States Archives - Page 12 of 22

Loring Air Force Base, Part 2

Aug 2nd 2011 — Maine — 7:06 am

Loring Air Force Base, Part 1

Jul 29th 2011 — Maine — 9:24 am

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.

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Mount Desert Island Misc

Jul 28th 2011 — Maine — 9:44 am

Acadia NP and the surrounding area.

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Precipice Trail, Acadia NP

Jul 27th 2011 — Maine,National Parks — 7:09 am

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

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Hiking Mount Katahdin, Baxter State Park

Jul 24th 2011 — Maine — 8:37 pm

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.

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The Cutler Coast

Jul 23rd 2011 — Maine — 7:13 pm

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West Quoddy Head Light, Lubec

Jul 11th 2011 — Maine — 1:00 pm

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

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4th of July Parade, Limestone

Jul 7th 2011 — Maine — 4:20 pm

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Day 12- Arrival in San Francisco

Jul 2nd 2011 — Biking,California,Portland to San Francisco,San Francisco — 9:45 pm

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.

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Day 11 – Highway 1 to Samuel P Taylor State Park

Jul 2nd 2011 — Biking,California,Portland to San Francisco — 8:55 pm

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Aroostook County, Maine

Jun 30th 2011 — Maine — 1:07 pm

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

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Day 10: California State Parks: Van Damme Beach to Salt Point

Jun 23rd 2011 — Biking,California,Portland to San Francisco — 7:47 am

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.

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Day 9: To Highway 1

Jun 13th 2011 — Biking,California,Portland to San Francisco — 10:08 am

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

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Day 8: Humboldt Redwoods State Park

Jun 9th 2011 — Biking,California,Portland to San Francisco — 3:53 pm

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.

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Day 7: Redwoods

Jun 8th 2011 — Biking,California,Portland to San Francisco — 12:03 pm

This was a big day of biking, around 80 miles or so. I remember being quite tired by the end of it. We ended up staying at a commercial campground, there was a brewery nearby we had been told about. By the time we got there, we were too exhausted to check it out though.