiating for them
to let us be the first group allowed through.  I thought she had won them
over when we were told to go around again.  Why?  Finally one of the workers
told us that they were pulling a cable across the river.  Oh.  OK, we'll
go around.  (We heard later that they put up a sign telling cyclists that
they had to go around.)  One more hill to climb but we missed a lot of the 
traffic by taking our detour of the detour.

We were getting close to Skowhegan.  Things started to look familar.  It
seemed like more than a week since we had headed out - strangers in a 
strange land.  Now it was like coming home to a family reunion.  I was 
torn between being glad that I could get off my bicycle for a day and 
not wanting my new friends to leave.  We pulled into our camp and saw
that people were busily packing bicycles into boxes.  We were going to
meet Bill and By for lunch but I had the card to get signed and I had
to get cleaned up.  When I finally had showered and changed, we couldn't
find Bill or By.  Gill wanted to ride her bicycle into town for lunch.
I didn't want to ride anywhere for a while, but walking was also out. 

I got a lift to the laundrymat and met Gill there.  We started our 
machine and went across the street to a small pizza place for lunch.
Many of the gang were there: Smily and Mom, Thom, Margaret and Dave 
The pizza was great!!  Thom and I split a large pizza
and I enjoyed every bite.  We took turns going across the street to
check the status of the laundry, so that the others could eat.  It's
the little things on bike trips that bring you closer together.  Sharing
birthdays, doing laundry, changing money, finding the Post Office.  Our 
needs are reduced to a simple level - eat, ride, drink, set up camp and 
sleep.  No worries about bills or the car or taking care of the yard.

With the laundry finished, Dave and Margaret thoughtfully offered us a lift
back to camp.  They were heading out to pick up a friend at the Bangor
airport for the next trip.  I really appreciated the lift as I wasn't
in shape to walk.  My leg wasn't getting better and I was a bit worried.

It was quiet in camp.  The shuttle had taken the Kentucky Boys to the 
airport.  I'd miss them.  They were a lively bunch.  Jim had left a nice
little note in my pack reminding me that he could have gotten even by
sharing my dirty clothes with the world.  Gulp.  I'm glad he didn't.
Next time I lock the bag!! :)

It was hot so we tried to stay out of the sun while we killed time.
Without a vehicle the only option was to ride our bikes.  I was staying
put in camp.  We talked and said good-bye to people.  
No Pay Ray was hanging around and it turns out that he owns a car!  
Gill went off to Walmart with some of the folks to buy jeans.  I asked
her to pick me up some chalk - just the thing for writing on the roads!
I had another week of cycling ahead of me.  There were a few things that I
could do to liven up the trip.  

For dinner we drove to the Old Mill Pub along the river.  I had been there
on day 0 with By.  The beer was good.  The location was wonderful and I
had heard that the food was good also.  We were told that we'd have to
wait for 45 minutes for a table, but I saw Mercer sitting at the bar and
he offered to let us sit at his table when he got it.  We were seated in
less than 5 minutes.  We sat outside on the balcony, overlooking the 
powerplant and the river.  It was a great night, warm and clear.  I ordered
my usual coffee and beer.  We had a good time talking and eating.  The food
was wonderful - salmon, potato and salad.  My goal for the next day was to
learn everyone's name who was also doing the Lighthouse trip.  Thiw way I
would have a headstart on getting to know more folks.


What was my overall impression of that first week?  Irving Oil, forest,
very large wooden houses, rocky rivers, hills, small towns, no moose to
be seen,