Bangor & the Airline Route

                                          (Steven King's house)

Bangor is the cultural and commercial center

     for northern and eastern Maine.

Though its population is only about 30,000,

     Bangor is the third largest city in Maine.

The five-county area for which Bangor is the largest market town  

     (including Aroostook, Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis, 

          and Washington Counties)

               has a population over 325,000 people

                    and comprises half of Maine’s total area.

Bangor is located on the Penobcot River,

     30 miles inland from the Maine coast.

The main campus of the University of Maine (12,000 students)

     is located in nearby Orono.

Bangor’s best-known resident is novelist Steven King.

When I think of Bangor, 

     I think of the 100-mile long “Airline Route”

        (State Route 9)

           that connects it with the Canadian border at Calais, Maine.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about “The Airline Route”:

     “State Route 9 is a meandering highway

          that works its way from New Hampshire to Canada…

     Its leg from Bangor to Calais 

        is often referred to as "The Airline"

          commonly thought to be due to its shorter route

               than the older U.S. 1 [along the coast].

     (Before the coming of air travel, 

          the term airline often referred to such a shortcut.) …

     The last section of ‘The Airline’ was paved in 1973 …

     The "Whale's Back", a 2-mile stretch built atop an esker

          in Hancock County

               is one of the most notable features of the highway.”

I began to travel the Airline Route in the early 1970s.

Then it was a wild ride,

     curving and turning around every large rock and small hill.

It was full of potholes

     and featured just one gasoline station over its 100 miles.

There were long stretches of road without human habitation.

It was an adventure waiting to happen –

     two or three hours of wildness,

          and particularly dangerous in winter.

The “Whale’s Back” 

     was a continuous series of stomach-churning dips,

          a carnival ride at 50 miles per hour.

               (The Whale’s Back is still there,

                    but now rebuilt as a more sedate highway.)

Every summer it was under repair or reconstruction,

     so that today it seems more-or-less civilized.

Any weeklong Maine vacation should include this ride,

     complete with swarms of mosquitoes 

          and black flies in summer.