This not working stuff is great. Today I got on my bike and headed out to get lost. Unfortunately it took me a while. I have a pretty good sense of direction and Kofu is surrounded by mountains so all you have to do is look up, get the lay of the land, and you know pretty much where you are.
I went east on a major road, got near the next town and then turned south. The day was perfect for riding around and taking it easy. So I headed south on a road I'd never been on before thinking that if I kept going I'd soon achieve my goal of not knowing where I was. But just as things were starting to look unfamiliar I came upon a road I'd been on many times before. Damn.
So I turned west and passed by the clothing store I like (which appears to have shut down and moved) and then passed the electronics store I've been to a couple times. So at this point I decided the major roads were not going to serve my purpose and turned off onto some small side road.
I biked along for a while turning this way and that but generally heading west and south. The roads were small and the intersections blind so I took it slow and steady. But I figured I knew pretty much where I was even though I'd never been on these road before and was confidant that I was not lost. Then I found the Minobu train line and biked along it looking for a way to cross, finally found one, and crossed it. So I biked on.
Then a few minutes later I was going through a neighborhood on a road about the width of a car when I looked up and noticed a large Ogino sign. Ogino is a chain of grocery stores. They are all over the place around here. So thinking that I knew roughly where I was I figured this was one of the stores I knew of and figured that getting lost just wasn't going to happen this day. But as I passed the store I realized that this was not an Ogino I knew. "Hmmm," I thought, "Where the hell am I?" and then rejoiced at my lack of knowledge regarding my whereabouts. I had finally done it.
So I biked on thinking that now my mission was to figure out where I was. Looking at the mountains I knew which way I needed to head for home, but I wasn't sure just how far south and west and I had come. Turns out I was a bit further in that direction than I thought I was. I found a major road and headed north when I saw a sign indicating that the Kofu train station was about 2km ahead. This was the road I take to Sundai junior high and was way more than halfway there from my pad. "Damn," I told myself, "You actually did get lost. Well done!"
So I think the bike ride took me about two hours and now know where some restaurants are that Amy and I will have to check out. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera with me so I can't share the sights of today's Kofu with you, but rest assured that I will be doing this sort of thing again and next time I will remember to take it.