I called them back after figuring out their route with the help of Google Maps, only to find out that they had just left a gas station. "Did you pick up a map?" I asked. "Oh! No, that would have been a good idea." It's so funny how the younger generation does not think much about paper maps. They're not really very familiar with them. I understand, although I have not witnessed this myself, that there are some who do not know how to read maps. Very curious. Not very long ago paper maps were the only navigation tools we had! I remember my dad having them folded just so in order to glance at them while driving us on a family vacation. And they must be refolded in exactly the same way. That was important. You didn't mess with the folds. They needed to be refolded along the same lines....which did make sense because then they would lie very flatly and neatly.
It's been raining here most of the day. It was raining in Oklahoma as my two drove through. In fact, it was such a severe thunderstorm that they got off the highway thinking to pull into a parking lot and wait for the worst of it to blow over. But off that exit there were no parking lots, no driveways, no nothing. Now if I had not driven along that route before myself I would think they were exaggerating. But I had had the exact same experience, also in a bad thunderstorm. I got off the highway to find absolutely nothing. NOTHING! Just a divided road with very little shoulder. No place to stop. It really makes you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.
Don't get me wrong, though. When not in a thunderstorm I found Oklahoma to be a most beautiful state. My friend Patti and I agreed that we had never seen the sky look so big. Gorgeous, enormous blue sky.
Tomorrow night Jim and Mary will arrive home. I will be much relieved. May their guardian angels protect them.
1 comment:
I hope the rest of their drive is uneventful.
I don't look at them often, but I do have several maps stored in the car. I usually have one of the state in which we live, and I have a very extensive map of the DC area. Don't get there much nowadays, but the side pocket of the van is large and I don't need to store other things there. Still, though, Google maps and other driving aids make life so much easier. But I guess basic map reading skills are good to have too!
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