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May 23, 2007
Taking a map along
Rand McNally, you are for me the Platonic Form of maps. I am most familiar with your style, your notations, the colors and symbols you choose. You are my Map King. (And who knew? Rand has his own website!)
The graduation dinner was at 6pm in Gainesville, GA, at the Chattahoochee Country Club. That's about a 3-hour drive for me from home, so I had to leave no later than 3...and if I wanted some cushion-time, I could have cushion-time. So I ended up leaving at about 2:20. I used the last 20 minutes to check online map sites, none of which were my friend Rand's site. (I seriously did not know Rand had expanded to the internet till 3 minutes ago when I typed 'Who knew?') I even checked CCC's Directions. I wrote them out on my little notepad.
But I did not have a map with me.
The first problem came when I was driving south. I failed to note that my first turn, onto Highway 41, was deceptive. Highway 41 parallels Interstate 75 for a while. I noticed a sign for Highway 41 at my very first exit, and got mildly concerned. I pulled over and made some calls and finally decided to take Highway 52 to Dahlonega, then 60 to Gainesville.
Crisis averted! I made it and everything was ok. Until I got in the car to leave and drive home. It was 10:30 till I got on the road, and I was tired. The radio told me that there was heavy rain predicted for the area, but not until early morning. With my amazing knowledge of local weather patterns (storms tend to travel from the west to the east), I surmised that I'd drive through the big storm at some point on my trek west and north.
I was right. It hit at about 11:30, right about when I was slated to turn onto Highway 76. (Brilliantly, I decided to take a different route to I-75. At night. In the rain. Without a map. When I'm tired. Brilliant, right?)
Nope. I got lost and, being so tired, my irrational imagination came to the fore, and while I was on the phone with the Dude, lost it. Crying, panic, the whole bit. Meanwhile, he's tired too, and I didn't realize it till I heard him saying, "Honey, my eyes are crossing and I can't tell what road you are on." Makes sense now, but in the mist at the time (literal and figurative), I lost it even more. (There's something about dark and rain and strange roads that make me go "Creepy!" to myself, assuming that ghosts or aliens or ghost aliense will come out of the trees and get me.)
Sigh. Fast-forward forty-five minutes (which are all filled with tension, tears, anger, frustration, and helplessness...I do not need to elaborate any more), when I've taken my 3rd detour (all guided by my tired, so-exhausted-my-eyes-are-crossing hubby), when I finally see a "TO INTERSTATE 75" sign.
Why oh why didn't I save myself some trouble and just bring my own darn map? Silly me. I'll bring a map for sure next time.
(In fact, when I got home at about 1:30 that night, The Dude had packed a lot of my overnight case for the next day. He had my Rand McNally right there, on the top of the pile.)
What just happened? | By The Newest Worker | 01:39 PM
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