Route 2 through Maine and Bar Harbor - New England Ride 2023 Vol. 5

Dec 9, 20233 min read

Updated: May 24, 2024

The white house where I lived, the grey house was my great-grandparents house next door.

Ride Down Memory Lane

After visiting my family in Oxford and South Paris ME, we planned to take route 2 from Bethel Me to Bar Harbor. For me, this was important because I wanted to share a bit of my history with my husband. I spent a year and a half living in Maine during my senior year of high school. My grandparents provided me with a place to live but many aspects of my existence I navigated on my own. These were impactful times and having the opportunity to share this with him was huge. It was even more impactful to be on the back of my motorcycle while revisiting these places. Empowering!!!. We stopped by my grandparents and great-grandparents' old house in Woodstock, my old apartment in Bryant Pond, and my old workplace at Sunday River Ski Resort. We continued to follow route 2 through Rumford, where I lived during the summer months. It is a paper mill town with an incredible waterfall. What a ride down memory lane!!

Let's Ride Across Maine!

Route 2 continues to be very scenic following a river for much of the way. Roads are well maintained and traffic is light. We passed through several small towns and communities. Maine is very clean and sparsely populated, it made for a wonderful experience. The ride just had a beauty about it that was hard to explain.

Time For Our Poker Chip and to Set Camp

Our first destination, Central Maine Harley Davidson just outside of Bangor ME in a town called Hermon.

This dealership was different than any I have ever visited. It looked like an old home had been converted into a dealership. It had a very cozy feel on the inside with very helpful and friendly staff. Highly recommend stopping in.

Our campground for the night was in Bar Harbor and it was time to head there and set up.

We stayed and Hadley's Point campground and I was very impressed with the conveniences of the campground. They delivered wood to us and had kindling for sale that a local youth provided.

The Bath house - Showers on this side, Restrooms on the other, with laundry down the middle

Their showers and bathrooms surprised us a little. The shower did not have access to a toilet and this was very inconvenient and made me wonder how many people relieved themselves in the shower due to this. The showers were coin-operated, and you had to pay $0.25 for seven minutes of water. After using it once, you realize the first 4 minutes were wasted waiting for warm water. The other thing I didn't particularly love was the shower heads. They were piped straight out of the ceiling and made it difficult to keep my hair dry. All of that being said. The place was kept immaculate. They also had coin-based laundry in the same building.

My Favorite thing about Bar Harbor was the trolly system. We hopped on the trolly to go to dinner in downtown, Bar Harbor and didn't have to worry about riding our motorcycles through all the busy traffic. You know I had to get me some lobster! First night we ate at Bar Harbor Beerworks, where I had my first lobster roll. On day two we went big and ate at Stewman's.

On the second day in Bar Harbor, we rode through Acadia National Park and visited Cadillac Mountain. The views were stunning. They say if you get there for sunrise you will be the first to see the sun in the US.