Northern States Tour – Day 20

Day’s distance: 224 miles
Total trip distance: 4,665 miles

I woke early to break camp and get up to Cadillac Mountain for sunrise. Even waking up at 4:30, and leaving the site by 5:05am, and not getting lost on my way to the summit, I arrived some 30 minutes later to a parking lot already full. It would still be another 40 minutes until the sun rose but this is, apparently, the thing to do.

Kayla thought Cadillac Mountain receives the first rays of sunlight in the country. However, according to this article in wikipedia, it is only true certain times of the year.

Cadillac only sees the first sunrise in the fall and winter, when the sun rises south of due east. During most of the spring and summer, the sun rises first on Mars Hill, 150 miles (240 km) to the northeast. For a few weeks around the equinoxes, the sun rises first at West Quoddy Head in Lubec, Maine.

This was quite a show. I wasn’t expecting so many others to be here on a Friday morning after summer is officially over. Crowd watching was fun.

The sun rose, as predicted, and didn’t disappoint.

There were more photos, but I’ll spare you all. It was only about 10 minutes after and the place was nearly deserted.

I waited to head down the hill. During that time, I spoke with many people who noticed my outfit and knew I was traveling by motorcycle. I was hoping to see Danika and Kayla, but if they were there, I didn’t notice.

On my way up the hill, the nearly full moon I saw the night before was setting. I didn’t stop to take a photo but it was easy to see from the vantage point of Cadillac Mountain. On the way down, I couldn’t resist a photo of the bike.  🙂

Of course, I needed a latte so I went into Bar Harbor and found the Coffee Hound. I was their first customer this morning.

Lots of folks, who arrived on a small cruise ship, were walking about Agamont Park across the street from the coffee house. There were some larger sailing vessels that I couldn’t resist.

The ride down Hwy 1 was a mix of small towns where the speeds were limited and the more famous small towns that were crowded and full of traffic. Below is Camden, ME. It took about 20 minute to get through Camden along the highway.

My food experiment for the day was a Lobster Roll. It is lobster meat spread across a bun that was lightly toasted, then spread with mayo. A drizzle of butter tops the sandwich. The hot dog bun used was disappointing but the lobster was good.  🙂

The rest of my route followed I-295 and I-95 into Portsmouth. Traffic moved quickly with one exception, a 5-mile slowdown due to construction. I arrived just before 4pm to check in to the motel.

The weather tomorrow is predicted to be nice and I’m looking forward to riding through Massachusetts, the corner of Rhode Island, and into Connecticut.