Big valley

The forecast was for rain today, but it never materialized, and since the weather was cooperating, and since I hadn't been out on my bicycle for nearly two weeks, I headed out around 1:30 to do the loop I call Tour de Trash, as it takes me past the Yolo Co. landfill.

When the air is washed clean like today, with a mild northwest wind, all the features in the landscape are vivid. Big, big skies, filled with big white clouds processing in their stately way across the flat, flat valley to join their compatriots up against the Sierra to the east, the downtown Sacramento skyline looking like a pop-up book on urban architecture. The slough just to the south of Rd. 28H (the dump road), was nice and full and running at a respectable clip toward the wetlands. I saw a great egret and a great blue heron, several red-tail hawks, lots of gulls, both on the ponds and wheeling above the landfill, looking like scraps of white paper caught in a whirlwind. The fields have greened up, thanks to the rain, and there's a fair bit of standing water at their edges.

It was a short ride as rides go, just 14.5 miles, but it was full of all the things that make cycling such a treat for the senses. And it is such a gift to be able to get on the bike and be out in the countryside within a matter of minutes. I love living in a town with edges.