Longest trip to-date

After last winter's transmission rebuild I have been wanting to make a longer trip than the ~10 miles to farmers' market and ~5 miles to the drive-in.

This morning I thought it would be a good day to go visit the volunteer's on the trail-crew maintaining the Appalachian Trail in Maine's 100 mile wilderness. Since noone was expecting us, it would be ok if we didn't make it and it should be possible to get to that part of the state on mostly back roads.

After a quick check of the map I went to work attaching the spare tire that I have never bothered with and filling the toolbox with more tools, fluids, and spare parts than I normally carry.



I also brought my tow-bar and some magnetic lights in case something happened that wasn't field repairable.

A few minutes with the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer helped me refine the route.

Each flag is a turn. We spent very little time on numbered routes and quite a bit of time off pavement.




This was our stop to get treats for the volunteers


Shortly after this, we were done with pavement.




In one tight spot, we passed a full-sized pickup coming the other way. The driver was thankful that it was a Jeep since two trucks could not have fit through that spot.

Next it was time to walk. The crew was working about 1.5 miles from where the road ends.

We reached them in time for their afternoon break and brought pie and ice-cream.

After a few minutes rest at the nearby waterfall, it was time to begin the second half of our drive.




We hit a few showers, but never got soaked.




Before returning to the garage, I removed all the extra parts, tools, and spare tire.


This was a great trip. There were only a few spots where I was wishing for an overdrive. Maybe this winter it will finally happen.

smfulle wrote: Nice trip report. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome! 

How many miles was the round trip? Sounds like a great ride.

I didn't check the odometer or track it with the GPS, but I think the round trip was something like 140 miles.

Ben,