In high school, one time I took a girlfriend to our nearby library via the interstate. Only I enjoyed our conversation so much that I missed our exit by just an hour. In college, I had no car, so I took the bus one time. I needed to go to an orthodontic appointment on Center St. where I attended college. When I got to the Center St. exit, I was so proud of myself for navigating the bus system. I got off the bus and recognized nothing. There was no one around. So, I flagged down a bus and told the bus driver my plight. He said “You’re in the wrong city! You’re at Center St in Orem instead of Center St in Provo.” Oops! I missed my appointment and felt a wee bit foolish giving the reason why… “I was in the wrong city.”
This weekend, I needed to pick up a girlfriend in Central, Utah, two hours away. I looked up the directions to Mount Pleasant in MapQuest and printed them. I left feeling mostly confident. All I needed to do was follow the directions. I blared my Christian Rock music and enjoyed the drive. My exit was 258. All of a sudden, I noticed that I was at a passing a lower exit number than 258. Did the numbers go up or down going Southbound? I passed another exit just to make sure and the numbers were indeed going down. I had missed my exit! So, I got off at the next exit and headed Northbound. I figured that a nearby Northbound exit would go the same direction. Exit 259 It wasn’t exactly the same, but it had the same Hwy 6 in it. So, I exited the freeway but then came to a startling realization. I had no idea which direction Mount Pleasant, Utah was. I didn’t know whether to go East or West. So, I hopped back going Southbound for quite a way and then turned around and went Northbound again.
This time my goal was to overshoot the Southbound exit and get off at my original exit. I thought I had timed it just right but my first exit was 257 instead of 258. So I drove a long ways and turned around again. This time I would definitely go past my exit and turnaround and make it. Did I mention that this was a corridor of construction? The signs were small, the exits difficult to navigate. I pealed my eyes for exit 258 but it wasn’t there. I passed higher numbers but no 258. After all that, and exit 258 had been lost to construction!! I quickly looked at exit 257 A and B and it mentioned Highway 6. I made an executive decision and decided to take the exit. I took the branch toward Hwy 6. Hwy 6 only seemed to go in one direction so I took it until I could get off and double-check my directions. I stopped at a Burger King and asked the cashier if I was on Hwy 6 toward Price and Ephraim (and Mount Pleasant). He confirmed. I also called my husband and he told me that Mount Pleasant was East.
My diversion put me 40 minutes off schedule. I felt a little silly again telling my friend why I was running late. “I was having too much fun doing loop de loops on the freeway.” For the rest of trip, I reset the odometer and paid strict attention to how many miles I should go before an exit. Maybe I’ll never get lost again. Maybe I’ll never get distracted and miss my exit again. That’s a good one! Sometimes, life is like that. We might have detours and distractions on our way to our destination…but it sure makes for a good story.
My diversion put me 40 minutes off schedule. I felt a little silly again telling my friend why I was running late. “I was having too much fun doing loop de loops on the freeway.” For the rest of trip, I reset the odometer and paid strict attention to how many miles I should go before an exit. Maybe I’ll never get lost again. Maybe I’ll never get distracted and miss my exit again. That’s a good one! Sometimes, life is like that. We might have detours and distractions on our way to our destination…but it sure makes for a good story.
