General

Going With The Flow

As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, I am on a new adventure in the form of a road trip. This new adventure includes learning to “go with the flow” and to trust the process, so to speak.

I am extremely anxious about living on my phone (all internet/GPS/business).  I want a laptop or computer with an easy to see screen, a keyboard and a paper map or printed directions.

My travel buddy, who travels extensively, has learned to navigate life (and highways) with her phone.  Because she has more experience traveling I decided to trust her as my navigator on the road.  I did not google and print off directions before leaving home and although my road atlas stayed in the Jeep it stayed in the back, out of sight. She told me she was proud of me.

Well, trusting the GPS voice commands with only turn by turn directions at pretty much the last minute, and going with the flow – that trust lasted about two hours of a 4-5 hour trip our first day. 

My first concern came when we left the Federal and State Highways for county roads.  The more rural the roads we were directed to take the more anxious I became.  When we ended up on a narrow, poorly paved county road with dogs dangerously close to or on the road, I questioned the directions and pretty much exploded when I learned that after all these narrow country roads her GPS would be taking us through Atlanta on interstates after all!  That was my only request, that I not have to drive through Atlanta. 

After a few minutes of my nasty ranting to let a little tension escape, she wasn’t so proud of me!  I promptly fired her as my navigator.  She was reinstated to that position only after she rerouted us to avoid the city.

The first pit stop we made was a disaster!  The pumps would not take a credit card, the cashier could not turn on the pump for me to fill up because I could not give her a specific dollar amount and the bathrooms were out of order. 

The second stop provided us a chance to gas up but once again no working bathroom.  Our next attempt at taking a pit stop was at a fast food restaurant where we found a locked door and a sign stating drive through service only.  It took us hours to finally find an open bathroom. 

Did I mention that it rained off and on as we drove?

Did I mention that we had more than one “almost” accident?

Did I mention that this entire post covered only about 5 hours of day one of a 10-14 day adventure?

When all was said and done we arrived at our first destination safe and sound.

Yes, we were both still alive and sane.

After visiting with a dear friend the next morning we were off to our next destination.  We would be staying at new hotel, a brand that neither of us had any experience with.

The second day brought on new, very real concerns but some of those concerns were handled by a hotel manager before check in was completed. 

We both loved this “new” hotel with no carpet in the rooms and walk in showers. No coffee or microwave in the rooms was an inconvenience (those items were only available in the large lobby on the ground level) but no guest computer to use was more than an inconvenience for me.  How in the world was I going to write and post my blog using only my phone?

If this blog entry gets posted as my usual weekly blog,  then I have somehow managed to overcome that obstacle and you can look forward to more updates about this particular adventure!

Please feel free to comment below.