I finally had some time to take the bike out for a ride after a long and lovely weekend with friends and colleagues and ideas and some folks who I think just might be my people at the American Studies Association conference. My good friend S. was with me, so I was en voiture, reminding myself again why I travel by bike. Parking a car? As D. said, it’s like lugging a giant purse around with you all day. Anyway, after a long day of catching up on work, I took the bike in the direction of work to because I always pass the sign that points down the hill to the Inner Harbor, 4.7 miles. I could be there in two miles, but why not take a ten mile detour to get there instead? I rode up and around and through West Baltimore, took my right on Hollins, left on Payson, and right on Frederick, climbed the hill to Franklintown, and down to the Gwynns Falls Trail. I snapped this picture from the bridge. If you don’t walk or ride your bike, you might live in Baltimore and have no idea that you are traveling over this stream and these trees. I swear, the city is snaking over so much; you’ve just got to peek underneath. I rode down the Gwynns Falls Trail, stopped and read the signs Ed Orser wrote, and passed through so many neighborhoods and over so many bridges, past the stadiums, around the harbor, and back up the hill to home, so, so happy to be on my bike on a sunny day, wondering when the leaves will turn.