Seemed like the whole county was out mowing last week

This afternoon I went on a short but invigorating ride, starting with the Mountain View Road hill climb out of town.  Then I turned left on Olson Road and kept going until it intersected with Vista Drive, about seven miles from First & Main in Ferndale.  Lots of pretty farm scenes and super-sized lawns out this way.

Many of the farm roads criss-crossing each other north of town have stretches of rolling hills.  The short but steep hills make for hard climbs and fast down-hills.  The roads are two-lane with no paved shoulder, but not too much car traffic.  It's easy to ride at traffic speed on the downhills, but a cyclist is likely to back up traffic on the uphills.  This time of year you'll have to watch out for farm trucks, and hay mowers and balers.

Just as I pulled up to the stop sign at the end of Olson Road, a passing farm truck dropped a half bale of hay squarely in the middle of the traffic lane on Vista Drive, and drove on without even slowing down.  This is a two-lane road with little shoulder, and fast and frequent car traffic.  Thinking the bale could be a serious hazard, I rolled it off to the side of the road.  It was surprisingly light, I was able to pull and roll it with one arm.

I often stop to move dangerous debris out of the road, hoping it will generate good karma that will protect me from road ragers, speeders, drunk drivers and people who can't keep off the phone while driving.