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By Diana Bowley, Of the NEWS Staff - ABBOT - Two grandfathers who spent nearly two months biking across the country received a warm welcome Saturday upon their return home. Victor Morin, 55, and Blaine Burhoe, 49, rolled into town on their touring bicycles at about noon, escorted by Guilford fire trucks. "Hey, somebody take this bike and throw it away," Burhoe joked as he greeted a large group of well-wishers, including his wife, Patty, daughters Tami and Amanda, and his 7-month-old granddaughter, Casey. The two friends, who took up bicycle riding after giving up smoking, began talking about a cross-country bicycle trip two years ago. They mapped their route in detail and decided this year to take the plunge. On May 27, they flew to Washington state and by May 30 they were on the road to Maine, traveling mostly secondary roads that ran parallel to the Canadian border. Other than one fall, a couple of short-term separations when one of the men took a wrong turn, 14 flat tires and two tire replacements, the trip went smoothly. The men showed their endurance by averaging about 85 miles a day and losing weight in the process. "It's focusing on being able to do that every day, rain or not," that was tough, Morin said. At one point, both men nearly gave up. Faced with a long stretch of hills midway, they doubted they could continue because the muscles in their legs ached so badly. Just when the doubts kicked in, over the hill came a man with no legs, who was using his hands and arms to propel the wheels on his wheelchair. The men snapped out of their funk and headed on. While the men biked 37 days with no rain, an Iowa storm greeted them with 10 inches, and they encountered 25-mph winds in Idaho. While camping in Ohio, 80-mph winds flattened Burhoe's tent. Nightfall found the men staying at rest stops, public parks, and even on lawns, when invited, where they each would record the day's events in a journal. When they could, they called home or sent postcards to family members and Trafton's Family Affair, a local convenience store where their progress was followed on a wall map. It was the people they wrote about most along the trip, according to Burhoe. "We had just tons of great experiences with people," he said. He recalled one rainy day when the pair had stopped for lunch at a sheltered fast-food restaurant. A young man who was eating at the restaurant with his family inquired about the pair's travels. When he learned of their plans, he invited them to his house to use the shower and to stay overnight. The young man went out of his way to accommodate the pair from Abbot. He drove to his brother's house to exchange his minivan for a pickup truck, picked up the men and their bicycles, left them at his house, and returned to his brother's house to pick up his family and his van. People were friendly everywhere, Morin said. At an eatery in Fryeburg, a stranger paid the tab for their meal after he learned about their adventure. "If you stay in small-town America, it's like this everywhere," he said, gesturing to the Abbot gathering. |