Wednesday, July 20th - lay day at Tenants Harbor

Today, Cutter Loose remains at anchor in Long Cove at Tenants Harbor while we explore the countryside by bicycle.  We load our gear into the dinghy and head towards the closest floating dock, which happens to be a lobsterman's co-op.  The employees politely grant permission to tie our dinghy to the float for the day.

We cycle north along ME 131 to Thomaston, aided by a tailwind.  The terrain and road conditions remind us of Pennsylvania...rolly, narrow berm and deteriorating pavement.  An hour later, we  enter the Town of Rockland, the largest of all Penobscot Bay communities.

Main Street in Rockland offers four city blocks of retail establishments, restaurants, theaters and museums.  There is a steady stream of Route 1 traffic on Main Street as tourists stream northeast to Camden, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.  Rockland is also a point of embarkation via ferry to the various islands and communities that comprise Penobscot Bay.

[caption id="attachment_875" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland"][/caption]

Our destination is the Farnsworth Art Museum on Main Street, which features a major collection of paintings and illustrations by three generations of artists including N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth.  N.C. Wyeth was an iconic illustrator.  Andrew Wyeth spent 30 years painting scenes from the stark home of Christina and Alvaro Olson in nearby Cushing, ME.  Perhaps his most famous work of art is Christina's World, which we recently had the opportunity to appreciate at MOMA in Manhatten.  The exhibit at Farnsworth includes over 30 of Andrew's paintings and sketches of the Olson home.

We return to Tenants Harbor via ME 73.  This morning's tailwind is now a headwind.  It is 6 PM and we have cycled 31 miles by the time we return to the dinghy.  A stiff 20 knot southwesterly makes for a bouncy and wet ride back to Cutter Loose.

The weather map is very complicated.  There are two low pressure centers to the north and northeast of Penobscot Bay.  Two additional low pressure centers are located over the Great Lakes and pushing east.  The NWS has just issued a small craft advisory for Thursday.  The forecast is for winds out of the southwest at 20 knots with gusts to 25 and a 40% chance of precipitation.  We will obtain an updated forecast and reevaluate our options in the morning.