INSTALLMENT #1 TRAVELOGUE OF 2 SISTERS ROAD TRIP

Have you ever made so many U-turns you’re not sure if you are headed back to the beginning or on a completely different route?

That recently happened to me on a road trip.  Best laid plans and all that! Had maps marked, turn-by-turn directions, GPS, and many other devices that should have made the traveling a little easier.  But, you know, when you pass up that exit and you’re in the wrong lane, things fall apart right then.

And it doesn’t even have to be on a multi-lane interstate.  It can be a highway junction in a small town that throws you off.  Seems more and more junctions are being laid out to give an “easier” way around the town.  Large or small, roads can get you mis-routed in an instant.

So after you try a couple of new perspectives on it and you’ve still not found your connection, you do the unthinkable: ASK FOR DIRECTIONS FROM A LOCAL. That doesn’t often turn out well even from the first statement when they begin:

You know where the old post office was?  Well, you go down four or five or maybe six blocks and you turn by the old gas station.  ‘course it’s closed down now and they’ve bulldozed it all down and widened the street there.  I think it’s a flea market now or something.”

If I knew things like that and if I was from ‘round these parts’ I probably wouldn’t be asking for directions.  Just then another voice chimes in:

“You know where old man Smith’s place is?  It’s past that a bit…can’t miss it”

Oh, my, hasn’t that been helpful?  You smile and return to the car and try to readjust your antennae…and, with a renewed spirit you start toward the old post office.

But I’ve learned in traveling (as in life) if you have to turn around and try again, something different will happen.  It won’t be the same journey [even if you do see old man Smith’s place]…and you may still be lost.  Why didn’t you ask them to draw you a map?  But then why would their map be any better than all the ones you got from the travel agent, the state or the one you pulled up on your smart phone?

Oh, gosh, do you think that place we just passed was old man Smith’s!!  I know the guy said ‘can’t miss it’ but I think we just did.

On one dreary afternoon when my sister and I realized we weren’t anywhere close to being able to tackle the up-coming city (because of an “alternate” road we’d taken in our approach), we made a major decision.  We just threw all caution to the wind, tossed the state & city map into the back seat and braved the city one street at a time.

My comment was:  You know our parents and grandparents traveled across this great United States in the 30s,40s & 50s with no map.  Surely we can do it.

And we did.  We found more things in that city than they’ve ever put on a tourist guide.  We found beautiful scenery, expensive homes in a well-to-do suburb (even a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house).  We located and identified six various kinds of art deco architecture within a 4-block area of downtown.  We tasted that city’s grit to grime believing our new route through the run-down section would connect to another road.  It did…just not the right road.  When we photographed our last shot in the dying sunset, we found the right highway connect.  At that moment we felt we had enjoyed that city more than any that could be on our trip.

If you missed the turns in your life, you’ve got some options:

• You can make a u-turn and head back looking at it from the other side
• You can analyze that if you “square it off” you’ll get right back where you were before (but remember…you were lost then, too)
• You can take the new directions from the locals and get a chance to see that old post office
• You can throw up your hands, toss the map out the window and wing it from there and see something else that wasn’t even on your list.

You can do any of these things…and none are really wrong decisions.

But, failing to try again can be the most unpleasant of all.  You’ll never get on the right road if you don’t turn around; you’ll never get to see the old post office and you’ll miss the entire journey.

Be brave! U-turn now…go back and see where you missed that turn…go back and try it again!  Remember the last time you missed a turn and you just kept going? Yes, you do remember how that turned out, don’t you?  Make some decision…because indecision is the same as standing still.

You’ll never know what you’ll discover on “alternate” roads.  Here’s a few things I would have missed if I’d followed the exact directions.

Solitary road found during a U-turn in TX

Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in Tulsa

Gates swinging open at Graceland

Monument to school desegregation in Little Rock

Rock of Ages Farm Barn Route 66 OK

Smallest portion of Route 66 (13 miles) in KS

Town of Santa Claus IN – decorated 365 days a year and lights turned on each night

 Wildflowers in TX

Quiet road found during U-turn in TN

Metal from World Trade Center sculpture (ORNL)

Oak Ridge TN

Coal-mining country in WV

Cumberland River in downtown Nashville

Directions are easier to see once you turn around!

I can’t guarantee you’ll find exactly what you are looking for with a U-turn or change in direction.  I can guarantee that it’s different–and isn’t that what we are hoping when we’ve realized we made the wrong turn?

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I looked into the sun, squinting to make out the road sign;

As I U-turned to look from the other side, it was clear.

Not clear that I ‘d found what I needed but clear I was lost.

Sometimes, discovering you are lost is as good as knowing where you are.

Make the journey; start the adventure; map it out;

But when best laid plans come up short, make a new plan.

Never too late to start a new journey on an old road.