Pieces of the puzzle

Vacation is just three short weeks away, and the pieces of the puzzle are very nicely falling into place.

My destination hasn't changed since I made my initial decision just a little over a week ago. Where am I going? I'm heading to coastal Maine, starting in the west in what's referred to as Mid-Coast Maine, and going as far as the Schoodic Peninsula in Downeast Maine. It's an area that is very do-able as an out-and-back self-contained (bicycle) tour from home, but I've decided to do it (mainly) as a series of day rides. That way I'll be able to focus on the areas that interest me most instead of spending a great deal of my time on the bike in "transportation" mode.

I've made reservations at B&Bs, and I've perused maps and potential bike routes. From a biking standpoint, there's a mapped loop ride that I want to do that starts in Rockland, some wandering along the coast from Camden to Castine, an out-and-back ride from Castine to Stonington (that I'm adapting from a published loop ride of Deer Isle / Stonington, and riding in Acadia National Park, both on Mt. Desert Island and on the Schoodic Peninsula. Then there's a new bridge in Bucksport - the Penobscot Narrows Bridge - that has an observation tower that my camera is screaming to visit, and there's walking to be done along the coast, and...