A few years ago I flew from Massachusetts to Oregon to start a job. A month later, I made the same trip again. This time with all my belongings stuffed in the back of a car.
I had the strangest sensation driving into that West Coast city. It used to be a discrete point on a map. Now, it was part of an East-West continuum. I had seen the points in-between. It was a place that used to be accessible only by airplane and telephone. Now, there was no doubt that East and West were physically connected. What’s more, my car that seemed so familliar in New England was now cruising down the exotic Columbia River gorge. Far out.
You can get the same sensation riding a distance on a bike. You feel the terrain and air around you gradually change. Places that seem to be connected only by massive highways begin to melt together. You start to see how the pieces fit.
So, I’m planning a bike trip from Boston to Portland. I’m looking forward to watching the urban scene dissolve behind me as I head north. I’ll be pedaling a distance that I have only seen from the window of a car speeding down Route 95. All those towns that have been nothing but names on highway signs will now have a context and a story. I will pull into my driveway having experienced, you know, the Interconnectedness of All Things.
Logistics. Which way to go? Like this guy, I have always been fascinated by the East Coast Greenway. And I have heard that Route 1A is a good way to get out of town. However, I want to make this a one-day trip. I think that, in order to keep the miles down, I may need to keep the route straight and direct.
I hope that I can do this by mixing and matching a bit. The current plan is to use the Northern Strand Community Trail to get out of the city. Then we take Rt. 1A to Topsfield. Then it’s Rt. 1, baby. All the way to the mighty Saco River.
From the Saco, we’ll wind down to Old Orchard Beach. There we can pick up the Eastern Trail and the new bridge over the Scarborough Marsh. This will take us right in to Portland. And to my driveway.
