Not a very exciting blog entry, but felt like rambling a bit about a little trip to Maine on the bike.  I forgot how much I enjoy blogging, so until something more exciting comes along….

I have been itching to get on the road again with the bike (Sally) and found my excuse this weekend.  Had some maintenance to do on the house in Maine and scheduled contractors to be there Friday (June 7).  Just so happened that my route took me a few miles from Max’s BMW in CT where a few BMW Sertaos were sitting, just dying to be ridden…  Hmmm…  hard to resist. Following the Liberty visit, I am scheduled to head up to a photo session with Mark Picard in Baxter State Park.  Hope to get some pointers on capturing a moose or two on film… errr… digital image…  Stay tuned for some images from the trek.

Sooo… Headed out early Thursday morning, staying as far ahead of Hurricane Andrea as I could.  Seems like every time I head north on the bike I am either heading away from a hurricane or into a nor’easter.    Made it to Max’s in CT by about 11am and took the Sertao for a ride.  Wow!  What fun!  About 150# lighter than the GSA and much more responsive.  The single cylinder, “thumper” engine was much smoother than I expected.  Had a hard time keeping the front end on the ground up some of the steep climbs – really enjoyed it.  Much lighter (obviously) and did well on the twisties.

Guess the question now is why do I need another motorcycle?  Beside the desire to do the Pine Barrens 300 mile tour this Fall, I guess I really don’t.  Not sure what I’ll decide, but I can always rationalize the 75 mpg, lighter weight and FUN!!

From Max’s, headed up to our house in Liberty Maine and got there just about dark.  Always feels good to get there, but as usual, I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the maintenance that needed to be done on the place.  Hopefully someday I will get to sit back an enjoy it rather than seeing it as another bunch of items on the ever-too-long todo list…

Cargil Pond From Our Dock

After the contractors left, I still had a good bit of the afternoon and decided to take a paddle on Cargil Pond to visit my furry friends at the other end of the lake.   Last year, I surprised this father beaver as he was busy building the house for the winter – wanted to stop by and see how the family was doing.

Beaver Tail Slap

Not very good pictures, but I was kind of surprised myself.  For those unfamiliar, beavers will slap the water with their tail to warn others of danger.  This is a shot from last Fall when I surprised this guy.  Don’t think he was very happy.  The family has been busy and I am assuming there must be a few little ones in the house by now…

Spent a nice relaxing morning Saturday waiting for the rain to stop.  Funny how hard it is to relax when the pace slows.  I think it takes me a week or so to bring the pace down to normal – am working hard at it.  Well, intended to run into town and fill up with gas and pick-up a few things, but the soaked and soft ground had other plans for me.  Spend a couple of hours getting stuck and unstuck trying to get Sally out of the lower level garage and up to the road.  My worn TKC 80 tires just didn’t do the trick.  FIrst time I ever got stuck- and alone…  Had visions of spending the rest of the month stuck in Maine – wold be tough to explain this to clients….

Dirty Sally

Unloaded the bike, found a new path on more solid ground on on the 3rd attempt, managed to get up to the driveway and ready to go.  Whew!!! Now I really know why I need the Sertao!  Could have just pushed it up the hill! (at least that is what I am telling myself).  Well, at least Sally looks like a true Adventure Bike…

Ran into Belfast for lunch and to check out the marina.  Lots of artsy fartsy stuff going on – but very nice.   The bike, muddy as it was, really attracted attention.  Must have had 3-4 folks come up to me asking where I was from, going and just checking out the bike.  One old fellow chatted with me for about 10 minutes until his wife started yelling at him to get moving.  I could tell he would have loved to jump on and go for a ride….

Now prepping for the the trek to Millinocket tomorrow morning.  Should be a nice 3 hour ride up to moose country.  Should be there soon enough to get out and take some photos.  Meeting Mark and Anita at 5am on Monday for a full day of photography.  Then heading home – 12 hrs of riding.  Probably stay in Portland, ME and head home Tuesday.  Return to reality….