Touring - Need your adress book :) (Verrmont, New Hampshire and Maine)

Two weeks before departure, i'm at the planning part of my trip. This is where i need some help from people from, or who have toured into Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Could you please share the places you have spotted as useful, resourceful or must see places : Camping, cheap but clean motel, bike shop who aren't crook,..,...

Thanks so much, Philippe.

PS : Oh i forgot, is there some law i must know before going south of the border ? Like are we allowed to ride on highway, no camping allowed into city park, etc, etc.

Have you got your passport?

Sure do :thumb:

Also, did the Adventure Cycling Association maps worth their price ?

Check out www.couchsurfing.com and www.warmshowers.org to find people who may be willing to host you for a night or two for free.

Also, every time I've used ACA maps, they have been worth the cost.

Ray

Maine Dept of Transportation (DOT) has a fantastic bike map (which was given to me, and I can't seem to find it) which shows traffic volumes and shoulder widths. I assume you can get a copy here: http://www.exploremaine.org/bike/contact_us.html In more remote parts of Maine I would only caution you to be wary of large trucks on narrow roads. If you have a mirror, use it. At one point there were two large trucks coming from opposite directions and the road ahead toward the point of impact was getting narrower due to a guardrail. I just bailed onto the shoulder to save my skin. That was the only such excitement on my trip; I found drivers quite courteous overall.

In those three states I looked for state parks to stay at and planned my days accordingly using googlemaps ahead of time. This was a pretty good way to go, but the drawback is they are often at higher elevations and this sets you up for a lot of climbing at the end of the day, which can be trying. The state park to avoid is at Lake St. George, in Liberty, Maine. They charged out-of-staters $27 frickin' bucks for a few unimpressive square feet of open ground with no privacy. I was so tired I paid up but then I could barely sleep because of the outrage. I hope you'll consider stealth camping to help dilute the money I shelled out those thieves. At least the sound of the loons at night was a joy. There's always something joyful -- you're touring, after all. :)