The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley...
It was a fine early March day, sunny and breezy, coming after a weekend on the weather-go-round (I'd been up at Confluence and Ohiopyle, 79 degrees at dinner time on Friday night, 40s and raining Sat. evening, rain on the way home Sunday, and some of the group rode through four inches of snow in Frostburg on Monday) -- interesting weather for late April.
The route was meant to surprise as well: up Barry's Hill and down Farmington, but instead of heading off to White Plains, the route went up Livingston and Old Fort to Fort Washington -- an unusual destination for a ride from Bryans Road. And there was a good group to be surprised, too: OHBike regulars Patricia Sanders, Darryl Lowery, Erica Kane, Mike Bivens, Linda Bankerd, Joan Oppel, Dana Middleton and Loretta Troen -- and Loretta had brought fellow Babes on Bikes members Margie, Terre and Cynthia.
But, for me, there was a different surprise. My shoes: not in the milk crate. Not even in the car. Flashing into my memory a picture of them back home, covered with the dust of the Great Allegheny Passage's crushed limestone, right where I'd put them planning to clean them off, forgotten.
So off they went, Mike leading, without me. How'd the ride go, Mike?
