Moody's Diner

When it rains it pours. I go forever without a post and now a second post in little more than a week.

Last week it rained and poured duringthe trip to Freeport. This week couldn’t bemoredifferent. A high pressure cell dominates the weather in New England. Yesterday there wasn’t a cloud to be seen and we flirted with record high temperatures in Bangor, Maine. So Suzie and I mounted our steeds and set out for a ride. The best part of this was that she rode her new Honda Shadow 600 VLX, a 2006 with only 2950 miles. A week ago two friends of mine who go by the names MAC and Karl, recommended this bike for her as a step up from the Suzuki Savage 650. I walked in to see my friends at Bangor Motor Sports to ask their professional opinion about this matter. It so happens that the had just taken one in on a trade. Silver, saddle bags, sissy bar, “Hell Cat” windshield; striking. I chit chatted and went home to see what Craigslist had to offer. Two late model VLX’s. Humph.
To make long story short, after a few offers, denials, counter offers, etc, we got the silver VLX at Bangor Motor Sports. These guys are good to work with, fair, and the take care of you at the service department.
We headed down to Hampden went west on 202 all the way to Unity Pond. The US highway is well maintained except for a short section near Troy. It offers views of trees, farm fields and distant mountains. The rate of travel is 50 to 60 mph over sweeping curves, up and down hills. Easy riding today except for a few wind gusts that moved the bikes a little.
A left on Maine 220 takes you down to Waldoboro. The road is narrow, typical of rural highways in Maine, with significant elevation changes. Tight curves abound, as do dangerous intersections where 220 crosses roads with higher traffic volumes, which isn’t saying much. Road conditions are pretty good for the most part.

On the corner of 220 and US 1 is found Moody’s Diner, an icon of the mid coast area. Interestingly I’d never been there before. Their fare is basic, nothing fancy, just good food. I had the cheese burger platter, with onion rings and coleslaw. Delicious. I was most happy when a woman approached Suzie admiring her new bike. I think that made her feel pretty special.
Our route was 1 to 235 to 131 to 3 to get to Belfast. 235 and 131 are narrow Maine State highways. Plenty of tight, blind curves and hills with blind crests. This means fun. Near Union we stopped at a boat ramp on Seven Tree Pond to stretch our legs an snap a few pictures. This time it was my turn to accept some compliments. We saw a couple admiring the bikes and the guy asked about the NT and told me of a friend who also has one and likes it very much.
In Belfast we caught Maine State highways 141 to Monroe where we got 139 to Winterport were we stopped at Hillcrest Orchard to acquire two bags of McCoun apples. I know that the late Steve Jobs named their premium computer the Macintosh because it was the best Apple, but I disagree. I’d a called it a McCoun. It was then back to Veazie to tend to the dogs.

I checked my odometer as we arrived home. I knew I was getting close. The reading was 10009 miles and today was one year to the day that I purchased the bike. Hurray!