Maine and Helmets (Sunday)

The next morning (Sunday) we walked outside to a dripping world, the rain had ended earlier and the bikes required drying before getting on them, I required coffee before anything...maybe two. We were up around 6am wandering around then hit the road for home at 8am. The plan today was ride... then eat, then ride. For most of the trip there were four of us, but every once and a while I would catch the caped Crusader lurking about.

The sky was still overcast but there was no rain involved, jackets, long sleeve shirts, and Sweatshirts were worn for a comfortable ride. About 10am we stopped for breakfast just outside of Belfast at Mullen's "The Barn",  just before we pulled in a group of bikes went by, Most...helmetless. By now the day was warming up so clothing layers were shed. breakfast was damn good, the kind you expect from a country restaurant. While there I googled Maine DEP. Maine it turns out is a helmet state, if you are under age, a novice, or have your ass planted on a dirtbike. I fell into none of these categories, I was ecstatic so much so I neglected to cover my head with anything, this I am paying for now. The other problem was that I was wearing amber glasses in the overcast when we went in for breakfast, but neglected to change them when I walked out in a warming bright blue day. For most of the rest of the trip until we stopped on 95, (yes, we stopped on 95) I was riding like I had my pupils dilated.

We ran straight down route 1 making the slow crawl through Wiscassett, then making one stop for fuel and ice cream, (I mentioned on the CB that the damned Ice Cream shop was screwing up traffic, Doug..heard..Ice Cream) so we stopped for ice cream. From this point on it was just cruising down route 1 to 295. The scenery off the ocean side of the road was typical summer Maine, the fog ended where the cold water met the shore, the road would be bright and clear sun, twenty feet off the left of the road gray fog. Doug had decided to wear his leather jacket all day, failing to shed it when the rest of us stripped down, he was also stuck wearing his helmet because of the radio speakers which only worked in the helmet. I found this to be most amusing later on, on I-95.

 We picked up 295 in Brunswick and took that to Portland, I called Doug as we were getting close to the exit and (we believe it was because of dehydration) he replied he was going for 495, I told him 95 would be quicker, 495 is in Massachusetts.  I-95 was not what you would call a parking lot, but it wan't actually an expressway either, it was multiple lanes accelerating hard to brake. On a bike it was idle along in first, start picking up speed, shift into seconnnnnnnnnnnd BRAKE LIGHTS. I did enjoy the radio banter, lets see, there was, How's the weather up there Doug?   I'll bet that leather coat is really heavy. Gee, it's like tropical weather, how's it in that coat, like a sauna? Natale had us pull over under a bridge before Doug fell over. The ride started at 8am and at 4pm, we crossed into Portsmouth New Hampshire.  The fun would begin soon.

We put on helmets after the New Hampshire Toll, then it was up onto 495, 495 is a high speed, car drivers out of control type of world, There were cars trying to split the four of us, at one point Doug was sharing a lane with a car. We made a fuel stop in Haverhill Mass then jumped back into the fray.My plan was to stay on 495 to the casino, I got off on 290 with the rest to stay alive. from here on it was pretty smooth sailing,, there was one small instance with the highway, a hole and three bikes bottoming out then going sideways, but all recovered without incident.

 Natale broke off on the Mass Pike, Doug and I stopped for water in Danielson, Danny was just gone.  Doug and I took 395 to 164 to 2, We split up at the entrance to Foxwoods casino, he went east towards Rhode Island, I went south and home.