Donuts To Domination

A pink-frosted sprinkle-covered donut began my day.  After escaping the sprawl of town and stopping for strawberry milk, the fog cleared, the sun came out and it felt like we could be just about anywhere.  Some vineyard-dotted valley in the south of France.  Or, the stunning Willamette Valley in the Pacific Northwest. 

There were lots of beautiful hills on this ride, but they were all in the distance.  The pancake-flat valley featured the smallest, softest hair-curler-sized rollers you've ever seen.  So we killed boredom with intervals.

After a picturesque picnic lunch, there was enough time for a little trespassing to avoid some sludgy water.  Plenty of bees to dodge.  Scads of little white flowers that reminded me of recent snowy rides.  Face-fulls of bugs trying to hitch a ride.  Baby animals galore.

An unexpected moral often presents itself to me on these rides.  There's no way to anticipate it or strategize around it.  The story this time, for me, has to do with hardening (the ef!) up.  Which sometimes means softening down.  Accepting limitations. Doing whatever it takes to get to where you want to be, even if that means taking it easy.

The ride ended with a welcome welcoming reception, happy family faces, and foamy Domination Ale.  The feeling of summertime.  The euphoria of the first sunburn of the season.  And the almost instant amnesia of the effort expended to arrive here.