Town

 It’s probably time for me to get a smartphone with GPS on it; as it is now, I tend to get lost on group rides into the woods fairly easily, especially in unknown parts under the influence of Farmer Ito Brand weed cookies.  This requires me to ask strangers how to get to places that mostly only bikes go to, which means they typically have no idea where I’m asking about.  The cashier at the gas station in Maple Valley was fairly helpful, though, although the second time I showed up asking about the same place made her kind of mad, in spite of it being sort of humorous if you think about it.

Thanks to old-fashioned address sharing, however, I managed to reunite with those I’d left with, as well as the slower-moving early-starters for the final push to Joevidtown, which turned out to be a remarkably pleasant riverside community populated with about three dozen familiar faces, including, at the time or eventually, the titular Shaddup Joe himself, Erin & Brian, Stephen & Rachel, Lauren, Langston, tehSchkott & Moira, Ross, Tictoc, Shahan, Tom, TooTall, Nurse, Rob, Wolfgang, Trino, Zach, Rez, Deja, Larry, Amanda, Aidan, Dan, Em & her pal whose name I forget, Jenelle, Fancy Fred, Gunny, Mark, Kaitlyn, Dada, Salt, and certainly a few others who are slipping my slippery mind as I write.

The weather was perfect; the route delightful, and the company superb.  I laughed a lot and went to sleep before 11:00 to the sound of the rushing river and cries of joy from assembled night owls.

On my solitary way home I realized I’d gotten off the trail Saturday just before the really nicest part of it, through the Maple Valley arboretum, so that piece was a special gift.

It seemed like the time on the Cedar River trail was a lot longer heading back; chalk that up to Farmer Ito and the diverting joy of riding to Joevidtown with so many friends.