Nov.2 Lubec->Whiting

Friday, Nov. 3rd

Pat pulled in at 8:30 like we had arranged the day before and we headed off to his friend’s house where his sail boat was propped up on stilts in the driveway. Together we set about pumping the bilge, folding the sails, and other preparations for the long, hard winter. Within an hour the craft was in hibernation and Pat dropped me off back at the Chamberland’s. I spent the rest of the morning posting my latest adventures online and joined them for a spaghetti lunch, but I’m hoping to be in Machias for church and a day of rest on Sunday, so it’s time to get moving. At noon I was rolling again. The muscles and joints immediately began complaining again, but I’d given them the morning off, so they weren’t going to get any sympathy from me. I plugged in my headphones and picked up where I last left off in 2 Kings. As the hours past I listened through teaching on Ezra and Nehemiah. After a long stretch of dodging cars, I finally came to a paved shoulder where I could push my cart on asphalt without being in the road. Lubec turned into Trescott at 1:30 and Trescott turned into Whiting by 3:20. I rejoined Rt. 1 in Cutler and pressed on, but the aches in my feet and legs forced me to start wondering how much further I was going to get. By five the hunger and pain won out. I left my cart by the road and sat down next to a peaceful pond with some trail mix. Within a few minutes, two vehicles stopped and pulled over to see why a cart was sitting abandoned by the road. I finally got up to continue on. I was hoping to make it another two hours down the road, but something felt wrong in the cart. The front caster wheel doesn’t swivel well and often drags for several feet before aligning itself, but it suddenly seemed worse. When I stopped to check I found that the plastic tire around the wheel had come off the wheel. I tried to push it back into place, but nothing was working. I happened to be just across the road from a little scenic overlook, so I pulled the limping cart into the gravel parking area to get out of the road. When I saw the little picnic area I decided that the defective wheel had brought me to the perfect camping spot for the night. There was a flat grassy area that dipped down out of sight of the road with a picnic table looking out over a marsh. There was even a bubbling brook! This was definitely home for the night. I’d fix the wheel in the morning and make up the two hours. By the time I got the tent set up and supper boiling dusk was falling fast and the chilly night air was beading up my gear with a film of dew. I took my time eating supper and having a puff of my last New England Mild while watching the final glow of sunlight fade away over the marsh. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. …except for the broken wheel, but I’ll put that out of my mind until morning.