MaineLining - Day 3 - 45th, St Croix, 4 Corners, Fort Kent

I am up early around 5 am to figure out how we make up 150 miles, since we have fallen behind. Mary, the proprietor of Milliken’s, told me the night before if you are up before me, just push the on button on the coffee maker, so I did. Armed with my computer and all the attachments I head out to the room where they have their computer stuff. I have to say staying at Millikens was like staying at one of your favorite relatives, not quite home, but oh so very close. Marty, one of the other guests comes tramping thru the door, he was out watching the sun rise over the Eastport’s harbor. Dang we could of been doing that.

Mary was up around this time as well, preparing breakfast. Breakfast consisted of orange juice, a bowl of fresh fruit, fresh melon, and a casserole. It was very good. It was hard to get motivated after breakfast and moving on the bike, but we were off on the road headed to Plourdes in Caribou, which was our only time sensitive destination of the day, which we will easily make before closing.

First stop is Perry, ME located on the 45th parallel. Markers are worth 1,000 points a piece and there 2 places along Route 1. The first is a store, which by my count has 6 markers and then the stone on the south bound side for a total of 7 markers. I am sure the other contestants will not be happy with my count, but the treasure hunt says markers not locations. We shall see what OSJ, the rally bastard, has to say.

Heading north we come across St Croix International Historic Site. This was an unplanned stop, since the ranger is hard to find to get a stamp, but we pulled in anyways. Well the ranger was right where she was suppose to be in the visitor center and we spent a strong half hour talking with her. Oh we got the INK, which I didn’t get on my last go round. She mentioned be on the look out for the mustard fields as we head for Van Buren.



The ride from Eastport to Plourdes in Caribou seemed endless, but it is only 170+ miles. Along the way, starting in Houlton to Presque Isle there is a scale model of our Solar System with all the planets located along US 1. Pluto is located inside the Maine VC at Houlton and is no bigger than a golf ball. As we rode toward Presque Isle I pointed out the ones I saw to MeAsWe, with Saturn and Jupiter large enough to be readily seen. The rest are small and easily missed. The sun is located in one the buildings at the University of Maine in Presque Isle. It is part of the structure of the building. More info here http://www.umpi.maine.edu/info/nmms/solar/


At Plourdes we get our Tour Card stamped. Plourdes is the tour card maker/breaker since it is so far up in Maine. Just as those locals in Caribou, Bridgeport CT is so far away.

Grabbed a bit to eat at Tim Horton’s and we were off to Madawaska via Van Buren. Total miles is only 45, but again a long ride for some reason. We picked up a bunch of NRHP (National Register of Historic Places) in Van Buren, to break up the monotony. We arrived in Madawaska and immediately headed for the 4 Corner Monument. The monument commemorates the northern most location for the Southern California Motorcycle Association’s Four Corners Tour ( http://www.usa4corners.org/main.htm ). The official location is the post office. NER has a paver donated thru donations from about 20 members of the New England Riders. The paver is located right in front of the fountain dead center.


Next stop is Fort Kent, ME for the fort and the beginning of Route 1 (or is it the End). The ride from Madawaska to Kent is just down RT1 a piece. Fort Kent was built for the Aroostook War of 1838/39 due to a border dispute between the US and Great Britain.




See that thru truss bridge in the background. Thats worth 500 points for the Treasure Hunt. I see 2 bridges however for treasure hunt purposes it only counts as 1 span, hence 1 occurrence, 1 500 point.

From Fort Kent we headed down Rt11 towards Augusta, running out of sunlight and in consideration for the moose, deer and other creatures of the night that like to mess with cycles, we made it as far as Bangor and called it a night. Another rider caught up with us coming off the highway to let me know my taillight was not working. First order of the day tomorrow will be to find an auto parts store for bulbs. Last picture of the night is a bridge, but we did manage to pick up a NRHP that will count as a transportation musuem as well for a whopping 1000 points.