Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Deja Vu in the 'Boro

Today I went to Statesboro, Georgia in Bulloch County for an 11:00 meeting. Bulloch County has a great Agricultural Center that includes the county extension office and nice meeting rooms. We use the facility often for various functions in the southeast corner of the state.

Devoted fans will recall a previous trip to the same location a while back. I fought with the GPS Navigation app I had on my phone the entire trip. In return the GPS dumped me in a pasture in the middle of nowhere rather than my desired destination.

Since Christmas I've been using a Garmin for road trips. The selected route is sometimes odd. Today I got routed over a gravel road for about three miles. I've learned to trust these little detours since they trim a minute or two off the total travel time. Doesn't sound like much but when you're driving 350 miles round trip, knocking a few minutes off here and there can add up.

I LOVE having my estimated arrival time displayed and constantly updated. As with the detours, experience has taught me to trust these estimates. Knowing I was going to arrive at my destination thirty minutes early made it easier to enjoy the drive today.

When the Garmin is on I really don't pay much attention to where I am or where I'm going. The little lady will get me there. My mind wanders...

At 10:28 I started looking around for the Bulloch County Extension office. The little lady in the Garmin told me my destination was immediately on my right. Where the office should have been (according to the GPS) a small herd of Black Angus cattle grazed. It was the same damn pasture I'd visited before.

I back-tracked about a mile to a gas station for directions. About a half mile past the Angus herd was the road to the office. After making the turn, I had to go another three miles to get to the office.

Fortunately, I arrived in plenty of time for my 11:00 meeting. The Garmin worked fine for the trip home, but took me on a completely different route than the trip down. I guess the selected route depends on the little lady's mood or something.

Even with the glitches, I made it down and back in record time. Normally, missed turns and unplanned detours add an hour or more to my travel time. Getting home on time is the perfect antidote for...

The Crotchety Old Man

1 comment:

Cheryl said...

I wish I had a copy of the email my husband sent to his brother who gifted us with "Carmen" (Garmin). It was so funny, traveling thru pastures by a bee hive and finally ending up in the lake in front of our home with "Carmen's" last words being "Oh Shit". LOL

 
Follow CrotchetyMan on Twitter