Home from Maine 2022 Day 2 - Seco to Portsmouth

 It was cold and rainy with a headwind in the morning. So we hid in the motel until the rain stopped and started a little late. With more dawdling while eating breakfast a mile down Route 1. But the rain went away eventually.

We are basically taking back roads that hug the coast.

The scenery is terrific, and we go through many small towns with beautiful buildings.

Including Kennebunkport, the home of George Herbert Walker Bush, our 41st president. I had to take a picture of this to document that I have been to the homes of both presidents Bush while bike touring. Who else has done that? See the report on my visit to Crawford, Texas here. It was memorable, and much different than quaint, historic Kennebunkport.

Lunch was a bit further down the road at Ogonquit, where Max made me stop eating lobsters. I was ready to have a lobster roll and a perfectly fine cafe, but Max did not like anything on the menu, and he was looking really miserable. "I don't like food." We had just done a fairly strenuous 30 mile stretch, and he was a little bonked. So we went up the block to a place called Crew, where he ate a pizza and became happy again. So happy, in fact, that he was loquacious the rest of the day. We spent the afternoon trying to distinguish the actual historic houses from fake-historic new houses as we rode along.

Even when he broke the chain on his bike, spirits stayed high. He hollered at me to stop and he was standing there holding up the broken chain. Looking concerned. "No problem, I will fix it." I always have a spare master link when touring. Back on the road in 5 minutes, and I bought a new chain at a bike shop right by the finish town.

We are now in New Hampshire!

Max noted that there was no "Welcome to New Hampshire" sign, and he did not feel welcome. I told him he has to understand that this is the LIVE FREE OR DIE state, like it says on every license plate. Since he is not dead and he is free, he can travel around New Hampshire however he damn well pleases and he doesn't need permission from anyone. So no need for a "Welcome" sign.

We rode a mile across town to a CVS to buy trash bags, since the weather forecast for tomorrow is rain, rain, rain. All the stuff that we don't want to get wet will go in a trash bag before it goes in a pannier.

We are at an AirBnB right in the center of the city.

Here we are, at the end of the ride, outside the door to our AirBnB. See those steps just inside the door? There are three long flights of them to carry our bikes and gear up. This was not fun after riding all day.

The AirBnB itself is pretty nice. And it has the bonus of being above a bar, so we didn't have to go far for dinner.

I had some clam chowder, wings, and a couple margaritas to replenish my electrolytes, while we watched shows about fishing on NESN because the Red Sox are on the west coast. Max was happy with his chicken and fries.

Here is the Strava track for the day.