"Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch."
-- Orson Welles
On Day 2 of BayCycle 2009 I was delighted when MBW* offered to go for a ride with me around the San Leandro Marina before striking out on her own. We did a loop around what turned out to be a dead end, then headed towards the road along the golf course and the marina. I thought of a park with winding trails that I'd seen on the map in the opposite direction and asked, "Which would you rather do: ride along a manicured golf course or go explore the trails in the park?"
So we turned and rode up to Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline. We took the paved bike path up to a sculpture on a bluff overlooking the bay and the Oakland Airport. Then we rode around the perimeter, and back through the park on winding gravel trails.
Finding our way back took longer than expected. By the time we had the hotel in our sights again, MBW was starting to stress about her delayed start. She also realized she was hungry, and that wasn't helping.
If you're open to it, what you need often just appears in front of you. Sometimes you don't recognize it. We were riding right past an El Torito, a chain restaurant, right by the water. I hadn't even noticed it when we'd ridden past in the other direction. "Let's go in here and have some lunch," I said. She looked dubious. "It's right here." "No," she said, "that will take too long. I need to get going." I bit my tongue, not wanting to argue. Then she took a second look and saw the Lunch Buffet banner over the door. What could be easier or faster?
The food was decent. The corn tortillas were freshly made. We were in and out of there in short order. It wasn't what we'd planned or what we'd have looked for, but at that time and that place it was a total gift.
*MBW = My Beautiful Wife (here's her post on Day 2)
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