Mission Accomplished!

This will be a short one.............

Did I mention way back at the beginning of this trip that we have a bunch of keeners?  Well, breakfast was supposed to be at 8:00 so I was out a few minutes before that.  I thought maybe I had missed it!  And what a shame that would have been.  Emily baked cinnamon buns for us, had oatmeal and a fabulous egg dish that everyone was raving about.  I think some people had already left by the time I arrived for breakfast.  Oh well - lots to go around, and I certainly wasn't going to go hungry.  We had had some rain overnight but it was clearing by breakfast, and the sun subsequently came out and the temperature went up pretty quickly.  I had a great sleep last night.  Our room looked out over the river and we had a view of the lit-up bridge and fort.  We had the windows wide open all night so slept with lots of fresh air for a change.

We had a loose plan to meet at the pier in Bar Harbor at 1 or 2.  We would do a wheel-dipping with whoever was there by those times.  I was second-last out of the parking lot, but passed a number of riders as I went along.  Everyone seemed to be on a mission to try for the 1PM meeting.  I didn't stop to take many pictures.  A few of them are below.

We had our usual mix of roads.  Some on US1 & State Roads, some on quieter back roads.  Some good surfaces, some in need of some work.  But - traffic was light, so it was a pleasant ride.  We definitely started getting into a rockier environment than usual as we got closer to the coast again.  Nancy found a great location in Ellsworth for our one and only SAG stop.  We crossed the Mt. Desert Narrows at about mile 35, which took us onto Mt. Desert Island which is the location of both Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor.  We entered Acadia National Park at about mile 42, rode a bit on the Park Loop Road and then back out and into Bar Harbor a few miles later.  I somehow ended up being the first at the pier around noon - certainly not because I was the fastest.  Others took detours, took the opportunity to accompany riders of different speeds, etc.  Lots of hoopla and cheering as everyone came in.  The weather was beautiful today and it encouraged us to hang around until all the riders were in.  Some friends and family were on hand to greet and cheer us.  We even had a local TV station filming and interviewing our guide and some of the riders.  A wonderful accomplishment by all.

Some women are rising really early to climb Cadillac Mountain in the dark tomorrow morning in order to be up there for sunrise.  I know I won't want to climb out of bed that early so I rode up this afternoon.  Apparently Cadillac Mountain is the highest point in the US within 25 miles of the east coast, and one of the first to see the light of each new day.  It will undoubtedly be beautiful, but I'll still be sleeping.  The climb was about 1500 feet, but the grade was reasonable so it was a pretty easy ride.  About an hour to get up and 10 minutes to get down!

Out for a final banquet for dinner.  Great trip, and over 30 amazing women sharing the adventure!

Here are the eight who EFI'd (Every Fabulous Inch).  Five of us are from the 2013 Southern Tier; four of us EFI'd there as well.

Stats for the day:
95 km from Bucksport ME to Bar Harbor ME (& up Cadillac Mountain, return).  4320 feet of climbing.  Lovely temperatures and sunshine - 14C to 27C.