THE TRIP TO THE TRIP (and the trip BACK from the trip)

Making the trek from Acadia National Park to Québec City is one thing. Making the trek to making the trek is another.

(And no, this is not a hidden sponsorship of Trek bikes .. even though, come to think of it, I’m actually riding a Trek bike. So … Hey Trek! If you’re listening…I’m listening…)

Anyway, the biggest challenge in figuring out how to make this … ahem … trek … is the fact that I’m starting at one point that’s eight hours’ drive from home, and ending it somewhere else that’s also eight hours’s drive from home. But that’s eight hours in two very different directions. Add to those complications the factors of an international border, a limited train network, and a post-pandemic set of schedule changes that have not yet returned (if they ever will) to The Way Things Used To Be and, well … you got yourself a right proper conundrum.

When I rode from Manhattan to Niagara Falls, I started right outside my apartment. When I was finished, having showered, eaten, and spent the evening pondering the Eighth Wonder of the World, I just loaded my bike onto a train and took it all the way back to Penn Station. There was one train per day (that allowed bikes) and it boarded in the pre-dawn dark, but … Amtrak had my back.

There’s no train from NYC to Bar Harbor. Also, no train from Québec City to NYC.

There is a train from New York to several sorta-kinda neighboring towns, but it’s actually just a train to Boston and then a bus. And on buses, you have to have your bike in a box. And to put your bike in a box, you have to take it apart and then put it back together when you get where you’re going. Such prowess is not in my skillset. Not yet anyway (#NoteToSelf).

But it turns out a one-way car rental (with a large enough car) will allow me to get my bike & bike bags (un-attached but fully-packed) from NYC to Hancock County Airport. I’ll drop off the rental, load my bags onto my bike, and ride the 13 miles from the airport to the motel, where I’ll unload & spend my first night.

It’ll be a short night.

I’m hoping to wake up around 4am and ride my bike in the next morning pre-dawn up the long hill to the summit of Cadillac Mountain to catch the sunrise (the first light to hit the United States). Then back down to get my bags again, head into Bar Harbor for breakfast, and then … START THE RIDE.

When I get to Québec City, I’m faced with a similar problem. No train from Québec to NYC that accepts unboxed bicycles. No international one-way car rentals, either. So, I found a shop in Québec that’ll box & ship my bike back home. Meanwhile, an airline ticket for myself is actually pretty reasonable. (And a whole lot faster than one train from Québec to Montreal, and another from Montreal to NYC.) ✈️

Of course, there’s still the matter of how to get my bike bags (and all their contents) back home.

They won’t fit in the bike box, along with the bike. I’m thinking a dufflebag purchased in Quebec might hold them? Or maybe I’ll UPS them back to the States? Haven’t yet quite figured that part out.

Anyway, that’s the how of the how of the To & the From. The puzzle’s just another part of the adventure.

Next update - the how of the how of the Whole Part in the Middle…