Chapter the final.

Sorry for such the cliff hanger, guys... The moment we hit the Atlantic shore we quickly became side tracked from our blogging ritual and spent time doing other cools stuff like eating lobster, sea kayaking, bochi ball, and other non-bike oriented activities. We spent an amazing six days on Mount Desert Island, camping behind a farm house some six miles NW of Bar Harbor. We, in all honesty, don't have much of an excuse for leaving ya'll hanging without a final conclusion to the trip -- but what we do have is one heck of an explanation, and it is probably one of the finer examples of human kindness we have thus far witnessed in our lives...

Below is the thank you note we wrote to newspaper for the small village of Camden, a fishing town on the coast of Maine.

To the community of Camden,

Today we completed a bicycling journey from Anacortes, WA to Bar Harbor, ME. In this trip we rode 4,903 miles, fixed 31 flat tires, journeyed for 89 days, encountered 5 complete jerks, and witnessed unending acts of kindness. Of all the acts of kindness we have both witnessed and experienced, the treatment we received from the Camden community was by far more extreme, generous, and unexpected than we could ever imagine.

In the two years of planning and saving for this trip, we could never prepare for such a loss. For the past three months we have lived from our four respective small saddle bags; we live a minimalist lifestyle, and when much of what we own is taken, we felt a deep sense of loss. We felt absolutely sick to our stomachs.

Miraculously, only six hours later, we received a phone call from Jeff Hunter of the Camden Police Dept. with word that the Downtown Camden Business Group wanted replace some of the lost gear. We were beside ourselves with joy and disbelief when we arrived to Maine Sport Outfitters and everything was replaced. What an amazing community.

Thank you, Camden, for everything. Also, thank you to David Jackson of the DCBG, Jeff Hunter of the Camden PD, Holly Anderson of the Village Soup, John Hugh of the Bayview Restaurant, and Harbormaster Steve Pixley for their immediate concern, help, and swift acts of generosity. Thank you so much to the town that "just wanted to make things right."

Back on our bikes and riding with warmed hearts,

Kelly Fulton, Elizabeth White, and Caleb Buecksler


It all took place on a dark and quite full-mooned evening aboard a schooner known as the Appledore. Earlier in the day we met a cyclist, Tim , who had completed the cross-country trek a few days before us. He showed us around town, and we met the crew on this 87-foot schooner, who Tim had befriended. We decided it would be a good idea to enjoy a few drinks with Tim and the the sailors. Trouble begins here. We then decide that instead of a five mile pedal session in the middle of the night, we could just chill on the boat until evening and take care of any remaining chores, like finding a campsite, the following morning. Great idea. Even better of an idea, on top of this all, was to hop off the boat and grab our money, passports, and phones, from the bikes and then lock our rides up for the evening. You know, just to keep the honest people honest.

Well the locks did their work just great, however the bags didn't remain locked or closed at all.
Here is the link to the newspaper article written about us --

first this --
http://www.villagesoup.com//Government/story.cfm?storyid=76859

then this --

http://www.villagesoup.com//Community/story.cfm?storyid=76898

then this too --

http://www.villagesoup.com//Government/story.cfm?storyid=77026

Not every day you get to be in the middle of a crime spree, watch it all unfold, and then have all your stuff replaced, huh? We still can't believe it.

We do want to note that while in Camden, when not dealing with/worring about stolen stuff, we did do many enjoyable things. We spent alot of time sitting in the harbor looking at the Atlantic (because, we just biked to it!!!! from the Pacific!!!!). We met John, a man who owns his a lobster restaurant (Bayview, if anyone will travel through the area), who taught us about lobsters, and made a fabulous lobster sushimi for us. That was amazing. We swam, picked blueberries, and stayed the night at 200 year old house (thanks Kerry!). So, we do have good memories of the town, and certainly the people.

The following day we rode, most definitely with lighter hearts, all the way to Bar Harbor, completing our three month adventure. Upon our arrival to Mount Desert Island we decided it would be a good idea for a bit of a Lobster dinner. 4 orders of French Fries, 2 orders of onion rings, 3 cobs of corn, 3 rolls, and 5 lobsters later, we sat quite happy, with butter dripping down our chins, and felt a wonderful sensation of contentment.

We stayed with a couple named Sarah and Steve, friends of a friend of a graduate student, who happened have some extra room in their huge backyard for a tent or two. And so we went "tenting," as the easterners say it, next to a large red barn and hung out with this awesome crowd for the final stretch of our time in Lobsta Land. Before our arrival we felt a bit concerned that we may wear out our welcome by camping in the same spot for next five evenings. Turns out our worries were much ado about nothing, and as you can tell by the photo, Sarah and Steve are a very high-maintainance crowd. Needless to say, it wasn't a problem.
Sarah works for National Park Sea Kayak Tours, a group based in Bar Harbor, and Steve works for the Maine conversation Corps. Sarah gave us the super hook-up and sent us out on a free tour one beautiful Sunday morning. We spent the better part of a morning paddling around the NW side of the island, otherwise known as the "quite side of Mount Desert Island," and saw some pretty awesome wildlife -- like seals, eagles, starfish, muscles, and the such.

Later that afternoon Liz and Kelly went to check out the Patagonia store downtown and found a cute shirt for Liz. Kelly asked about a discount for bikers who used exclusively Patagonia gear for three months and then showed them one of the two shirts Liz's wore every day for 89 days(in otherwords, this shirt was disgusting). The two thumbs up by Liz indicates her happiness over a free (!) new shirt thanks to the Cadillac Patagonia store.

The following days were spent eating seafood (!!) and resting up. We'd ride the free (!) bus around the island. We hung out in the beautiful downtown of Bar Harbor, took a trip to the beach, and then spent the final day packing everything up into bike boxes and started our trip home. Four hours of bike packing pretty much amounted to fitting 5 lbs. of crap into a 3 lb. bag. It took quite a bit of doing, but the final packed box went through UPS no problem and in the next few days our respective steeds should be arriving home. At the public library we found a great deal on postcards. When it was all said and done we had purchased and posted some 84 cards. Of those cards, 51 were sent to the wonderful people who helped us along the way. Contrary to prior belief, our country is jam-packed with wonderfully kind people, and we felt that the least we could do was send a post card in thanks to the crowd that helped us along the way. Without their help we would be completely lost. Thank you so much.

Acadia National Park is amazing and we most definitely recommend a visit. After five days of enjoying good food, company of new friends, and a great town, we hopped onto the Grey Hound bus and rode to Portland, ME. From there the three of us checked into the Comfort Inn at the Airport and had our final meal together at a great Thai restraunt. The following morning our journey arrived to the absolute and final hour, and as if it had never happened at all, we loaded the plane and effectively canceled our three month effort in slightly less than nine hours in the air.

What an amazing journey it has been. Hopefully all ya'll out there have enjoyed following along as much as we have enjoyed writing and riding. If you ever have three months on your hands and are really craving a bit of a jump start in your life, we totally recommend getting yourself a bicycle .... we wouldn't do it any other way.

Until we meet again --

Kelly, Elizabeth, and Caleb