Faith in Google

 Years ago when visiting my mom and sis in the Seattle area and catching a ride to Olympia to join a group for a winter walk on the side of Rainier, and whatever else I can add to this sentence to make it even longer and more convoluted, I concocted the phrase "faith in Google" in response to the route suggested by our then benevolent overlords, which may have equaled this sentence for both length and convolution.  Yes, The Google has reincorporated to Alphabet and dropped their quaint "Don't be evil" motto, but it can still helpfully point us toward what we never knew we wanted, and sometimes, that doesn't even cost us a cent at one of their advertisers.

I rode to Petco yesterday.  More importantly, I rode BEHIND the Petco in East Longmeadow.  While I have spent more than my fair share of time at the rear of strip malls, the back end of this one would not have enticed me if it hadn't been for the green dotted line showing on Google's "bicycle" map view.  My friend Steve (who makes me look like a lightweight when it comes to logging bicycle mileage) and I have discussed the merits of finding a nifty cut-through by the chance of random wandering versus guidance by map.  In addition to the heightened sense of accomplishment from DIY route finding, there is also the joy of discovery in the moment, realizing you won't in fact have to turn around and retrace your tracks back out.

That said, I'm fairly confident I would not have found the trail behind Petco on my own, so I feel less conflicted by repeatedly offering free mention to one of Google's payees.  I did mention Petco, right?  But back to the trail out back, even riding past the entry, it didn't look like a trailhead, and it was only that I was seeking one that I turned around for a second look at the obscured break in the trees at the edge of the mowing, and there it was, the unimproved path, possibly an old rail line, connecting to the north end of the short paved path that I never used because it didn't have any, well, connectors!  Or, that's what I thought.

Yum! New trail!

And yum, yes, I ate that day lily. 

So thank you Google.  You made my ride down to Enfield that chunk more enjoyable, not just for a lovely route addition, but for the pleasure of learning something new, even if in this case I wasn't self-taught.  Maybe next time, I'll leave early enough that on my return trip through Chicopee, I'll have time to use the slow shortcuts along the railroad tracks and then the river that I found my-own-damn-self!