The start of the journey

The big day has finally arrived and it  is a beautiful 70* and sunny in Caribou with 50 miles of quiet back country roads through Aroostook County ahead. There is a nice adrenalin rush as years of dreaming are about to become a reality.

Aroostook County or “the County” at 6800 square miles is the largest and most northern county east of the Mississippi River and home to 75,000 people.  Potatoes have long been the driver of the county economy and school children often break from school for a few weeks in October to help in the fields.

Much of today’s route hung close to the New Brunswick, Canada border. This sign brought back great memories of many happy visits to the Brown clan in Florencevile. Patsy’s  brother Oscar and his wife Maggie raised their 6 children in a beautiful farm house along the banks of the St John’s River.

Florenceville….home of the Brown Clan.

As the miles wore on and the heat got into the high 80’s while loving every minute this rider was dog tired. Golf would have to wait until tomorrow and the focus was on checking into the Bear Paw Inn turning on the A/C and popping open a cold brew.

The desk clerk replied to the obvious question “This is a dry town. The nearest place to buy a beer is 16 miles back towards Presque Isle.” She seemed to say it with a bit of pride or maybe it was my weakened state but I began to well up.