Boston - Sandwich - Gloucester - York Beach -Desert of Maine -
Bar Harbour - Liverpool - Martins River - Halifax

A beautiful day. Weather like sunny side up.

We took the train to Frankfurt International Airport. Along the river Rhein we passed the famous Loreley and after 20 castles Sophie stopped to count, because she can only up to 20.
10:45 0'clock, after we passed Bingen  now the train stopped. Somebody had droped himself in front of another train. One hour later - stop and go.
OK, we were able to reach the airliner of Icelandair. Big airports are terrible, every eyelist knows. We reached Terminal E, we packed, no time for shake hands, straight to the check-in, then to the aircraft, sat down, wet because of sweat and ...  waited. The airspace over West-Europe had been overcrowded, bad departure slot we had (You will see in summer).
We had stopover in Keflavik. Nice have already seen it. We'll come back in one month.

Boston: Welcome with a wonderful evening, hot, red skyline.
We took a taxi. It was like alway in US. If in Miami, Dallas or now in Boston. The taxidrivers have no maps and don't know the town. 8 years ago, it was happen in Dallas the taxidriver missed the correct exit and after 90 $ we stopped and went to the next hotel.

Sophie? She was very brave. Now she sleeps. The aircondition is on full power. I enjoy my fuel - Jonny Walker.

Rainer

June 16, 1999

Boston - Not the cheapest town in which to start a bicycle tour with your family, more likely it is the most expensive - but maybe the most beautiful. For every mile away from downtown the hotel rates drop $5, along with the level of services.

5:00AM Eastern Daylight Time: Sophie woke up because of her jet lag; in Germany it was 11 o'clock. No chance to stay in bed. She wouldn't allow it. We were walking around town before most people had even thought to get out of bed. The Museum of Science, the harbour, downtown:
I imagine we really needed more days than one here. The Museum of Science was very interesting. Sophie and all the other children were so excited to play in the Science Garden - to touch, to move, to discover. Returning to the hotel along the Charles River, we lost our way and Sophie got tired.

Now we are sitting in the Kells Pub. Over a glass of dark beer, we contemplate the passing rush hour of joggers. Now we know why the Boston Marathon is so popular. In the background we hear, again, the sirens of another fire department or police vehicle.

June 17, 1999

Again, up early. We took the ferry for Quincy. Highly recommended to avoid the traffic jams of Boston city. But Boston was not really as bad as we thought for cycling. The southern suburbs out of Boston, the roads were ok. The shoulders were wide enough. The weather was light rain, but still very good for cycling. Along the way we met many friendly people. We talked about our tour, and got hints for the next days. Sophie is not yet tired. She speaks about the day, and her socks.

HAPPY   BIRTHDAY!

Andreas an the family in Berlin

Gosh! What a wonderful day; and not only because it was my day.

We started again early in the morning. We went to the Marshfield airport, where I had my biannual flight test. It was the first time I flew myself since my crash in Petersburg, South Africa, one and a half years ago. Bettina wanted to only fly together with an instructor.

Unfortunately, Aaron had training himself, after my test flight. No chance for Sophie and Bettina to stay on the ground. We took the Cessna 172 from Shoreline Aviation and flew around, via Marthas Vineyard, Nantucket, to Provincetown and to... Boston. No chance to get clearance for overflying this congested airspace. But we were close enough to see the skyline, and feel the thrill of the view. For Sophie it was not thrilling enough; she slept the whole flight. I knew my next flight would be in Australia, along the east coast, because I was not affected by the crash.

Courtesy of the Ocean Village Motel, we spent a wonderful evening in the "Fieldstone". Together with Jan, Pamela (better than Anderson), Jim and all the nice people, we chatted the whole night, and listened to the songs of life. And Sophie? After some drinks she decided to go to bed - quite alone.

Our trip started.

Good road, much traffic, but the car drivers were always polite and relaxed - better than their reputation. Or perhaps it was because of our sign on the sail, with our internet address. The police were not pleased with our track, but they accepted. In Plymouth we wanted to see the "Mayflower", but there were too many people in the queue. Because the campsite was still 12 miles south of Plymouth, we decided to continue on to Sandy Pond.

After Plymouth the roads were mainly calm. We passed the Miles Standish State Forest. I think now, it is more recommendable to camp there. It is much cheaper, and more natural.

What about Sophie? She is preparing for bed herself, tonight. I'm afraid it will take another 2 hours.

We didn't know if we were following the best way at first.

To pass the Cape Cod Canal, the only possibility seemed to be the Bourne Bridge sidewalk near Buzzards Bay. To find the way up to the sidewalk was not easy. We asked a fireman and he showed us the way on to it. We then followed the Cape Cod Bike Path, on the Cape side. Later we proceeded to Brewster via 6A, and after Yarmouth Port, via Setucket Road. We didn't know then, that there also was another bikeway. Ask for the Old King's Highway Bike Map from the Chamber of Commerce (tel 508-862-0700).

In Brewster we decided to stay at a campsite at the Nickerson State Forest. "Sorry, Campsites Full", oh God! But luckily for us, we were a family travelling by bicycle. We got a special spot: beside the playground, of course. At the campfire we enjoyed the beer which Jean gave us. Cheers!

What happened that night? We forgot the peanuts on the table. The box was closed. But no problem for the other guests to open... the forest animals.

Now we are on the cyclists most favorite trail - the Cape Cod Rail Trail.

After a rainy breakfast in our tent, the sun came out and we cycled on the smooth trail until Wellfleet - then a little on Route 6 to escape the road to Truro over the hilly landscape beside Route 6. We followed the signs - no problem. After three and a half hours we arrived in the nice and crazy Provincetown, and spent the afternoon on the beach.

At the Chamber of Commerce we heard that no ferry was going to Gloucester. At the campground, Cedric from Bedford showed us a way out of Boston. So we decided to change our plans. We would cycle from Boston to the Harold Parker State Forest.

Why is Provincetown crazy? Come and find out for yourself.

Watching Provincetown waken was quite interesting. We took the Provincetown Express Ferry to Boston, and within 2 hours we were again viewing the beautiful skyline. The time on the ferry passed quickly, but not just because it was the express ferry. Dan from California chatted with us about many interesting things. Thank you for the coffee.

Boston - noisy, hot, much traffic. How to get out? Nobody seemed to know, exactly. Hey Cedric, we went out via Everett, Malden. It was OK. Mostly we cycled on shoulders, but we felt sticking on the road. Our average daily mileage went into the dumpster. All day, it was one busy suburb after another. It was nice to meet Mike from Wakefield, who took us on, for a while, and things got faster.

Harold Parker State Forest - a very nice place by a lake. At the campground we met Jeff, and he invited us to his home. I was able to view our homepage for the first time. Two days from now, Jeff, Diana and their two daughters will themselves be visiting many nice places on their way across the US by bicycle.

We followed the quiet roads to Georgetown. Jeff gave us a regional bicycle map. I would now recommend everybody to buy this map, that I think most of the local bike shops sell. We passed through the State Forest and it didn't feel like typical US. It was more like the South of England, or Belgium. Again, it was very hot.

We decided next trip, even more to the north - maybe Alaska. Georgetown has a very nice playground on a lake. In the US, just about everything is bigger and larger - the breakfast, the cars, the sheets, even (I'm sorry) many of the people - but good luck for Sophie, also the playgrounds.

For the afternoon we took a very long rest because of the sun. In Newburyport, a very nice town, we had dinner. We would be late to the beach campsite, but only after 7:00PM was it again pleasant to cycle.

Sophie? She found another playground, but wondered at the big the campfire beside our campsite. The fire department came and put out the brush fire that had begun, before we needed to move.

Again, a hot day. On the radio I listened to Credence Clearwater Revival's hottest hit, "who'll Stop the Rain?". They must have been joking. Along the nice beaches, we passed New Hampshire so quickly, we had no time to realize we had left Massachusetts.

With 12 mile/hr average speed, nothing could stop us. In Portsmouth, a very nice town with atmosphere, we had dinner in the park. After passing the Kittery bridge, we knew we were in Maine. Hills up, hills down - we realized that it was good we had a week of easier cycle training on Cape Cod before Maine. Thunderstorm. How nice, since it had been more than 90F.

A special offer on the road for a motel: $45 a night including breakfast. Versus this, camping on wet ground was no competition. Nice to know how quickly you can change plans. And Sophie? After one hour playing in the warm water swimming pool, we had to catch her like a fish to take her to bed.

A special day. We would meet Ken, my ghostwriter. We made our appointment to meet along the road on Route 35... and it worked! A meeting celebration of a Millerlite toast on the road. Ken tethered us on - we followed. Hills straight up, hills straight down. Like in South of England, the roadbuilders didn't waste any time building serpentines. Maybe it is better to follow route 1, than the hilly, not so congested roads, inland.

Gorham, a university town. We arrived at Ken's house, wet with sweat, and very hungry. So, hilly Maine could be very expensive. After such a trip you need 4 lobsters - or a quarter of a pig. Anne's dinner was very close to that.

Nothing special for cyclists, just for tourists. We spent half of the day in Freeport, spending some money at LL Bean. Had a look at Northface, Patagonia, Gap...., and so on.

At the nice Chewonki Campground, we are sitting by the campfire, writing about this day.

7:45 AM, Ken had called the Casco Bay Cruise Company of Portland. We discovered that the only ferry of the day for Baileys Island left at 10AM, 2 hours earlier than we had planned. We pushed the red button; the countdown began. Washed, packed, no breakfast, all at high speed. Anne took the packs by car. Ken raced ahead, with us behind. A family bicycle race on a Sunday morning. 14 mile/hr average for 12 miles. Sophie was lovely, and so brave. In difficult situations she has been so marvelous, not just this time.

We arrived on-time at the pier. Good-bye to Ken and Anne. Thank you for the weekend in your nice little castle. We had a beautiful cruise To Baileys Island, among the islands of Casco Bay. We listened to the captain's explanation of the importance of Portland Harbor during World War II. Then we had a nice bicycle trip to Bath.

Only once did a Maine car driver complain that we wasted too much space with our track on the road. Maybe he was afraid the heat could make his lobster crazy... or he was overheated himself - that I could understand. In Bath we had a seafood platter on the river with live music. Afterwards, on to Wiscasset. We wanted to avoid Route 1 and took 127. To get to the Chewonki Campground, it wasn't the right choice. Up the road, were we looking at steep pitched roofs of houses, or was it the road? A vision. Unfortunately, it was the road. Another steep hard, job, like in the South of England. Then we joined Route 1 again for the nice campground.

Was it still night? Or already morning? We thought an airplane had crashed. Noisy, low, and then it was over. But it turned out, this was normal. Nice campground... for pilots.

This day we did not do many miles. Because of the hilly roads to Boothbay we made only 8 miles/hr average speed. We set up our tent at the Shore Hills Campground, nearest to Boothbay Harbor, for $16. We went to  the Railway Village Museum. But just as we arrived, the skies opened, and rain came down, accompanied by lightning and thunder. No chance to have a trip on the old railway car made in Germany.

We had lunch, where we met Gary and Judi from Normal (a town in Illinois, not a condition). We chatted a lot, and enjoyed our ice cream. The first rainy night in New England started afterwards; but it was still very warm. 

Because we were three days ahead of schedule, we decided to follow alternate plan A5: to go to Monhegan Island. Not a cheap enterprise we realized afterwards, but we were not sorry about our decision.

The morning was very foggy. The seas appeared smooth - but they only appeared that way. When we passed Ram Island Light, we were on the Atlantic Ocean; the movement of the seas became greater and greater. The breakfast in the tummy felt muddy, so Sophie got rid of the stuff. Then she slept very well.

We couldn't wait for the ride to be over, and we felt very fortunate to hear the distant fog horn. Perhaps that would be Lands End in South England? Just after, we caught a glimpse of an island - Monhegan Island. We spent the sunny afternoon trekking around the island. We met many painters, like Judi from Rochester State in New York - and bird watchers, like Nancy from Maine and her girlfriend from Montana. Monhegan is a beautiful quiet island, with only a few cars for the inhabitants. It is an excellent place to enjoy nature, the birds, the seals. Sophie? She was disappointed because we have yet to meet Beaky-Boo's best friends - the puffins. 

Good Morning, Monhegan Island. How beautiful. How quiet. Cedric from Boston was right. After the thick fog lifted, we realized how near the mainland was. Until departure, we still enjoyed the marvelous scenery, as we sat in the armchairs in front of the Island Inn.

On the pier, the lady from Ontario waved at us, when the captain of the "Elizabeth Ann" made a very sporting turn. A long time ago she studied German and spent one year in Freiberg, Germany. We headed for Port Clyde. We met Charley, a Spanish teacher. He gave us hints for the day, and a map of Maine. Thank you. Some people from Oklahoma told me that they come to Monhegan Island every year. I can see why. Along the way we passed a few small islands with many birds, and seals beside.

When we arrived at Port Clyde we met Alan, a journalist for the Courier Gazette of Rockland. This started our 5 hour photo session (just to let you know why we made such a short leg of 17 miles, again). At the campsite, directly on the beach overlooking Lobster Bay with it's thousands of lobster buoys, we met Steve and Rich who worked for a software company in Boston. Steve was originally from Maine, and recommended the Mount Desert Campground. We will see. Together with Kenneth and Sharon, we finished the nice evening with a bottle of red wine from California.

A typical Lobster Buoy morning starts at least at 5AM. So our morning did too. We listened to the typical lobster song: the putt-putt-putt of the lobster boats. On the way to Northport we stopped at the magnificent, renovated, nice, Owls Head Transportation Museum. There we saw very old airplanes of the pioneer era, pre-1930. On special events during the year they fly. I imagine all the good, old and young girls and boys of the museum get shivers when they fly, listening to the very old engines with the very old valves and pistons. Putt-Putt-Putt. So Andy and Gregory do. However, you can see not only airplanes, but also old cars, machines, bikes - all concerned with the history of  transportation of the last centuries. Have a look.

Unfortunately, the airplane I wanted to rent at the Rockland airport was still in maintenance. But Kevin helped me to contact the next airport along the way - the Belfast Municipal Airport. Again, good roads; space enough for bicycles. Hilly area; good sport. We passed Camden, a very nice town; and at a picnic area east of Camden Hill we had a very quiet lunch - BBQ.

After arrival at the Northport Travel Park Campground, we met a good-old-boy from Florida, Mr Francis (when you read this page, please forgive, I forgot your first name - but your recommendation of the restaurant "The Lights" was very good, as you will see later).

Windy morning. We cycled to Belfast airport. Sandy Reynolds, the owner of the flight school said hello in good German. Unfortunately on that day we had very low clouds and heavy crosswinds on the runway. Not a good sign for the afternoon. Nevertheless, we had a nice talk about flying. On the wall we saw a Swissair poster, showing the beautiful Prekestolen, a cliff on the Lysefjord in Norway. When we had been there, we sat on the edge having lunch, with our feet dangling down. Between our legs, we could see the ships, 2000ft below. While talking about aviation, we realized we both knew the same good old boy of my company - Mr Altenhofen. Best regards from Sandy.

Further on we passed Searsport and sat down in the nice restaurant that Mr. Francis recommended. Just after, the dark clouds opened, and heavy rain fell. So, best opportunity to have not one, but two lobsters. Lobster lunch until they came out of my ears. The lunch was very good. In the restaurant we met Phil from Massachusetts. I told him that I had just finished my one lite fuel, a bottle of Johnny Walker Red. He looked in my sad eyes and handed me a bottle of good old German stuff - Jaegermeister. Cheers, Phil.

Our next destination was Fort Knox, near Bucksport. It was built early in the last century to protect Bangor from English ships. Sophie remembered the tunnel in Norway, so she was not afraid as we went through the very dark corridors. After one hour cycling in the rain, we decided to go to a motel. At $40, a wet tent was no competition.

Now, again a beautiful day. The tailwind carried us on Route 1 with wide shoulders over the hills. While we had to cope with the hills, Sophie sang love songs from her daycare center.

Arrived at Bar Harbor Airport. I used my last opportunity to fly touring Acadia National Park. Gregory, the flight instructor from Acadia Air was very patient. We discovered we had the same event in our lives, which resulted in nearly the same injuries. Similar accident, similar vehicle - I once owned a motorcycle. When we arrived at the campground, we met Phil again.

Nice surprise.

After a fast BBQ, we left for the fireworks in Bar Harbor. So many people on the roads - exciting fireworks. But not so exciting getting home. It took more than 1 hour. Stop and go, like Boston.

Independence Day: We wish to take this opportunity to thank all the nice people of the US we met along our way to Bar Harbor. We never imagined the reason for creating our homepage would change so much - from just a little information about route and roads, into so many nice stories about events. It is also your homepage.

I felt, when we had met two girls from Washington state on the road. The B&B Gateway was 4 miles, not 4 km, north of Yarmouth. It was not really in our direction, but it turned out to be a nice farm with many animals. Sophie was as excited as we were. Together with Jack we finished a bottle of wine, and our day ended very late. We felt our 2nd holiday would start now.

In Yarmouth, we had to visit the Firearms Museum - Sophie left no doubt. During our trip we saw so many fire department vehicles, we thought we better visit. We then went to the tourist center of Yarmouth. It was very good and informative, and we recommend that other visitors should go there first.

Because it started to rain, our first destination, West Pubnico, would be our final destination for the day. Along Rt 3 we followed the Lighthouse Trail, on good roads, but in the rain. Regardless of that, Sophie cycled on the trailerbike. She was great. After about 3 hours of rainy travel, we were lucky to stay in the Red Cap Motel, with a view over the bay in West Pubnico.

Bettina and Jack remembered their trips in Scotland years ago. It was like that time... but new - New Scotland, or more precise, Nova Scotia. We realized that French is as common as English. We speak French, but English is easier for us. We felt now, this could be a beautiful bicycle tour - little traffic, kind people and beautiful views.

We had done 55 miles; he had done 78 miles. We found a campsite with a view to Shelburne across the bay. Larry, a college student, works the summer at the registration of the campground. He was kind enough to transfer some photos by the internet. Thank you. We were very thirsty. Jeffrey from Vermont handed over some German beer. It tasted different from what we have had until that time. Cheers!

Today was going to be a long day. Together with Jack, we decided to go straight to Rissers Beach, bypassing Liverpool because there was no campground. We knew it could take 6 hours of cycling time; but the weather conditions were good.

Lea and Roger from new Brunswick invited us for a very good breakfast. As we were getting ready to depart, we met Jeffrey again, and his wife. We were glad to meet them again, because they had very good foldable bikes by BikeFriday. We tried them out, and decided they could be our next bicycle, for a good combination - fly/bike.

Jeffrey and his wife were glad to see us again, because they wanted our web address to help them plan their next trip - in Norway. but afterwards, we hurried on. The tailwind took us up to the hills; we were lucky to be cycling with the wind. The shoulder was wide enough. The scenery wasn't very exciting; we didn't see much ocean. All together we did 73 miles - a long distance.

We walked through the park and relaxed. Nothing more.

According to the weather report, the heavy rain was to stop by noon. So we prepared for a departure at twelve o'clock. The Shelburne Radio turned out to be correct, and we were again following the Lighthouse Trail on good roads, to La Have. There we found a delicious bakery, which people from Ontario had recommended. They had recently moved to Nova Scotia.

Apart from that, we felt that half the inhabitants of Ontario had vacancies in Nova Scotia, and only a few Germans - maybe three. From La Have we took the ferry which departed every 30 minutes. For cyclists it was toll free. On the road, we breathed deeply the fresh and foggy sea breeze. We felt so good.

In Lunenburg we found a craft festival with live music. It was so great that we decided to stay and find accommodations. We found a campground; small but nice. Jack met a lady from New Jersey. She moved to Lunenburg and runs a bikeshop. It was late when we laid down our mats, but even later we could still hear rock music from the concert.

We again had lobster in Queenland's beautiful beach. At 6:00PM, we started again for about 20 miles along St. Margarets Bay, with a beautiful view across to Peggys Cove. Late in the evening we arrived. Later Jack came. He was also very tired. Maybe he had underestimated the distance that day - or his mind was already back in New Jersey.

After about 5 miles we arrived in Peggys Cove - the small but famous fishing village. With hundreds, maybe thousands of other tourists, we walked over the rocks around the lighthouse. Jack wouldn't be going on to Halifax. Big cities are mostly not the nicest places for cyclists - but I think this would be a mistake.

We said goodbye, good health, for Jack and Lily... and good luck on Captain Jack's sailboat - see you later. For Peggys Cove to Halifax, it was still 28 miles. The closer we came, the more crazy became the young boys in their cars. We headed to our pretty B&B, the Fountain View. How beautiful is Halifax! There are only a few cities we know so nice. We never would have realized; Halifax was a real surprise.

So Boston as a start and Halifax as a finish were the best choices we could have made.

As we said - Halifax was a real surprise. This city suits the people - friendly and multicultural. It has great big playgrounds for everbody of every age. It has a beautiful waterfront, nice malls connected by walkways, many museums. Halifax offers something for everybody. The whole day we walked around to discover this town, We felt well and safe.

The shuttle to the airport took about 1 hour. An English man from London was very helpful, and also the bus driver. And now we are already over the Atlantic. And Sophie? She is asleep on the floor. Goodbye Nova Scotia. Goodbye Canada.

Back in the guesthouse the news predicted showers everywhere in Iceland.

At the Keflavik campground we met many of the people on just such tours. A couple from Germany told us about their difficult trip over three weeks. But most people here were introverted; Icelanders, contrary to US and Canadian people. But this is just probably a cultural mentality, and we should not complain. By the way. Compared to the US and Canada, the car drivers in Iceland were crazy and passed you very closely. We had not expected this.

A vacation not only physically challenging, but mentally. Maybe we improved our English a little bit. If you have hints, tips or suggestions, don't hesitate to contact us. We would appreciate it greatly.

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