Day 16: Baltimore to Home

Standby for this post...we made it home though :-) Saturday! 

Day 15: Onto Baltimore

Philly to Baltimore was an easy ride.  Only about 100 miles.  This was planned so we could see some stuff in Philly in the morning before having to rush and check out.  We got up and walked to see the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall.  We stopped for Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches at Steve’s Prince of Steaks and ordered one “Whiz with” which means with cheese whiz and onions, and one “provolone with” which is provolone cheese with onions.  Both were excellent but we surprisingly preferred the Cheese Whiz one!!  We ate half of each sandwich and saved the other halves for later.  We checked out of the horrible le Meridien hotel and rode off for Baltimore.  We stopped at a truck stop and ate the other halves of the cheese steak sandwiches sitting on the pavement next to the parked motorcycles.

 

We arrived in Baltimore, fought over a $48 parking charge for the 2 motorcycles (Rachel won that one!) and relaxed.  Later in the afternoon, we set off for dinner.  We settled on Korean BBQ.  Real Korean BBQ.  As real as it gets in the US anyway!  The restaurant was called Jong Kak.  Jong Kak is famous for using mequite wood to cook the meet at your table, not charcoal.  So off we went.  We stopped half way along the 2.4 mile walk for beers at Brewer’s Art, which is a super cool bar in Baltimore that brews their own beers and does a great job of it.  As we finished our walk to Jong Kak, we noticed outside the restaurant a video camera on a pole.  See pic.  It basically said “Baltimore Police… 24x7… BELIEVE”.  Sort of freaky to watch people on a video camera to improve security, but whatever.

 

Dinner was the highlight of Baltimore.  Jon has had real Korean BBQ once, but it was all new for Rachel.  We ordered a ton of food to try as much as we could.  For meats we got marinated prime rib, 2 kinds of pork, and chicken.  All come raw and they are cooked at your table in your own personal grill in the center of the table.  The staff cooks for you.  You get a dozen or so side dishes with the meat and big pieces of lettuce to make basically Korean burritos…. But without the tortilla, you get lettuce instead.  We ordered a fish head soup hot pot (sort of like Vietnamese Pho) and also a big mixed pot of kim chi, rice and vegetables.  Jon had a “Lite” beer, which looks and tastes just like Miller Lite but is actually called “Hite”.  Like an illegal Korean copy of Miller Lite!!  After our meal we took our time and walked back to the hotel.

Day 14: On to Philly

We had a great night sleep last night.... The best in a long while.  The bed in Acadia was super soft, not ideal.  The bed at Nylo was a king size, had very nice pillows and bedding.  When we went downstairs for breakfast, Thea surprised us!  It was great to see her for a bit more time and last nights' dinner was too short for all 3 of us.

We had breakfast at Nylo, which was very nice, and looked at a photo album Thea brought which had pictures of Jon and his parents.  Jon was less than 1 in the pics!!  Blonde hair, with big curls...so freaking cute!!!! We had a relaxing, leisurely, peaceful breakfast.  We got ready to leave, packed the bikes and Thea sent us on our way and wished us well.  We did remember to take pictures this time... See below!!

The riding plan for today was wretched.  We were going to do 276 mostly-urban miles today, through and including New York City!  We prepared for the worst, and it ended up being even worse than that!!  After about 45 minutes of riding through Rhode Island and into Connecticut, the sky turned black.  Huge, sideways rain drops started falling.  We stopped to put on rain gear but by then we were already drenched.  We rode in heavy, treacherous rain for about an hour after that.  Slow going.  At noon we stopped for fuel and food at one of the off-interstate "service centers" that is like a little truck stop run the the state.  Disgusting condition with lots of rude people in and around it eating McDonald's. One lady with a car full of kids, threw out an empty McDonalds cup and she got into the car, clearly littering. I got off my bike, walked up to her and handed her the cup, she said thank you doll and took it. I'm sure she was trying to litter stealthily so her kids wouldn't see. When we were leaving a young teenage girl and her younger brother were walking in as I was walking out, I held the door a d said you're welcome. She gave me the snootiest stuck up look and I said watch out your face might stay like that one day. 

But the rain had stopped so we rode on on our wet, mesh gear hoping it would dry out some.  After about 30 minutes, it started to rain again so we stopped and put on full rain suits under and overpass.  We rode on the Bronx parkway, over the George Washington bridge, saw New York skyline in the distance, and into New Jersey.

New Jersey turnpike was the real disaster of the day.  There was an accident or construction or who knows what.  Serious, stop and go traffic for miles.  With mesh suits and rain gear, it was blazing hot and uncomfortable.  And I only got turned into by blind drivers 7 times, so tomorrow should be better, right?  We eventually got out of New Jersey paid $11.25 PER BIKE in tolls, and made out way into PA and paid $5 per bike to continue on to Philly.

We got to the hotel, le Meridian downtown, and parking was a cluster.  The valets did not know what to do with motorcycles.  The receptionist clearly judged me in my wet moto gear.  "Are you sure you're in the right hotel?" in a super condescending, snoot-ass way.  Total disaster.  I felt low class and was highly surprised she didn't say anything more than that. The most unfriendly check in ever! I didn't even know how to get to the elevators!  We ended up parking our bikes about 2 blocks away at a self park lot under a security camera.  When you add up the cost of both of our bikes, they probably cost as much as a Mercedes E-class.  You would think a smart hotel manager would know how to train a staff to deal with motorcycles.  We can't be the first ones to stay here with bikes!!

The plan for tonight is to walk 1.4 miles to a German restaurant.  They have Kostritzer bier on tap, and we need it after a day like today.  Bad!!

With a more positive attitude, we have seen all kinds of things and met all kinds of people on this trip.  It has been one adventure after another and we'll probably be talking about it for years!

Day 13: Headed to see Thea

We woke up early, Jon made bacon and egg sandwiches on buttered toast to take and we headed on our way. We rode from Maine to Massachusetts (350 miles) in 5 1/2 hours with stops. We ate Portuguese food food lunch then went to Vanson, a leather company that makes exceptional leather gear for motorcyclists. Then we went to Nylo Warwick Providence to our hotel. Really modern hotel. See pics below of our room. 

Thea came to our hotel and picked us up. She took us home to meet Speed Bump and Sasha, her cats. She showed us around her house and her many art projects. She gave me a super cute vintage apron, I'm stoked to wear it! 

We then headed our for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant on federal hill. We had great dinner, dessert and conversation. Thank you Thea! 

Day 12: Last day in Maine

We are oatmeal then went on an easy walk of the ocean near sand beach. We met some friends, see below. Jon fed them grapes and chips, then we rode home and on the way bought lobster. We ate a simple lobster dinner and packed up our things, getting ready for an early morning ride. 

Day 11: Hiking

We ate lobster burritos for breakfast. They were left over lobster crab cake fillings, delicious! 

We ventured on to hike the Beech Mountain cliffs. We made a mistake with the parking lot we were supposed to park in but we saw the cliffs anyway just a much shorter hike. We ended up hiking 3 other trails in the same area too! We saw awesome views as usual and a fire tower on the top of the mountain! 

We went home afterwards and made lobster rolls, which were delicious! 

One more day then our ride home begins! 

Day 10: Kickass Gardens

We started the day today with oatmeal, flaxseed and Maine blueberries.  We were pretty whipped from yesterday's hike and definitely sore.

Instead of a trail or anything too touristy, we decided to check out some gardens.  One was Japanese inspired and one was traditional Maine.  Ask us to spell their names, and forget about it!!  They were gorgeous.  Super colorful flowers, great smells, lots of native bees.  We saw a hummingbird too.  We ate our leftover lobster pasta on the trail to the gardens and it was fabulous.

For dinner, we decided to make Maine lobster cakes.  Like crab cakes, but made with lobster.  They were really loose and hard to form.  We made one for each of us, and saved the filling in the fridge.  Jon thinks he can whip up lobster breakfast burritos tomorrow morning.  I am sure he can do it.  Our plan for to tomorrow is a long, hard, difficult hike.

For dinner, we made traditional Belgian mussels and garlic bread.  The mussels here are the best we have ever tasted!!  They turned out great.

http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/7731/Belgian-Mussels.html