On my first solo bike tour, I could have been worried about a million things. For example, my inability to read a map. Or my tendency toward loneliness, which, if not cured quickly (by finding a sympathetic soul to jabber with), could lead to rather colorful anxiety attacks. But who could fret on such a sparkling spring day? As I sailed out of Turku, Finland’s oldest town, on a fantastically wide bike path, my red panniers bulged with dark Finnish bread, Havarti cheese, and chocolate. I pointed my bike toward the Turku Archipelago, a cluster of 20,000-some islands off Finland’s southwest coast. There I’d explore via bridges and ferries, soaking in the Baltic seascapes and staying at family-run guesthouses. How hard could it be? For the next two days, I explored tranquil back roads where the shimmering Baltic Sea winked at me from between the trees. Toured dozens of tiny islands on a bouncing mail boat. Ate the best smoked salmon and deviled eggs of my life. Startled a moose and a herd of white-tailed deer as I rolled by them in a dusky pink sunset. I also got yelled at by apoplectic Finns (or were they Swedes?) for accidentally continue...