I like to have a plan. I like to have a route. That's not Google-dependence, that's me. Before the Internet, if anyone still remembers that far back, my Dad taught me to find where I was on the map, find where I wanted to end up, draw a line, and look for roads that kept you close to that line. I modified that method to favor certain colors and/or widths of roads and to avoid others, because if there's a big, fat line that leads right to your destination, probably every other vehicle is on the same road, which can be crowded riding, and if the line barely shows up, likely no one bothered to pave it, and that could be rough riding. It was the pre-Google version of the bike route function.

Now I let Google do that part. Sure, you can just pick a direction and go. I'm always trying to get somewhere. I can handle detours and circuitous routes, but I need a destination, or I'm just not motivated to move forward. That's me. But that doesn't mean there's no "winging it". Google, or a line on a map, or a point on the compass, is just a starting point. Last year I spent a few days biking to the coast. I used Google to plan my route, printed out cue sheets, and used them extensively. I'm glad I did. But Google sent me down a road that wasn't a road. Private property, and, even if I were inclined to trespass, no indication that I could do it unnoticed or that it went where Google thought it did. Then we're back to winging it, or at least planning on the fly. I still had somewhere to be, I just needed a new way to get there. Winging it took longer than Plan A, so I camped sooner. The next day it happened again. Miles added on, plans changed. That's traveling. In that case, I had a time-line. Too many diversions or too much backtracking left me playing catch up. But ideally even a planned trip has a lot of wiggle room.

Last month's trip took me through my childhood home town. Even the mighty Google doesn't know those roads like I do. Neither Google nor I knew about the bridge being out though. Stopped at the last house before the bridge where someone was doing their landscaping. "Is that bridge 'out' or 'closed'?" 90% of detours are for cars, and a bike can skirt around the edges, but a bridge that isn't there generally falls into that 10%. "That bridge is gone." I'm told. "I guess it's the long way around then." "Well... there is a path, along my fields, along my neighbor's fields, and on to the road you want. You might have to walk. You probably won't get shot." Neither I nor Google would have come up with that route, either. I didn't get shot. I did get some prickers in my legs, but none in my tubes, and that's what matters.

I like to know where I'm going to sleep. I like to have an idea of how to get there. But even then winging it is part of the game. The only wrong way that I know is to not enjoy the ride.