My last day in Maine I made it to Loring Air Force Base, located near Limestone.

A few quotes from the linked Wikipedia page regarding the base

Loring AFB was carved out of the woods of Maine beginning in the late forties and officially dedicated in 1953.

The host wing for Loring AFB throughout its existence was the 42nd Bomb Wing. The wing originally flew the B-36 Peacemaker, converting later to the B-52 Stratofortress…

The Nuclear Weapons Storage Area at Loring once operated as a separate, top secret facility. Originally called the North River Depot, the remote area to the northeast of Loring’s property was the first U.S. Operational site specifically constructed for the storage, assembly, and testing of atomic weapons…

Since 1981, nearly $300 million in military construction and operations and maintenance funds were spent to upgrade the facilities…

The official base closure date was 30 September 1994.

It is a strange feeling to ride a bicycle around an area where a third of a billion dollars was spent since I was born and is now largely devoid of human presence.

Acadia NP and the surrounding area.

A warm summer Sunday in Acadia National Park. Mount Desert Island, Maine.

Up the Abol Trail and down the Helon Taylor. 10 miles that took 10 hours. We started at 5 am after sleeping in the car outside the park the night before. Seemed to be the Maine way.

The easternmost point of the contiguous United States and the closest point to Europe from within the fifty States.

For the first 2 hours of our last day, we endured the most torrential rainstorm I had ever biked in.

The previous night our newly-made professional bike-tour-guide friend had assured us you couldn’t get lost going to the city. Earlier I had left my camera and phone in my front bag, and when we stopped at the Safeway in San Rafael ( to ask for directions since we were lost) I found them floating in two inches of water.

A super-amazing police officer who was attending to a purse snatching we witnessed in the previously-mentioned Safeway gave us absurdly detailed directions.

Later, the wrong directions from a well-meaning local sent us through Tiburon on Paradise Dr, a lovely road, with houses worth more than I will make in my lifetime.

The sun arrived and dried up all the rain.

The Golden Gate Bridge reminded me why it deserves every bit of praise sent its way.

My brother Davy met us outside his apartment. We did about 20 bonus M’s that day.

Aroostook County, Maine. Sight of the first successful transatlantic balloon launch. The Maine School of Science and Mathematics is my home until July 26th.

Day 10. Another amazing day of riding on the Pacific Coast. Strong tailwinds all day. If you ever want to bike the Pacific Coast, I can’t stress the importance of biking north to south enough. I cringed every time we saw people heading north.

“The film is about the systemic corruption of the United States by the financial services industry” – Charles Ferguson, director

Winner of 2011 Oscar for Best Documentary

From Richardson Grove State Park to Van Damme Beach State Park.

One of my favorite days. The road went inland so it was warmer, and much of it was spent biking on the Avenue of the Giants. 30 miles of almost zero traffic through monstrously large redwoods. We also came across a free barbecue that a local business was putting on, complete with hippy sodas and a dj who was surprisingly good given the circumstances.