I woke up early Saturday, choked down some carbs, smeared on the sunscreen, and headed out to fetch R. for a ride down to the light rail station out to Linthicum where we rode our bikes for miles and miles along a trail with no cars–just a whole lot of folks on bikes, feet, and skates. It was hot but not too humid, and we barely noticed the wind. I was a gooey, sweaty mess right away, and so was she, and it was all more than worth it as we rode behind malls, past courthouses and restaurants and ice cream places, followed the solar system to scale, waved our hellos to the people and the greenery, but boy howdy, did I wish we’d had more water. We stopped at the ranger station with the rest of folks, and I snapped this picture. I remember a couple of springs ago, being out here all alone, no leaves on the trees yet, just a single sad little bird. It was just as pretty then as it was on this summer Saturday. This, this is the kind of place I want my share of the social wage going to support. And then we were back on our bikes, a quick lunch in Severna Park before heading home. We rode without stopping, pedal, pedal, pedal, and boy howdy, did we wish we’d had more trees. Out of water and shade–yep, learned that lesson again on the ride back to the city, a decent long ride in the books, many more to come. Cold water never tasted so good, a cold shower never felt so good. I’m pretty much the luckiest person in the world right about now.