Over the Hill and Far Away……….

First of all let me wish you a happy birthday, America – 238 today and still looking pretty good.

We set off early this morning in the hopes of avoiding the rain. Yesterday’s estimate of 60 miles or so to cover was, in fact, wildly over-optimistic and the distance turned out to be over 140 miles in total. We travelled down Highway 3 which had signs marking it as an “evacuation route”. Mark assumed that this was must be pointing to where the nearest public toilets were located. There were quite a lot of people on the streets enjoying the holiday  and in Searsport we saw a convoy of fire trucks which were presumably on their way to join a parade somewhere. 

We later joined the Interstate 95 just before Augusta (the state capital). During the journey we passed through or by, Belfast, Palermo, Lisbon and China, giving it the feel of a bit of a world trip. 

The rain held off until towards the end of the journey. It did start to get rather wet then, although the big windscreens of the bikes seem to keep a lot of the rain off, so apart from the spray from passing trucks it wasn’t too bad. The worst part was the lack of visibility as the windscreens don’t have wipers and quickly become very difficult to see through. Fortunately the roads were reasonably quiet at this point and it was possible to ride with eyes closed for much of the time.

Our hotel, the rather quaintly named “Fireside Inn and Suites”, was just off the highway as we got to Portland and was thus very easy to find. It is a newish  budget hotel and conference centre but it does have a fireplace in the lobby with which to justify its name. On arrival we were presented with two rather alarming looking complimentary confections called “Whoopie Pies”! In fact “Whoopsie Pies” might have been more appropriate as they rather resembled turds filled with industrial solvent masquerading as cream. The receptionist’s corporate mask slipped for a second when she admitted that she didn’t like them either, before she hastily qualified that with the assurance that most people do! However once we had recovered from the welcome, the hotel itself is very well equipped and comfortable and even has a largish swimming pool and a bar (neither of which we have used). 

Once we had arrived, unpacked and binned the Whoopie pies, we called a taxi and set off into Portland. We started at the Great Lost Bear which I have always wanted to visit as it features in several “Maine Noire” novels that I have enjoyed. We got there just before 3 and the place was packed but within half an hour of our arrival it emptied out – which may say something about our personal hygiene as there seemed to be no other apparent explanation for the exodus. 

After a couple of beers in the Bear we got another taxi over the the waterfront where we ate yet another seafood meal in DiMillo’s restaurant, which is a converted car ferry moored at a wharf in the downtown district. By now the rain was pouring down and it’s still coming down heavily now (at 10pm). It seems to have dampened the 4th July celebrations a bit, particularly the fireworks, although it has brought more people out into the town bars and restaurants whereas they would tend to be celebrating with barbecues at home if the weather was better.   We’re just hoping that it has cleared before tomorrow morning when we set off for Portsmouth in New Hampshire. At least it is really only 60 miles or so tomorrow which should be manageable so long as Hurricane Arthur keeps away!