Modern Vespa

Scooter buddy Francis and I left Augusta, Maine on Monday and headed east on ME-3, an excellent (albeit high-speed and heavily-traveled) corridor to the coast. ME-3 is a direct route to Belfast, Maine, but we left it for ME-173 in Liberty, home of the nationally-esteemed Liberty Graphics outlet store (www.libertygraphicstshirts.com), purveyors of outstanding original t-shirt designs (some of them glow in the dark!). After buying a couple souvenirs and surveying a town which looks like it was forgotten in the early 1960s (see photo), we continued south on ME-173 to Lincolnville Beach and the Maine State Ferry Terminal. ME-173 makes for a delightful ride as the speed limit never exceeds 45MPH and the road passes through a number of scenic small Maine towns. Francis and I then rode down the metal-grated ramp at Lincolnville Beach onto the ferry "Margaret Chase Smith" (named for the distinguished US Senator from Maine in the 1960s) and enjoyed a scenic ride across Penobscot Bay to the island of Islesboro, home to movie stars John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, among many other notables. There we rode off the ferry and up to the Main Road, first riding north to the end of the island, and then heading south to Pendleton Point. At that point, time was running out to make the 3:30PM ferry back to Lincolnville Beach, so we headed back to Grindel Point and the ferry landing; then back aboard the Margaret Chase Smith to re-trace our route home! All in all a fine trip, although I must say there were fewer oceanside views than I had expected, since the Main Road runs pretty much up the middle of the island, and most of the side roads leading to the ocean are gated or private. But still an excellent scooter ride with the added plus of scootering on Penobscot Bay!

Thanks for taking the time to write up the rides and sharing the photos!

Looks like a great ride. If I had known and had more time I might have joined you. Is this close to what you did? http://goo.gl/maps/Lf63l How did you find the road surfaces? Bet they were better at the coast...more money over there.

Yes, that's exactly the ride we did. I found the roads to be quite good the whole way, except on Islesboro itself. 173 was an unexpectedly nice road, very smooth with little traffic. Route 3 is an excellent road, but with a 55MPH speed limit and lots of traffic, it was kind of tense.