Day 34 – Deer Island to Bass Harbor – July 14th, 2009
The ferry to Campobello runs every hour starting at 8:30 and I woke up just in time to see them getting ready for the first run of the day. Even last night I knew that there was no way I was going to make that boat so I started to get everything ready to make the next boat. Breaking down camp went smoothly but not nearly as fast as I needed to. 9:30 rolled around and I still wasn’t ready. I finally fished loading up around 10 am and spent my free time walking on the shore and enjoying the calm of the morning on Deer Island.
As I was walking back to the bike something caught my eye in the water. I turned just in time to see a dorsal fin sliding under the water. How cool was this?!?! With my camera at the ready I was able to see the mysterious fin rise up out of the water and dive down just as quickly. I assumed that it was a lonely porpoise.
After that excitement I found my way to the ferry ramp to wait for the next boat. With about five cars in front of me I was surprised to see three of them being communications vans either from phone or satellite companies. Big business on the island I guess. Being low tide, the ferry was way down on the ramp, forcing me to ride over slick rocks and slimy residue. Once on the ferry I became a bit of the tourist that I really am and was taking pictures of everything. It really is pretty up there. In my photo session a bicyclist came up and we started talking about my trip and theirs (RV trip up from Texas but doing a lot of bicycling). While talking I saw more of those mysterious fins that apparently rest on top of Minke Whales that I was able to get a picture of it, albeit very “nessy-like”.
Getting onto Campobello Island was nice and I made a quick stop at the local post office to send a couple of money orders to the Canadians that helped me get my engine sorted out. The stop was SUPPOSED to be quick at least. The postal worker couldn’t get the system to acknowledge the money orders she was putting in and she couldn’t find the ones that it was asking for. After several calls to support she was able to over ride it but then my American debit card wasn’t being accepted there. Finally I had to run down the street to get cash out of an ATM to pay for the money orders. All told, I spent over an hour getting two money orders.
Making my way around the very small island I was able to see some boats apparently marooned by the dramatic tides and some very cute towns. It was a quick ride from the north end of the island to the International Park for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s house. One cool fact is that this is the only park in the world that is jointly run by two countries. FDR’s house was very nice and surprisingly comfortable. It had the feel of that of a common man’s house, despite the 13 bedrooms and servant’s quarters. Walking around the grounds was nice and it was very easy to see why the Roosevelt family liked to spend their summers here.
From the FDR house it was only a couple of miles to the US border. The crossing was very quaint and the customs officer in the booth was the friendliest one I'd faced so far. In our conversation he said that he had to "randomly" search someone coming through and that I'd be the "easiest" since I was on a bike. Great, now I get blessed with a full customs search. To prevent them from doing harm to the bike I separated the gear (still in bags) and went back inside to let them do their search. After a few minutes they called me out and said they were done and that I was cleared to go the one caveat being they didn't know how all my stuff fit in the luggage so they left it spread on the ground for me to repack... Welcome to the US.
After repacking I kept moving south but didn't get too far before hunger kicked in and I stopped for a lobster roll. I had to get some lobster at some point while I was up here, right? As I left the restaurant the clouds started to roll in and let loose a drizzle. Not too bad and there were clear skies just up the road. I marched on without getting into my rain gear. A couple miles those initial clouds had passed as well as the lovely blue skies and another line of ominous clouds loomed overhead. This set of clouds wasn't as nice as the last and really let some rain fall down. The rain was very intense but it only lasted a few miles fortunately. The unfortunate thing was that this series of clear skies and torrential rain would continue for the rest of the day.
I stopped in Ellsworth to get out of the rain and find lodging for the night. I found a nice campground in Bass Harbor on Mt. Desert Island, just outside of Acadia National park. The drive in was very nice and I was able to drive over the seawall and through tons of lush forest all the way to the campground.
The campground I stayed at was nice and I chose a "wilderness" spot that meant in the trees with no electricity or water and a bit more remote than the rest of the campground. Sounds like it would be similar to the previous nights camp. Boy was I wrong. When I got to the site there was a horde of kids riding bicycles around the park, screaming and yelling. Add to that the various families getting dinner together, t.v.s/radios and the place was a madhouse, a polar opposite of Deer Island.
There seems to be a directional choice for my trip so far. I took Highway 1 north through California, turned right on the TransCanada Highway 1 in Canada and now head south along the eastern seaboard on US 1...
Pictures
