New England Fall Foliage Bicycling Tour
September 28 – October 5, 1996
Updated 2012-06-10: This phlog has been hidden for several years. Since this is the first professionally organized bike trip I've ever done, I think it's significant enough to bring it back into existence.
This is the Fall Foliage Tour (now known as Fall Foliage Classic) by America by Bicycle. All photos, except where otherwise indicated, are by Robert Buffington.
We started in Portland, Maine, and ended up in Portland, Maine. That doesn't sounds like a lot of miles, but here's the itinerary.
Day 0: South Portland, Maine
Day 1: Saco, Maine
Day 2: Portmouth, New Hampshire
Day 3: Chelmsford, Massachusetts
Day 4: Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Day 5: Manchester, New Hampshire
Day 6: Sanford, Maine
Day 7: South Portland, Maine
Fort Williams Park
Cape Elizabeth, Maine
This was day 1 of my one-week cycling trip of New England. At this point, I had just completed a whopping 8 out of the 380 total miles*.
Seaward view from Fort Williams Park
Turning 90 degrees to the left, this is a lighthouse out in the Atlantic. This was the morning just after a small rainstorm passed through which makes this look like a typical fall day in New England. Strangely, this is what a typical summer day looks like in San Diego.
Patti, Tony, Linda, Gary, Andi, Bob, Linda, Starr, and Helen.
This was another little stop-off in New Hampshire (or was it Maine? There are way too many little states in the East coast. It's hard to keep track). That's the Atlantic ocean in the background for those who are geographically impaired (like I apparently am). Robin and Brenda are not here because they took an unintentional detour and found themselves a little bit behind the rest of the group.
Kennebunkport, Maine
Where is ex-president George Bush's vacation home? In Kennebunkport, of course! And here is his house, right along our cycling route at about mile 68.3* (day 2) heading down the coast through New Hampshire into Massachusetts. Quite a nice backyard he has there.
Nubble Lighthouse
York, Maine
This is the most photographed lighthouse in New England. That's why I took this picture. This was day 2 and about 88.5 miles* into the trip.
America's Stonehenge
The following are captions taken from the America's Stonehenge guide which describes in detail the purpose of artifacts located near the numbered markers.
Quarry Post Socket. This square cutout in the bedrock was believed to be the base socket for a "boom post" to hoist and move slabs.
Large Wall. The top section of this wall is believed to have been reconstructed in the 1930s by William Goodwin. The lower section of this wall is of noticeably better construction.
This was at mile 141.7* (day 3) on our trip. It was shortly after this where we began having 60+ mile days and I began to take fewer and fewer photos, trying to conserve all my energy just to make it through the day.
Robin and Brenda.
Without these two, it's just possible that I may have starved on this trip. Thanks for all your leftover pizza and ice cream.
The sag stops. Plenty of bananas, lemon cookies and fig newtons.
This is one of the two America by Bicycle support vans that were on our trip. Patti and Andi are taking a snack break and Sheri, one of the group leaders, is looking straight at me.
To Sheri & Doug Torosian, our group leaders: Thanks for the great adventure and conversation!
I also want to especially thank Gary from Howard, PA, for putting up with me for one entire week.
Tell America by Bicycle that you heard about this trip from Robert Buffington's Bob's Fun Pages from a ride he did with AbB in 1996!
*miles computed by my Trek Sensor Cycling Computer. Everybody had a different nunber at the end of each day.