By the way, Denise, are you aware that there is a ferry which goes from Bar Harbor over to the Schoodic peninsula. You could avoid backtracking from Bar Harbor to Ellsworth, and also avoid doing the Route 1 section from Bar harbor to Winter Harbor twice. The ride around Schoodic is lovely.

I was on the island last month and was lucky enough to get a couple of days of dry riding in. Spent many a day at Otter Cliffs supposedly studying when I was in college (Univ of Maine).