Actually the mosquitos found me when I stopped to take a leak 10 miles
before Saco. I thought they were biting flies because I had never seen
such aggressive mosquitos. In Saco I learned to use Deet before
leaving my motel room. The fellow from Minot who I met back near
Glacier had warned me about this area. He said you needed Deet even to
ride through it. I found I could ride fast enough to get rid of the
mosquitos, but they literally swarmed over me when I got off of my
bike, biting ferociously.
I reached Saco fairly early after 120 miles of tail wind assisted
riding. It really was a great day on the bike. Near the end of the day
the wind shifted more from the north and east and riding became
harder. I briefly entertained the idea of going for a personal record
by riding on to Glasgow, 43 more miles, but with the wind shift and
some signs about road construction ahead, I turned back after riding
through Saco (all four blocks of it) and stopped at the only motel in
town. The only cafe in town was closed on Sunday, so I had to eat more
bar food. My tummy took several days to recover. 120 miles, good
winds, good roads, bad food.
The couple from Kenya greeted me as I rode up to the motel. My first
120 mile day had enabled me to catch up with them. After supper (they
wisely ate in their room), I spent several hours visiting with
them. Jim and Jean are Scots who have lived in Kenya for six years. He
taught at a 'public school' (i.e. private high school) in Scotland for
many years, eventually becoming Headmaster. Then they moved to Kenya
to teach at a primary school for white children. He had retired from
that job, but they liked living in Kenya so they had stayed on. They
had toured in Europe, but this was their first tour in the US. They
were doing the AC northern route from ocean to ocean.