Day 13 - I made it to the THIRD CORNER!!!

Monday, August 5th - Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine

First let me wish my youngest brother a Happy 60th Birthday on Monday. When I uncovered the motorcycle this morning it was covered with water so I had to shake the cover to get as much of it off before I rolled it up and packed it away for the day. I thought that I was reasonably successful at it until I unrolled it on Monday evening. It was still very wet.

Some of you have asked how the weather has been and up until now I have refused to discuss the "W" word, so as to not change the string of incredible cloud free weather, up until yesterday. On Sunday, I hit a five minute patch where I put on the rain suit and perspired more on the inside of it than rain hit the outside. Well today I though the same thing. The weather started out foggy which cleared up around 8-8:30AM and the morning was cloudless. After lunch it started to cloud up and occasionally drove over roads where it had just rained. A few miles past Bangor, Maine I hit a stretch where is was not only wet but steaming. The air turned cold so I pulled over at the first exit that I could. I had stopped at the prior exit for gas but the weather was perfect there. As soon as I got the suit half on, the sun came out and it got warm but I completed the ten minute task of getting the suit on anyways.

I rode with it on for the remaining 2-3 hours. Again I passed through many areas where it had just rained but I stayed dry but my helmet and glasses got blurrier the more I drove because of the mist kicked up by other vehicles. Finally when I was on the final 25 mile stretch of road to Madawaska I finally hit light rain. I have to figure a better way to keep my visor clean so I will keep a towel handy tomorrow.

Matawaska, Maine - The Third Corner

The Third Corner

4 Corners Monument Park

I pulled into the small border town of Madawaska which is very close to the end of highway US-1 and is on the Saint John River that separates the US from Canada. The other side of the bridge is Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada. The town has been around for 145 years and is getting ready to celebrate Arcadian Festival this upcoming weekend. The town speaks both French and English. In fact when I stopped to get gas, it is the only place I have hit so far where you pump first and pay later. When you select your grade of gas, you then need to select if you are paying in US or Canadian dollars. They asked if I was part of the Four Corners run and placed a stamp on the receipt with their name and address on it which identifies it to the town.

I came to the Post Office as I was pulling into town. I stopped in front of it getting setup to take the official picture. A former US Marine and Post Office worker had pulled up to get his mail and offered to take the picture of the bike, the Post Office and myself. We chatted for a few minutes and he told me about the town and made special note of a small park a few blocks down that was built with private funds that honors the Four Corner run. The major granite monument was donated by the local Harley-Davidson distributor in the area. There is a nice fountain and the pavement blocks are engraved with the donors names. This is the only corner to have any monument or park dedicated for this purpose. The gentleman followed me to the park and took pictures of me there as well.

I went to the Chinese place (he recommended) which was primarily a buffet. I ordered from the menu thinking I would get something smaller off the menu but I was wrong. It was huge so I just picked at it. Today the trip was physically hard (465 miles) as 75% of it was on two lane highway. So my hands are sore. I think I will have Popeye wrists when I finally get home in ten days or so. From a distance perspective, I am now more than halfway through.

Finding a place to stay in this town is a challenge. There might be 3-4 motels which cannot be found with Expedia.com, Hotels.com, etc. I had to use Google and call them directly. The one that the organizing group recommends had pretty poor reviews so I selected the "Martin's Motel". I have not been able to connect to the wireless network so I will have to send this later Wednesday when I get connected at one of my stops. You know that a hotel is low-tech when you have to fill out the registration card and the give you a physical key.

I had a 12-13 hour trip planned for Wednesday but since it takes me through the Boston and New York City area, I may decide to cut it short and not try to make it all of the way to Fort Lee, NJ tonight. Obviously, traffic and fatigue will dictate what is reasonable. I will trek down US-1 again paralleling the northernmost and eastern edge of Maine until I hit I-95 near its northern-most origin and it will be my friend for the next four days for its entire length before I complete the trip to the next corner on the other end of US-1. On Monday I bought a Toll Tag, so I will not have to mess with cash for the remainder of the trip to Florida. I could have used it in IL, IN, OH and NY states the last several days.