Ahhhhhhh...Lost!

jungleredwriters.com

Well, my one fear came true.  OK, that's a lie, I have a long list, but one of my fears, getting lost, really happened.

Yesterday, while driving home from the west coast, after a lovely visit with my children, I found myself inexplicably adrift, witless along a stretch of road with nothing but sugar cane fields and rock quarries.  A person could disappear here, never to be seen again.

My GPS was humming when mid way though the state it froze and I zigged when I should have zagged.

My gut told me that something was askew...I should have listened.  By the time husband called to check in I was so far off course I panicked.  "Do you see any signs?"  he asked.  "There is nothing, I don't even know what the speed limit is."

I was alone, except for three police cars I passed miles back that were investigating a car on the side of the road.  "Dead body," I thought to myself.

I had no food, totally against the cardinal rule of travel, which I learned from a friend, WF,  who was once trapped on a snowed covered highway.  "I only have a half tank of gas," I bemoaned to husband who sensed my fear and said, "Stay with me on the phone."  Like I'm going to hang up when my life is in the balance.

After a hair raising experience of driving into no man's land without food or water, husband got me through with the help of MapQuest on the computer and his calm demeanor.

I felt totally frustrated at myself for making such a rookie move, not trusting myself enough to follow the signs.  There is a moral to this story. Technology is all well and good, that is, until it fails and then there is nothing like good old common sense to get us through.  That and a bag of chips and a cold drink.