the Way of the Turtle

TRAVELLIN' TURTLE, Part 5 -
MAINE!
(and - NY, MA, & NH!)
Saturday, February 28, 2009

Woke up early this morning in NY and 12 hours later I was four states away in Maine... such is the life of a crazy runner...

After a wrong turn or two I found my way to Peak Performance Multisport in Portland, where I picked up my race packet, learned they were out of twist ties for the bike numbers (that struck me as poor planning and left me wondering where I'd get some, roughly five hours from home) and found out I'd need to remove the bar extenders from the ends of my handlebars. Good thing I packed my allen wrenches... when I got off the highway near Freeport, I found a hardware store and bought a packet of cable ties - one problem solved!

Checked into my luxurious accomodations at the Freeport Econolodge and went into town looking for something simple for dinner. Freeport is home to L.L. Bean (when Ann learned that, she almost wished she'd come along for the trip) and apparently is now an outlet town; I passed by numerous name brand shops before ending up at Friendly's for dinner. Since it was getting late and I was already spending enough money just making this trip, I decided to forego the shopping experience and instead spent the evening making sure my bike was ready, waxing my skis, and doing a little work before crawling into bed early in hopes of getting a good night's sleep before tomorrow's race and long haul home...

JMH