Today was a beautiful day in New England. I spent some of it biking to the train station in Portland, then a good chunk on the train (we encountered an hour-and-a-half delay waiting for a freight train) and then another lovely time bicycling to my new Warmshowers host’s place in Newton.
After arriving back in Boston’s North Station, I biked over to the Boston branch of the Life Alive café, for another Green Goddess bowl which I enjoyed al fresco. Then I went to relax in Boston Common for about half an hour. It’s such a beautiful and calm greenspace in the middle of the city.
After that, the bike path took me almost directly from Boston Common to my host Arne’s place, again along the Charles River. It was a picturesque way to spend the evening.
When I arrived, I met Arne’s two adorable black polydactyl cats, as well as his Brompton. (I keep running into Brompton folks on this journey, which is so much fun!)
Tomorrow I’ll meet up with a friend for lunch in nearby Waltham, and then explore the area a bit more. I always enjoy visiting Boston.
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I met up with a new friend, Hans, at Deering Oaks Park in the late morning. We walked to a nearby doughnut shop (which bakes their wares with Maine potatoes!) to get a sweet treat, before setting out on some sightseeing adventures.
He took me to Two Lights, a lighthouse beach. Similar to Perkins Cove, I could not get over the geology of Maine’s coastal rocks, which look like petrified wood (or, truthfully, the old-timey Flake candy bars I remember from my childhood in Australia). The lighthouse was wonderfully scenic, too.
Afterward we went to a different nearby beach, with similar beautiful views of the ocean and clouds.
Arriving back into Portland, after a cool long chat about life, travels, and the like, I enjoyed walking through the nearby neighborhood, passing a beautiful church and spending some time sitting in a colorful plaza. (A man walked up to me there to ask about the Brompton; he, too, has considered buying one for himself.)
I topped off the day with a decadent dinner at an all-vegetarian restaurant, the Green Elephant, before bicycling back to my host Beka’s place before it got too chilly.
I’ve enjoyed my brief time in Maine. Tomorrow, I’ll hop back on the Amtrak Downeaster train to return to Boston for a few more days.
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I made it to the other Portland today! I said goodbye to my Westbrook host Mary this morning, and hopped on my bike to ride the 6.3 miles to my new Warmshowers host, Beka. She showed me around briefly and then headed back to work, and I headed out to see if I could catch the tail end of the nearby Saturday farmers’ market, at her suggestion.
As soon as I arrived at the market, what should I see but a bright yellow Brompton! I struck up a conversation with its owner, a longtime Mainer named Reggie, and he offered to give me a bike tour of the town.
So we did! He had a few errands to run, including stopping at his favorite local bike shop to order new tires, and then pausing at his community garden plot to drop off his farmers’ market plant acquisitions.
Then we headed down along the waterfront and into the quaint downtown area. Along the way, we followed a paved rail trail that crossed a working narrow-gauge tourist railroad. The train passed right in front of us, which was fun.
Eventually he dropped me at the Portland Food Co-op, where I picked up a few items and then began cycling back to Beka’s place, because the afternoon was growing a bit chilly for my taste. I went back past the picturesque Deering Oaks Park, where the farmers’ market had been.
Beka and I talked touring (she has done a lot of it, including Europe, and had some great stories) and life in general, which I always enjoy doing with my hosts.
Tomorrow I’ll meet up with another local Portland cyclist who is up to some cool things in the world. Temps should hit 73, and I’m ready for it!
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!
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Today was an interesting, varied day. It was raining pretty hard when Gail and I woke up in Sanford, and we spent the morning lounging around with her two adorable orange kitties, Candy and Ted. Gail made a delicious vegan pasta primavera for lunch, and then while the rain was paused, we loaded up my rig into her car and headed out toward Westbrook, where I’m staying tonight with my friend-of-friend (and Warmshowers) hosts John and Mary, and their son James. It rained for much of the drive, so I was very grateful to not be navigating those 30ish miles on the bike.
When we arrived, I met two more adorable cats: Zizi (pictured) and Gemma (not pictured, because she is an older and more reticent floof). Zizi is two years old, and full of energy and curiosity. She jumped right up onto my lap, and also made fast friends with my hydration pack, which served as a sort of amusement park ride for her.
This was prescient, because when John arrived home and we biked out to get dinner at a nearby Thai place—meeting up with Mary there—I learned that Westbrook was having a festival this weekend, right near the restaurant. Actually, John was supposed to have been performing music there, but unfortunately that performance had been canceled due to the rain.
Still, after dinner we walked through the festival/carnival, including the main band that were still performing, a ‘70s/disco cover band. It was kind of fun for me to unexpectedly find myself in a nighttime carnival, having just recently visited Coney Island during the day, when the rides were dormant.
After we walked through the festival, Mary walked home while John gave me a short nighttime guided tour of Westbrook’s river bike path. We saw some old mills, new office buildings, a cool sculpture (not pictured) and a really cool waterfall.
I never know what will unfold on any given day. This was cool.
Tomorrow: Portland!
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!
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Today was cool and mostly overcast, but my Servas host Gail took me on a tour of some of her favorite spots around Sanford. We visited Perkins Cove, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport (obscure side note: does anyone else always associate that town name with the 1980s sci-fi series Alien Nation?) and the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. All were beautiful. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!
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Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)
I’m in a new-to-me state! I haven’t had many of those yet on this journey, just Louisiana and Georgia up until now.
It’s a bit chilly here in Sanford: 51 as I write, with an earlier high of 59.
This morning in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I enjoyed some PB & J toast with last night’s Warmshowers hosts, Paul and his housemate Paul. We had had a homecooked meal and hours of conversation last night, in their historic Cambridge house. (See the extra-quaint Little Free Library out front.) Paul had undertaken a 14-month bicycle journey around the United States in 2015-2016, and found it to be—unsurprisingly—a life-changing experience. (The theme for his trip was the question, “How will we live tomorrow?” and that is also the name of his blog of the journey; take a look!)
After this morning’s toast and a bit more chatting, I packed up my rig from my attic guest room, and headed out into a cloudy sky that threatened to drizzle.
The rain didn’t amount to anything on that ride, and I enjoyed the 6-mile sojourn through Cambridge and Boston to Amtrak’s North Station. There was great bicycle infrastructure along the whole route. Once inside the station, I saw pigeons walking around amidst the construction.
The train was only 30% full, so I very easily loaded my rig into the large area in front of my seat.
The scenery was lush, if a bit rainy.
When we pulled into the small, volunteer-staffed station in Wells after about two hours of travel, I was pleased to note that like the other stations along this New England “Downeaster” Amtrak line, there was a platform flush with the train, so it was relatively easy to disembark. I had not seen this design elsewhere that I have traveled on the Viewliner trains. Generally, either an entire station—like New York or Philadelphia or Boston—would have a large platform that runs the length of the train, making boarding and deboarding easy, or no platform at all, making it quite a trial with my rig. This seemed like a good hybrid option for these small stations.
Unfortunately, I did have a snafu in connecting with my Servas host, Gail. We had a miscommunication about how we would meet, and where, and how we would communicate about it. So we both ended up sitting waiting for the other for about two hours, after which the rain had stopped so I bicycled about an hour and a half to her place, while she wondered where I was and drove the 12 miles to the station to try to pick me up.
Oof!
But we eventually met at her house, and had a wonderful Indian-food dinner while we got to know each other and I got to meet her two cats.
The weather for my time here in Maine is looking pretty cool and overcast, at times rainy. I was hoping for warmer, more 70s-like weather (and apparently it was 90 here a week ago!) but it is springtime in Maine, and I’m sure wherever I go will be beautiful nonetheless. We’ll see what we end up doing tomorrow.
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Do you have your own dream or project, and would like some support or collaborative brainstorming about it? Use the green “contact” button above to schedule a one-hour phone or video call with me!
Want to be notified of future blog posts? Use the green “sign up” button to subscribe!
Want to support my vision financially? I am in the process of manifesting $50,000 in lieu of a “salary” for the year of this journey. You can make a one-time or monthly contribution, or even become a Fairy Godfunder! (Heartfelt thanks to all my patrons and supporters!)
