Fortunately Unfortunate

Just the other day my ​hubby planted a ​​seed​.​
He said to me very seriously​,​
Do you ​know ​what we ​​need?​
I told him we were out of milk
And I planned to go to the store today.
But he exclaimed forgot all that!
We need to go on a foray!
A foray? Like an adventure you mean?
Yes, exactly like that, he yelled.
Grab your bike, helmet, and tent,
I'll get maps, the GPS, the handheld.

I jumped into action, excited by his decision.
This was just perfect!
I imaged it all in a vision
Of a trip way up North.
We could ride and ride for hours,
explore new peaks and  mountains,
ride through valleys laden with flowers.
I already mused of quiet nights,
Thousands of stars far above,
While peacefully camping
With no work or jobs to think of.

Once everything was loaded in
We headed north for a few days.
If only we anticipated the rains would begin.
The skies turned black before we knew it.
Water droplets fell hard on the windshield.
The road became impossible to navigate.
In the distance, a hut was revealed
And we decided to shelter over there.
Onto a forest road we directed the truck
But with all that rain in the last hour,
It soon got stuck in the muck.

​We jumped out and grabbed our packs.
The food, the water, the bicycles too,
And biked quickly through the sloppy tracks.
The hut was meager but good enough.
We spent the night cold and huddled​,
Temperatures dropped and snow fell.
A little campfire stayed alive yet struggled
Until dawn broke and the sun rose high.
Warm coffee made us alert,
Oatmeal revived our empty bellies,
And we soon put thread to dirt.

We then discovered a singletrack trailhead
Quickly dropped our posts
Ready to go down and shred
Berms, rolls, jumps, and ladders
Whoops and laughter made us forget
The cold wet night just hours before
Although unplanned, we have to admit:
This was exactly what we needed.
Our luck may have been out of our hand,
But we returned with smiles on our faces.
​It's only an epic if nothing goes as planned!

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Photos/Text: © Sarah Devriese