Adventures in Lewis Land: a travel log by Bill Lewis

A Bike Tour Through New England and the Mid-Atlantic – 1990

The satisfactions I seek have dimensions much deeper than fun, and are usually paid for with great effort, discomfort, and often pain.
-William James Lewis

In late February of 1990, at the age of 66, my Grandfather Bill Lewis hit the road on his bicycle for his second ride across the American landscape. Five months into the journey I was fortunate enough to join him in Bar Harbor, Maine to complete the final leg. What follows is his log of that portion of the trip, Maine to Maryland. I’ve included my recollections of the tour and notes that I made while researching our adventure. It should be noted that my contributions (in blue text) are from 30+ year old memory but I did the best that I could. On this tour, I had actually taken my own journal which is now lost to time. Most photos included in this post were taken on this particular trip unless otherwise noted.

Thursday, July 19, 1990:

In Bar Harbor, Maine. Justin arrived about 8 pm and we checked into Youth Hostel. Meet Leigh again here—in my karass?

I took the Amtrak train from BWI in Maryland straight to Boston, Massachusetts where I met up with some family friends who drove me (and bike/gear) to the Greyhound station. From there, I took the bus to Bar Harbor. The hostel we stayed at no longer exists.

Friday, July 20:

We ate breakfast in town, did some shopping and then rode 19 miles to Seawall Campground, part of Acadia Natl Park. Latitude 44 deg. Many bugs. Rain in afternoon and night. We went to campfire program on Acadia’s biological diversity. Note that Mt Desert Island is pronounced locally Mt Dessert.

Saturday, July 21:

Bike ride loop through Bass Harbor. Loafing and Sleeping day.

Sunday, July 22: Odometer: 5901.7 miles from Calif

Ride to SW Harbor. Loaf on beach. Call Jim, R, sit around campfire looking forward to leaving.

Monday, July 23:

Heavy rain during night and a.m., so stayed another day at Seawall. Went to ranger program at night.

Tuesday, July 24: Odometer: 5947.1

43 miles to camp at Whispering Pines, second time for me. Easy day. Heavy shower just as we arrived. Foggy, drizzly.

This was our first full day’s ride on the tour route. Black flies were a real nuisance and constantly bit our hands. Grandfather had a spray bottle of Avon Skin So Soft that we used as a repellant.

Wednesday, July 25: Odometer: 5990

43 miles through Buckport, Belfast to camp in State Park at Camden. Heavy rain a.m. We dried out in Buckport at laundromat and shopped there. Weather remains rainy, probably through the weekend.

I remember the rain on this day being the worst of the trip. Heavy downpour for the first few hours of riding. The only pair of pants I brought for the trip were a pair of sweatpants. By the time we reached the laundromat in Buckport they had stretched an extra two feet in length.

Thursday, July 26: Odometer: 6036.9

40 miles through Belfast to camp in a private camp near Bath. Trouble with Justin’s bike. Clear and sunny today, easy ride.

I had trouble all day keeping the bike in gear. The rear derailleur would continually shift to high gear making the ride incredibly difficult.

Friday, July 27: Odometer 6074.5

35 miles through Band and Freeport to camp in Bradbury Mtn State Park, 8.00. Stopped and LL Beans in Freeport, an outdoors boutique town. New derailleur and chain for J’s bike in Bath.

The rear derailleur completely failed on this day. I recall that we were on a stretch of road out in the countryside when suddenly the derailleur pulled inward into the rear wheel, twisting the chain in the process, and rendering both useless. I had to coast for several miles until we reached the closest bike shop, Cycle and Ski, in Bath, Maine. This shop still exists. After repairs were made, we continued on to Bradbury Mountain State Park. Grandfather’s camp stove sprung a gas leak while in use and the picnic table in our campsite caught fire. I put it out with some lemonade that I had in my bike water bottle.

Saturday, July 28: Odometer: 6132.8

58 miles through Lake Sebago (road 35) to camp at Yankee Land Camp, 15.00. Partly cloudy.

Now that my bike was in working order we were able to bump up the day’s mileage.

Sunday, July 29: Odometer: 6207.8

71 miles through Cape Porpoise, Kennebunkport & Exeter to camp at Exeter Campground, 18.00. Lousy campground. Beautiful day & ride along ocean & York beach which was crowded.

Longest day of biking. I remember we were so exhausted when we pulled into the Exeter Elms Campground. $18 per person to camp at this awful place. Tiny tent sites that had gravelled ground and no privacy. We dubbed it “Crappy Elms.”

Monday, July 30: Odometer: 6275.2

64 miles through Exeter, East Derry, Nashua to camp in Wyemans Camp, 17.00, near Dunstable, Mass. Got new tire & stove. Justin had broken spoke fixed. Lost route a few times. Foggy a.m., clear P.M. Fair roads.

Tuesday, July 31; Odometer: 6341.5

64 miles through Westboro, Upton. Picked up mailed medicines. Camp at Sutton’s, 15.00. Long hilly day, losing way frequently, but through beautiful leafy lands and woods, would be a wonder in fall. Sunny, hot, clear.

Wednesday, August 1: Odometer: 6402.3

60 miles.

I think on this day we detoured from the official tour map so that we could head toward Cape Cod and then later on August 7th we returned to the official tour route.

Thursday, August 2: Odometer: 6450.3

46 miles through Taunton & Plymouth to camp in State Park near Sagamore. Saw the Rock and the Mayflower in Plymouth. Need to spend a week in this area. Weather has been perfect the last two days. (traffic horrendous in Sagamore area)

I remember being excited that we were going to stop in at Plymouth to check out the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. The ship is smaller than I imagined it would be but still impressive. The rock was (is)..underwhelmingly small. I remember thinking, “This is it?!” I need a picture of it with a banana for scale. We camped at Scusset Beach State Park on this day.

Friday, August 3: Odometer: 64504.6

53 miles to camp at hostel at Truro on Cape Cod. Good road and bike path. Xlnt weather. Briefly to beach. Nice hostel.

We stayed at the HI USA Truro hostel which at one time had been a Coast Guard station. I recall cutting out and using my school ID photo as the photo for the American Youth Hostel membership that I bought here. This hostel still exists.

Saturday, August 4: Odometer: 6543

37 miles to Provincetown and back to hostel. Great road & weather. Checked Cape Cod Light. Went to beach on return.

What I remember most about this day was walking with our bikes on a boardwalk that wounds through the enormous sand dunes.

Sunday, August 5: Odometer: 6603.8

60 miles back down Cape to camp at State Park near Sagamore. Sunny, clear, hot. For some reason tiring day.

We camped at Shawme-Crowell State Park on this day.

Monday, August 6: Odometer: 6655.1

49 miles on easy roads through Taunton to camp free at YMCA on Highway 44. Cldy, threatening rain. (Later note: Schoolfriend Jerry died this date)

The YMCA we camped at is the Newman Branch YMCA on Route 44 (Taunton Avenue) in Seekonk, Massachusetts. This branch is only a few miles away from my current home in Providence, Rhode Island. It wasn’t until researching the route we took on this trip and reading the log that I realized we stayed here. I’ve actually been here several times over the past 10 years.

Tuesday, August 7: Odometer: 6699.1

44 miles in 3 states by 1 p.m. to camp Wolf Den State Park in Connecticut. Cldy turning to rain p.m. Late p.m., hard rain. Meet two unhappy bicyclist coming from Boston.

This is the first time I set foot in Rhode Island. I distinctly remember that the drivers here were the worst that we encountered during the entire trip. Some things never change.

Wednesday, August 8: Odometer: 6748.5

48 miles through Manchester & Glastonbury to camp in Audubon Land. Cloudy, hot, humid. Call to Sylvests confirms Jerry died Monday.

Most likely camped in Earle Park located in Glastonbury.

Thursday, August 9: Odometer: 6791.8 39 miles through S. Glastonbury, Bristol, Terryville, Plymouth, Thomaston, to camp in Black Rock State Park. a.m. begins clear, becoming cloudy. Sprinkles p.m.

We are definitely back on the official tour route by this day since the locations also match the one surviving map that I have from this trip. Map panels 16 & 17 from Bikecentennial.

Friday, August 10: Odometer: 6842.0

49 miles on 109, 63, 126, 44 to camp behind “The Pines” at Pine Plains, NY. Rainy all day, soaked.

(Note: The Pines was a bed and breakfast place. They let us camp free on their grounds.) Map panels 17 & 18 from Bikecentennial.

Saturday, August 11: Odometer: 6899.2

57 miles to camp on Church property outside Newburg. Members picknicking, fed us. Rainy. (met Jill Stockwell again on road—Karass?)

I recall this being a really long day. Somewhere outside Poughkeepsie, while biking up a hill, I felt a snap and the rear wheel on my bike began rubbing on the frame. Attempts to repair it by the roadside were futile. No amount of tightening the rear axle nut could bring the wheel back into alignment. Our only choice was to continue on and we had to leave the official route again in order to get to a bike shop. Fortunately, I was able to coast/ride but with great difficulty by shifting my weight and panniers to the side of the bike the wheel wasn’t rubbing. I had to ride like this for about 20 miles or so until we reached Vails Gate Cycle in Vails Gate, NY. It turned out that I had broken the rear axle and by the time we reached the shop it was beyond repair. I had to buy a new wheel for $35.This bike shop still exists. Using Grandfather’s log for this date and the previous day I was able figure out roughly where the shop was using Google Maps to confirm it. It looks exactly as I remember it. Finding this shop in Google Maps also solved a long-time mystery for me. I could never remember the name of the Church that was so generous to share their picnic with us and let us camp on their property. I remember that since we were off schedule due to the broken bike slowing us down that day that we had to find a place to stealth camp or at least get permission to camp somewhere. When we found this church it didn’t look like anyone was around but behind the church buildings there is a field near the graveyard where a group of church members were picnicking. One of them came up to see who we were and then invited us to join them and camp in the field below. I remember eating Entenmann’s raspberry danish. The church is the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church on Route 94 in New Windsor, NY.

Sunday, August 12: Odometer: 6952.5

53 miles on 94, 17a, 210, 511 to private campground. Sunny, hot.

Monday, August 13: Odometer: 7002.6

50 miles to camp at Voorhees State Park. Heavy rain, thunder p.m.

Tuesday, August 14: Odometer: 7039.6

36 miles through Frenchtown, NJ, across Delaware through New Hope on Route 32. Most scenic. To camp Deer Park, 7.00. Sunny, hazy.

We return to the official tour route. Map panels 24 & possibly 25 from Bikecentennial.

Wednesday, August 15:

(No notes) Grandfather had no notes for this date but using the mileage and odometer readings from the 14th, 16th, and 17th I figured we rode for at least 70.7 miles on this day. I also figured that we would have traveled through Philadelphia and camped somewhere near West Grove, PA based on the mileage of the 16th to Dave’s parents. Map panels 25 & 26 from Bikecentennial until Philadelphia then off tour route again.

Thursday, August 16:

66 miles to Pat & Bill’s (David’s parents)

This is the day we biked to my friend Dave’s house in New Freedom, PA. Dave and I had been friends since the second grade and only got to see each other once or twice a year so stopping here was a treat. Dave and I, in typical long-time-no-see-best-friend fashion, decided to stay up all night talking which was not a good idea. See next entry.

Friday, August 17: Odometer: 7237.3

61 miles to Columbia

Lack of sleep did me in on this day. I just could not keep my eyes open and a couple hours into the final ride we were forced to stop. I had to take an hour long nap on the grass median of the highway to recover.

Total miles cycled from Bar H Acadia to Columbia – 1325.6

From a typed copy of this log he added: We were on bikes for 30 days and covered distance of 1325.6 miles. I had been on the road since the last of February, covering 7237 miles.