GPS

Some people have told me that I should get a GPS. That it would be a way for me NOT to get lost. I always get lost. Especially mountain biking. Almost all my adventures consist of me getting lost, then leading to other adventures. Last night was no exception.

It was supposed to be a quick ride (like an hour), because BikeHubby and I had someone coming over. So BikeHubby goes off on his trails and I decide to do a quick out-back on snowmobile trails (with a special single track thrown in that BikeHubby built especially for me). Off I go, no problem, find my way just fine and even hook up with BikeHubby on the special single track. We parted ways at the head of the single track so that I could just return the way I came and BikeHubby could take some other narly trails.

Did anyone ever notice that things look different when you encounter them from another direction? Well......I ended up going down the wrong snowmobile trail. They all look alike. So when I figured out that it was the wrong trail, I turned around, came back up it, and continued until I recognized something. Then I turned around and took another trail. One I hadn't taken before. So I thought. IT WAS THE SAME FREAKIN' TRAIL THAT I HAD TURNED AROUND ON. Blonde moment, I guess. Back up the hill, back to the place where I recognized something, turned around and took a different trail. Riding along and come around the corner to see some animal in the middle of the trail. Huh. A porcupine! You know, they are very cute, but you know you don't want to get too close and here this bugger was, standing in the middle of the trail, with no really easy way around him.

"Say, bud, could you please move off the trail?"
"UNK UNK UNK" Porky grunted.
"Look, I really need to get home and you are in the middle of the trail. I just want to get by. Could you move to the side a bit?"
"UNK UNK UNK"
"Ah, come on! Please?"
Porky held his head down and looked to his left, where apparently he thought that the terrain looked better than where he was. Unking all the way, Porky waddled over to the side of the trail, puffing himself up to make sure I understood that he meant business.
"Thank you." I told him, as I went past.

To my left, I saw a trail that looked a little familiar, so I took it. And ended up near a neighbor's house, with no way to get through the bushes to the neighbor's house, with the trail coming to a halt in the bushes. Back I went and took another fork. Ended up at a different end of the bushes at the neighbor's house, this time dead ending into a tree. Obviously I was on a deer run (not sure why it looked familiar), and deer don't really care about making their trails accessible by mountain bikers. Go figure.

I finally find another snowmobile trail, follow it for awhile and realize that I AM ON THE SAME STINKIN' SNOWMOBILE TRAIL THAT I HAD GONE DOWN TWICE BEFORE AND KNEW WASN'T THE RIGHT ONE. Well, to heck with it. I figured that eventually, it had to come out somewhere, so I continued down the path, around some fallen trees and finally came out near a pasture of which I knew the location. From there it was an easy path home.

Upon my arrival, BikeHubby was riding around in circles in the driveway. He saw me, jumped off his bike and yelled Thank Goodness You Are OK!!! Huh? I arrived at home no more than 20 minutes after he did, it wasn't even NEAR getting dark, and he knew that I always get lost at least once. I told him that if this is all it takes to worry and work him up, then we need a divorce, cuz he is going to die of a heart attack very, very soon.

Ah, biking. Never a dull moment.

Pedal, pedal, pedal!!