August 9 Lincoln, NH to North Waterford, ME
Leaving the condo in Lincoln, we immediately began the climb up to Kancamangus Pass... about twelve miles and 2000 or so feet. The rain from the night before had stopped, but the ground was wet and fog hung in the valleys and rose off of the trees in little plumes. Our maps showed this climb as one of the worst in New England (after the Middlebury Gap), but in truth it was a pretty easy climb. We reached the top around mid morning, and after getting our picture taken at the sign, started down the other side. The road dropped steeply down the other side for about six miles, before levelling off to a more gradual descent for the next fifteen miles into Conway.
From Conway, we struck out onto a rather busy road that would take us into Fryburg, the first town in our last state. We kept our heads down and rode for the first few miles, staying in the shoulder and trying not to inhale too much Carbon Monoxide. Half way to Fryburg, we came to the beautiful blue sign declaring "Welcome to Maine." Everyone posed for multiple pictures in front of the sign before starting off again down the road; at the time it was almost surreal, but as we rode away from the sign, I began to realize that we were REALLY IN MAINE! I began to think of all the miles and days we had put in to get here. I remembered the people who had taken us in, and the cyclist we had met along the way. It all suddenly seemed much more monumental.
We stopped for lunch in Fryburg at a rather slow restaurant, and called home to let everyone know we had made it to Maine. Then we pushed on, hoping to make it to a campground in North Waterford. Everything went normally, the road dropping and rising through a series of shallow valleys, until we had nearly made it to the campground. As we glided down one side of a valley, we saw ahead of us the road climbing back out at a grade just shy of vertical. All five of us began to pedal frantically in order to build 
momentum for the climb back out; within a hundred yards of starting up the other side, our momentum was gone, we were all in our very smallest of gears, and were standing in our pedals just to keep from toppling over. We inched our way up the other side, weaving dangerously back and forth when our speed dipped too low. None of us dared to stop because we knew we'd never get started again. Finally, we made it to the top and all stopped to congratulate each other. "Whew... that was crazy." I said.
momentum for the climb back out; within a hundred yards of starting up the other side, our momentum was gone, we were all in our very smallest of gears, and were standing in our pedals just to keep from toppling over. We inched our way up the other side, weaving dangerously back and forth when our speed dipped too low. None of us dared to stop because we knew we'd never get started again. Finally, we made it to the top and all stopped to congratulate each other. "Whew... that was crazy." I said. My dad laughed giddily, "Jeez! I can't believe that hill!"
"You're a man now, after climbing that hill, Seth... we're all men now." Rick panted.
Michael grinned, "I can feel chest hair growing."
"My altimeter says that hill was a twenty-four percent grade!" my dad added. We all lapsed into silence, both in awe of our accomplishment, and for lack of breath.
It started to rain as we finally rolled into our campground, and we were left hiding in the convenience store until it let up. Our final night camping was also our most expensive one, with the site costing $58. Luckily, the rain let up and the ground was only mostly muddy, so we had a reasonably comfortable night. We made a big batch of spaghetti for all of us, and then dad made a blue berry cake for desert. As it started to get dark, we retreated into our tents for the final night on the trip.
