We had a bit of a late morning, since we weren't planning on making any real distance considering my knee condition and the need for our seat post to be worked on. There was a tasty continental breakfast at 7:30, which we enjoyed, and then we finished packing up and hopped on outta town (walked the bike up a hill and rode the decline down). Thankfully, the bike shop was very, very close, so little pedaling was required.
We found ourselves in the bike shop of Maine Sport, the only place in town. We had the head mechanic take a look at our predicament, and he wasn't optimistic from the start. After some hemming and hawing over what to do, he said he'd take it in and try loosening the post for us. He was able to crank it a tiny bit back to center with a giant wrench, and said he'd take it in for the day and try to take care of our issue.
Unfortunately, we were probably better off not going into the shop in the first place. Later in the afternoon I got a call back, and was told that he was able to move the seat post about 4 mm - actually, he raised the seat post that length. He later explained that the post would probably come out, but it would take hours of work, essentially conveying to me that he was no longer willing to continue spending time on the bike. He was of the opinion that since the front and back seat posts were of different diameters, someone must have hammered in a post that was a size too large, causing it to get stuck (we were able to adjust my seat post fine before taking the bike in to ANOTHER shop in Virginia that raised it while performing a tune up before we shipped off for Maine, so obviously that isn't the case...). When we arrived to pick up the bike, we were offered the option of buying a new saddle, which we had discussed earlier. But with the post now even higher, it didn't make a difference, so we said no thanks. But we were still charged a $60 bill plus some disparaging attitude about the quality of our bike, so that was overall a pretty disappointing and irritating experience. We only asked for the post to be lowered, but instead it was raised and he tinkered with our back wheel and shifters as well (work we didn't want done).
(Pass the Pigs in the trailer)
In the meantime, we spent the day walking around Rockport, looking for a grocery store (they only have a little bistro, so we got some sandwiches but not much else.) Thankfully there was a host family from Warm Showers in town, and they put us up for the night in their little hitch trailer and we availed ourselves of their running water.
(Kluging a fix - duct tape can do anything, right?)
The next morning my knee still wasn't feeling great, so we rode a short distace back to Camden to try and find some sort of solution for the bike. We settled upon creating a makeshift pedal block out of a can of tuna - it's a clumsy fix, but it'll do for now. We're taking another rest day today, hanging out at a pretty empty rv park. It's got a full kitchen, a couch for me to rest my leg on, a pool, and even a tv (we got to catch the Orioles play the Red Sox). If all goes well, we'll be on the road again tomorrow, but we'll see how the knee feels in the morning...
(Full kitchen!)
(Chillin by the pool)
(Explaining current difficulties to Mom)
DAY 6 UPDATE:
Welp, the knee is certainly feeling better, this morning I'm able to walk and bend it with almost no pain at all and no anti-inflammatories. However, walking up steps and putting more pressure on it still hurts some, so we're going to stick it out here another day. Although we really want to keep moving, we also don't want to do something foolish and end up ruining the trip and/or the life of my knee.
Once we're out of Vermont, it should be much smoother sailing, at least until Washington. All maps except the last one don't include an elevation profile, so those major hills that knocked me out won't be around, and I can build up some strength over the coming weeks.
(With the wide angle, the tent looks huge and my arms look weird)
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