Day 15: Mainly Lost

I had a great idea today to ride from Bridgton, Maine to Tuftonboro, New Hampshire. It would be about a 54 mile ride using Google walking directions. Have you ever used Google walking directions? When I punched in my from and to points, I wasn't bothered by the fact that Google told me it would take approximately 15 hours to get from point A to point B because I was on a bike. Anyway, I set out from Bridgton and rode on route 117 through Denmark and then got onto 160 to Brownfield. I passed many farms which sold fresh cheese, eggs, puppies, firewood. Alot of people were mowing their fields on this day. I love that smell of fresh cut grass. The sun was out. The day was glorious.
Right after I was on 160 for a bit, I took a left and then another left onto an old country road. I took this road to the "end" or where it turned into a dirt road. This is the point where the Google walking directions became interesting. There was a sign where the paved road ended and the dirt road began. It said, "Do not go beyond this point unless you are in a 4x4 no matter what your GPS tells you". I chuckled when I read that. Google is the smartest thing on earth, afterall. For some reason, I picked my cyclocross bike to ride on this day. A cyclocross bike has thicker tires than a typical road bike and thicker rims. It turned out to be a good choice because the recent rain showers had made this road nice and muddy and full of deep puddles. I think I was on this road for about an hour. I really wondered if this was where I was going to end up spending the night. Eventually I came to a paved road. A passing car stopped and the driver rolled down the window. Before the driver could speak, I asked them for directions but they were lost too. The thing about where we were is that none of the roads had any signs and with all of the beautiful trees around, it was difficult to pick up a signal from our phones. The driver had OnStar or something and started calling them for help. I just had my printed google walking directions and was determined to get to my destination without the help of OnStar. I followed the paved road and lo and behold, it took me back to where I started on the old country road. At the beginning of this road is where a large farm house sat. A very nice couple was sitting on the porch. They asked me if I was lost. I must have had that look. Anyway I asked them how far it was to Bridgton and the man told me it was a very long way and did I want a ride. He was very nice but I declined the offer and rode my bike back to Bridgton. I rode for 6 hours on this day. At the end of my ride, I threw my Google walking directions in the trash can.