Jun 7 - Thursday - VT to Bar Harbor

Last full day of work yesterday!! This is the first day f my 6 week sabbatical and the first order of business is riding to Maine for my daughter Hannah's graduation. She is my world traveler and got bit when she did an AFS stay in Tasmania with a wonderful family (thank you Tolman's!!), and has had itchy feet ever since. So her college experience has been a little school, a little life, a little school, a little life. So we were surprised when she called one day and asked what we were doing on June 9th.
She goes to the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor and I am afraid the salt water has crept into her veins over there as she has turned into "boat person". After graduation she is cook and crew on the Lois McClure schooner until October. They are working with Corning on the Glass Barge Tour going up the Hudson river and then the Erie canal. But first, graduation!!
Deb, Jake and Aunt Ginny are already in Bar Harbor so I will ride over there on the X300. Looks like the beemer is sitting this trip out with 106K on the clock. The X300 is the bike that my son Jake took on his 3 month US/Canada tour last summer. He put 16K on the clock and I hop to put more on in the next 6 weeks. At first brush it seems like a pretty small bike for a long trip but it really surprised me on some test trips. Here is the list of reasons this guy is making sense for me:

• At 62, my legs are getting shorter so paddling the 650 lb Beemer around on tippy toes get a little scary.
• When I do dump the beemer on a gravel roadside or parking lot, I have to pick the damn thing up.
• My highway riding days are done. The 4 laners all look the same so I stick to 2-laners so I can see something other than big green signs and little Holiday Inn Express signs. Boring..
• I like riding slower. 50 mph is perfect. You see a lot more, it is a lot safer, wind noise is less.
• The engine in the X300 revs to 12K rpm and the bike will happily go 90 mph if you "need to". It is smooth and quiet and so far has been bullet proof. Hell, Robert Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) rode a Honda 305cc with his son and camping gear on the back across country. And I have 10 more horsepower!!
• The beemer is getting old. I have had it for 20 years (Thanks Bill!)and it is an old friend, but it needs a rest.

So off to Bar Harbor via Rt2. I did a previous 340 mile day a couple weeks ago fully loaded and it was all good. The main worry was the seat, which is Japanese Maple I think and has been complained about by owners, but I found a Canadian guy reviewing this strange material that he raved about and found some and put a double layer on. It is called "Sit and Fly" and is made by a company in Israel. I put two layers on and it is awesome.

The main bag is made by a company called Giant loop in Oregon and sits on the back like a passenger and you stuff an elephant in it (trunk side out). My "hotel bag" on the back and my rain gear in a dry sack on top. Tank bag for day stuff and a net for laundry. I'll do an equipment list later on but everything works great.

So a nice long ride today with the family on the other end.