Madawaska

Day: 35
Destination: Madawaska, Maine (4th Corner); Bangor, Maine
Route: Highway 1 North;   Highway 11 South
Miles Ridden: 263   Total Miles: 7,749

Notable Quote: After discussing the fifty mile ride up and back from Caribou to the fourth corner..."Well, let's get it over with."
     ~Robert "Bobbie D" D'Ambrosio

Points of Interest:

• Fourth Corner, Madawaska, Maine
• Moose and other critters
• Highway 11

After handling a minor issue with one of the bikes (it's amazing how a part which costs less than $2 can delay a trip!), we began our ride north towards our fourth corner. The corner is located at Madawaska, Maine, which is the town furthermost north in Maine, and directly across from Canada. In fact, we have been riding the border with Canada since yesterday. About 15 miles north of Caribou, we encountered our first "swamp donkey," as it was described by a local, a full size, chocolate brown bull moose. It was feeding alongside the highway, and was startled by Bud as he approached. It turned and bolted toward us (Ralph and Mike), but fortunately stayed on the shoulder. As it got to us, it turned and ran into the forest. Very exciting to see such a creature in the wild. Even more exciting that it did not hit us, and we did not hit it. Bullwinkle would have been quite upset, and our paint would have suffered from the encounter.

We arrived at Madawaska and found a beautiful monument celebrating one of the "four corners." We, of course, included the fifth corner, Brownsville, Texas, a place few visit (for many reasons). We did our "Five Corners Dance", took our photos, had lunch, and were off again. We traveled to the end of Highway 1, and then began traveling south on Highway 11. Since we are no longer traveling further away from our homes, technically we have now begun our trip home. A few miles from Fort Kent, we encountered a sign bikers never want to see--"Pavement Ends." We can deal with "Construction Zone," "One Lane Ahead," even "Grooved Highway"- But "Pavement Ends" just sucks. For 2.5 miles, we rode a dirt highway with all the excitement it can bring, but once we got off this road we had a 125 mile ride on a spectacular two lane highway through farms, a handful of communities, forests, lakes, and marshland. What impressed us was that the main street in each town was bordered with American flags and flags representing branches of the military, and so many homes had flag poles bearing American flags. We were also impressed by all the people who waived to us as we passed. We talked to one local, who told us that Maine is suffering from the loss of manufacturing, and jobs in general, and tourism has suffered greatly as a result. That certainly explains the ease we have experienced in finding hotel rooms.