208. Kittery, Maine

April 12-20, 2026

I drove up to Kittery on Sunday, April 12. I had a few purposes in mind. The first was to bring my ProMaster van to the local Dodge dealer to have regular maintenance done. I took the van in early Monday and the work was completed by 10 AM.

From there I went to Warby-Parker, about a mile from the Dodge dealer, to shop for glasses. The last two times I had my vision checked my vision had deteriorated in that I could not read the lines of letters or numbers as well as I had previously done. I decided to see if glasses would be of help in improving this. I walked around the perimeter of shop looking at the myriad of choices, too many it felt to me, trying on numerous pairs and making comparisons. It took me about thirty minutes to settle on two that I liked, one for regular lenses and one for sunglasses. I worked with someone who took some measurements and ordered the glasses.

I was surprised the way they took these measurements. It had to do with measuring pupillary distance and with determining where the different aspects for far and near distance were made, as I was ordering progressive lenes, also known as bifocals, but with no line demarking where the different lenses are located. With the latter, it was done by the technician looking at my eyes, while I wore the glasses, eyeing up where the he thought the lens prescription should change, and marking it with a felt-tip pen. It seemed rather untechnical, almost arbitrary, for this day and age. I made a comment about this. I was told they could do it more technically with equipment they have, but they usually don’t. That just seemed odd to me.

In Kittery, I was staying at a friend’s house, Beth. I was actually parking my van in her driveway, sleeping in my comfortable bed, and using the comforts of the house during the day. Beth was away visiting with her sister, who lives in Hawaii. She flew to Hawaii, then then the two of them went to the Philippines to go scuba diving for two weeks. Sounds like an adventure!

Beth would return on Friday, and I kept myself busy in the meantime doing bike rides, taking walks, and reading books. Some days I rode north from Kittery, some days I rode south. North was on Routes 101 and 1A up to York, about ten miles. These roads are in good shape as they wind along curves and several short hills, up and down, up and down, up and down. There wasn’t much traffic. The road is through heavily wooded areas much of the way with private homes. There are views of the coastal waters much of the way. Once at York, there is a private campground that was closed and then York Beach, which stretches about two miles in length. It looks like a nice beach and there were a lot of people walking each day I rode there, many with dogs.

One day I continued about another ten miles, taking Route 1 to Ogunquit. Route 1 had a wide shoulder and very little traffic until reaching town, at which point there was much more traffic and a dense concentration of commercial enterprises. It must become crazy busy here in the summer! I don’t think I would like that.

My rides south went down Route 1A as far as North Hampton. The road in this direction is mostly flat with a few short hills. Much of it runs right along the coast, water on one side and private homes on the other. There was hardly any traffic. It seems to me that the roads I rode on are used mostly for local traffic. If people want to “make time” driving north or south from Kittery they probably use I-95 or Route 1.

The weather was on the cool side with cloudy days more often than sunny days. I needed to dress in layers most days, but it was never too cold to ride. There were rain showers, but I was able to choose times to ride when there was a pause between showers.

Portsmouth (New Hampshire) is right across a bridge, Memorial Bridge, connecting the two states, separated by the Piscataqua River. From Beth’s house it is less than a mile walk to downtown Portsmouth. Though a small downtown, it is filled with businesses and people walking about. There is a wide variety of shops and food establishments. One thing that rally stood out to me was the lack of litter on the streets. I was hard pressed to find any litter at all in the downtown area. However they do this, it was impressive. Other nice features were Prescott Park and Portsmouth Public Library.

Beth returned Friday morning. We have known each other since high school, early 1970s, though had been out of touch for many years until reconnecting over the past couple of years. Back in high school, her brother David was one of my best friends. Beth and Marilyn, my ex-wife, were roommates, too, in the 1970s and she was in our wedding party in 1975.

We enjoyed several days taking walks, going out to eat, and having nice long talks. She is a kind person, a giving soul, and helpful in her community. We had breakfast at Lil’s Café. Dinner at Tulsi’s, an Indian restaurant in Kittery. We walked over to Portsmouth every day. Had lunch one day at Ceres Bakery there.

Walking, talking, having a good time.