I headed out early this morning because I had a long day of driving ahead.
To my delight I was greeted by sunshine. I headed up Route 1 to its terminus in Fort Kent. U.S. Route 1 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs 2,377 miles (3,825 km) from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine.
I was expecting fanfare but I only saw this sign.
It caught my eye when I was doing a U-turn to avoid crossing the border into Canada. It’s in the parking lot of a dingy old apartment building. I headed south at that point and meandered through the State Route 11 and Grindstone Scenic byway. There were rest stops scattered throughout which gave me a nice opportunity to stretch and take in the beautiful foliage.
Some overlooked rivers and lakes.
My favorite overlook was outside Patten, ME. In the distance I could see Mt Katahdin which is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.
The sun started fading and the rains came back. I passed by a random covered bridge on the drive.
One of the rest stops was a picnic area next to Smalls Falls. It was pouring rain but I still enjoyed the falls.
There was a fence running along the edge so I thought there was an other overlook towards the top. There wasn't. I climbed over slick roots and shimmied up the fence but the view wasn't any better. Despite the rain, I still got some good pictures at one pull out with a great reflection in the water.
By the time I came to the Rangely Lakes scenic byway the rain had lightened up. It was still gorgeous.
I stopped in Rangely at a gift shop to buy some postcards but they didn’t sell any so I ended up buying magnets. Once again I had planned to stay at a campground and once again it looked creepy. However, there was a little waterfall by the campground which I checked out before wheeling out of there.
It was still rainy so I headed into Rumford, ME to look for a hotel. Jack gave me the name of the Hotel Rumford so I called on the way in and was told it was $50/night. Okay, that’s fine. Jack took me there and it was on a one way street with diagonal parking. I circled the block thinking there would be an actual hotel parking lot but no. I looked at the sign and it said Hotel Rumford-find food and drinks. Cool I thought-maybe I could get some food with my room. So I walk in the entrance and it is a dingy bar full of locals and it was one of those moments where you feel like the music stops and everyone is staring at you (which actually happened). I turned tail and ran back to my car and plugged another hotel into Jack. I got there and the lady said they had one room left because the local mill was on shut down and the motel was full of maintenance workers. I didn’t even care. I had been driving for 9 hours and was exhausted. The room was small with one light and a tiny, shower-only bathroom. I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and went to bed.
It caught my eye when I was doing a U-turn to avoid crossing the border into Canada. It’s in the parking lot of a dingy old apartment building. I headed south at that point and meandered through the State Route 11 and Grindstone Scenic byway. There were rest stops scattered throughout which gave me a nice opportunity to stretch and take in the beautiful foliage. 
Some overlooked rivers and lakes. 
My favorite overlook was outside Patten, ME. In the distance I could see Mt Katahdin which is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.
The sun started fading and the rains came back. I passed by a random covered bridge on the drive. 
One of the rest stops was a picnic area next to Smalls Falls. It was pouring rain but I still enjoyed the falls. 
There was a fence running along the edge so I thought there was an other overlook towards the top. There wasn't. I climbed over slick roots and shimmied up the fence but the view wasn't any better. Despite the rain, I still got some good pictures at one pull out with a great reflection in the water.
By the time I came to the Rangely Lakes scenic byway the rain had lightened up. It was still gorgeous. 
I stopped in Rangely at a gift shop to buy some postcards but they didn’t sell any so I ended up buying magnets. Once again I had planned to stay at a campground and once again it looked creepy. However, there was a little waterfall by the campground which I checked out before wheeling out of there.
It was still rainy so I headed into Rumford, ME to look for a hotel. Jack gave me the name of the Hotel Rumford so I called on the way in and was told it was $50/night. Okay, that’s fine. Jack took me there and it was on a one way street with diagonal parking. I circled the block thinking there would be an actual hotel parking lot but no. I looked at the sign and it said Hotel Rumford-find food and drinks. Cool I thought-maybe I could get some food with my room. So I walk in the entrance and it is a dingy bar full of locals and it was one of those moments where you feel like the music stops and everyone is staring at you (which actually happened). I turned tail and ran back to my car and plugged another hotel into Jack. I got there and the lady said they had one room left because the local mill was on shut down and the motel was full of maintenance workers. I didn’t even care. I had been driving for 9 hours and was exhausted. The room was small with one light and a tiny, shower-only bathroom. I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and went to bed.
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