It always feels good when...

...a plan comes together

OK, let's see, I need to find destinations with places to stay at night. Bar Harbor, that's easy. Which of the few towns on the Schoodic Penninsula offer a place to stay? Oh, there's an inn in Prospect Harbor - it looks like there aren't any restaurants near there (within walking distance, that is), but I can always bring food with me. Where to next? Ah, a bit further up the coast, I think - but remember, I need be able to easily ride back to Ellsworth to re-connect with my bright blue 4-wheeled transportation home.

Eyes on the map... I spent a bit of time with my road map of Maine, looking to the east of Prospect Harbor. I thought about riding to the eastern edge of the state, but that was really too far for the amount of time I was planning. Then Jonesport caught my eye. It's a small fishing village - small, as in with a population of 1500 - at the end of a 12-mile-long penninsula. It looks like a reasonable ride from Prospect Harbor to Jonesport, and a longer but still possible ride from Jonesport back to Ellsworth. That works, but at this point I was looking at 5 days of riding. Whatever happened to my long weekend trip?

Then I discovered that there is a boat that leaves from Jonesport Harbor to go out to Machias Seal Island to visit a colony of 3000 puffins. I hope I can get some of my own pictures of these birds, but if you're curious now, there are photos of the puffins on this island at the web page Atlantic Puffins at Machias Seal Island by bird-watcher Mary Scott. Taking the boat trip means I need to spend 2 nights in Jonesport. And it also means that my initial thoughts of taking a long weekend has morphed into almost a full week. Funny, maybe I would have come up with a reasonable tour in Nova Scotia if I had allowed myself a full week. At this point I'm happy with my plans to visit Maine, so Nova Scotia is just going to have to wait!

My travel & riding plans:

I'm planning to leave work early on Thursday, June 23rd. I'll drive as far as Bangor that day, staying on Interstate 95 or its variations. I'll switch to smaller roads to drive the remaining (short) distance to Ellsworth the next morning, where I'll switch to my 2-wheeled purple mode of transportation.

• Friday, June 24: Bike from Ellsworth to Bar Harbor, and then loop around the east side of Mt. Desert Island, exploring Acadia National Park, and returning to Bar Harbor for the night.
  
• Saturday, June 25th: Ride a loop around the west side of Mt. Desert Island, returning to Ellsworth for the night.
  
• Sunday, June 26th: From Ellsworth, follow the coast along Frenchman's Bay. Vist the Schoodic Penninsula section of Acadia, and end the day in Prospect Harbor.
  
• Monday, June 27th: Continuing east, follow routes 1, 1A, and a few other smaller numbered roads, some along the coast and some slightly inland, ending in Jonesport.
  
• Tuesday, June 28th: This day starts with a boat ride at 7am. I've been told it's a one and a half hour ride out to Machias Seal Island, a 3 hour stay on the island, and then a boat ride back to Jonesport. The afternoon? Well, it's quite possible I'll do some wandering on an unloaded bike, but it's also possible that I'll do a little bit of resting!
  
• Wednesday, June 29th: It's time to ride back to Ellsworth. Although there will be a couple of repeat sections of road (back on routes 187 and 1 at the beginning of the day, a good portion of the ride back will be on roads that I'll be seeing for the first time.

Rather than jumping back in the car to start driving home after what I believe will be a full day of cycling, I'll spend one more night in Ellsworth before heading home Thursday morning. I have no plans for Thursday other than driving home, but I just may need to pay L.L.Bean a visit when I pass Freeport on my way home. Here are some of the resources I used as I was putting my plans together: These links may be interesting to anyone who is curious about what attracted my attention to this area of Maine, and they also may be helpful for anyone else thinking about wandering in this area.

• A description of the Schoodic & DownEast region: http://www.downeastregion.com/schoodic.php
  
• Maine Office of Tourism website: visitmaine.com
  
• Puffin tour by Norton of Jonesport: Puffin tours of Machias Seal Island
  
• Ferry from Bar Harbor to Winter Harbor: Bar Harbor ferry. I briefly considered this as an option of getting from Bar Harbor to the Schoodic Penninsula, but I decided that I really wanted to ride the section from Ellsworth to Winter Harbor. The road skirts Frenchman's Bay, and it is supposed to be beautiful, which says to me it is worth riding.
  
• Take a look at the state of Maine's Explore Maine by bike web page. There's not much there that relates to this trip, but I've used several of their cue sheets in the past as I was wandering in the southern portion of the state.