Riding Western Maine

Up pretty early to some pretty chilly weather in Lewiston, deciding to get underway later rather than sooner, letting the temps get up a little. With the extra time decided I would alter todays route to a shorter one eliminating a swing to the east for the China Post offices for Teamstrange tour. I have approached this tour kinda of half heartily and rationalized I could capture these spots on my way to Acadia in October. This brought down the miles from just over 300 miles to a more manageable 200+ miles. There simply isn't enough daylight left to do these miles with all the planned stops. With that said headed out right around 10am going north for the first stop in East Livermore. East Livermore is about 30 miles north of Lewiston. Looked up the town in Wikipedia and there is not much to say other than the following:

"East Livermore is an unincorporated village in the town of Livermore Falls, Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The community is located along Maine State Route 133 and the Androscoggin River 22 miles (35 km) north of Lewiston. East Livermore has a post office with ZIP code 04228."

The post office is pretty cool and representative of PO's in Maine.



Got as far north as Farmington and turned south and west. In Wilton, ME stopped for this picopp, to give a folks and idea what this part of Maine is like. Wilton was the location of the first cotton mill in Maine and home to GH Bass and Company, the Bass Shoe folks. Having pretty wide feet, I used to wear Bass penny loafers in the 60's.



In Dixfield, grabbed this old house, now an antique store because it reminded me of another place in Maine that was on the National Register (this one is not) that had the same lean on the first floor as this one. The towns slogan is "The Only One" because they claim it is the only town with that name.



A little up US 2 (heading east) is Mexico, stopped for the Melting Pot tour as I entered. Ed McMahon (Johnny Carson sidekick) served three years as a carnival barker in Mexico, Maine, McMahon served as a fifteen year-old bingo caller in Maine. (Wikipedia). I was wondering why I kept hearing Beeeeeeeeee9, Geeeeeeeeee46



Across the Androscoggin River is the NDPaper mill in Rumford. ND stands for Nine Dragons, a China owned container board company.



West Paris, ME has the First Soapbox Derby hill built in Maine. That was good enough for me to stop for the sign because of the word First.



A stop in Denmark for Teamstrange.

"Camp Wyonegonic, founded 1902, is the oldest girls' camp in the country." (Wikipedia)



The next 2 stops were the Baldwins for the GLMC Grand Tour. This swung me out further east and south from where I ended up for the night. I briefly thought about eliminating these 2 spots, but a plan is a plan. The first stop had the Post Office clearly marked West Baldwin. On to East Baldwin post office, even further south and east.



Google maps clearly shows a Post Office, reality had the pictured Post Office, the problem was there was no East Baldwin to be found anywhere on the building. I was ticked that I traveled so far for nothing, especially at the end of the day. So I headed further east looking for a sign, any sign, there was NO FRICKIN SIGN. Turned around went past the PO and pulled over to the side of the road to see what the GPS had, NOTHING. I kind of did a 360 degree look around and low and behold I was parked right next to his sign.



Headed for the barn, the Saco River Motor Lodge in Conway, NH passing thru Fryeburg, ME. When I got there I asked the desk person for a good place to eat, which he recommended my last stop of the day. I had some of the best steak tips I have ever had and highly recommend the 302 West Smokehouse & Tavern if you are in the area. Watched the beginning of the Patriots game, got back to the motel and continued to watch the Patriots get their asses kicked by Detroit.




Today's route, right around 200 miles.