All my friends and family know I am geographically challenged. I get lost driving in a heartbeat. I lived in Detroit for over 40 years and to this day, I get lost on the East Side. LOL.
GPS was invented with me in mind. Let me tell you what happened to me this morning...
My daughter recently took a job that requires her to complete training in places that she cannot possibly get to on time if she took the bus. If she did, she would be standing at the bus stop at 3 or 4AM--and I'm not going to let that happen. Ok, so she recruited her WAHM to take her to work at ungodly hours. And coming back home is how I got turned around, err, lost.
Driving to St. Charles, Missouri is a mildly intimidating ride because you must cross the Missouri River -- not by boat, but in a car, on a bridge, of course! My fear is crossing the bridge. I get this weird sea sickness like feeling when I drive over any of these bridges down here. There have been times when I have driven over the bridge to Alton and felt absolutely nauseated. I become light-headed and my heart speeds up. As I write this, I realize I've described the symptoms of an anxiety attack. Wow, see what blogging does? It discovers things!
Ok, so I'm having this anxiety attack as I drive across the Missouri River at 4:30 in the morning. I don't let my daughter know what's going on with me, deciding to keep her engaged in conversation and that will take my mind off the bridge. Its pitch black dark out, no traffic (great!) and the ride there isn't as long as I anticipated. Going through a couple of turn-offs and onto a side street, we finally arrive at her job. Wishing her a good day, I drive off on my way back to my warm, sweet bed. I was too happy to be off the bridge to really pay attention to all the turns we made. At least, I believe I remember how to get back home.
There is one slight problem, I don't recognize any of these streets, man, how could I have missed my turn?
Not one to panic, I pull over to the parking lot of a funeral home, and enter my parameters into my navigation device (aka 'the Blackberry'). The device goes through 'locating' me first. Then, the sound of a very knowledgeable female voice instructs me how to get home.
Actually, I knew how to get home, I just didn't know how to get back to the freeway. If it had of been daylight, I'm sure I would have fared better. Anyway, a short trip became a little extended because I went left when I should have went right. St. Charles is a quaint little town. With 61,000 residents, it has deep historical roots.
In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson ordered William Clark and Meriwether Lewis to seek a route to the Pacific Ocean. President Jefferson had just completed the Louisiana Purchase from the French, and he was "eager to send them on their journey." Lewis and Clark departed up the Missouri River leaving from St. Charles. St. Charles, at that time was the entrance into the western territory of the Louisiana Purchase.
Another piece of American History also belongs to St. Charles, Missouri: Famous pioneer and explorer Daniel Boone made his home there. Before I wrote this post, I didn't know that. Because I was actually lost on the street named after Daniel Boone, Boon's Lick Trail. This stretch of land is also famous. The Santa Fe trail was born from it, and later the Oregon Trail. This was critical territory for the early pioneers. St. Charles was founded by French Canadian fur trader Louis Blanchette and is the oldest city on the Missouri River.
Not only did I find my way home, I learned something today. The more I read about and discover things in Missouri, the more I like it. Missouri is historically rich...from Jesse James (I visited his actual caves at the Meramec Caverns), the Lemp Mansion, the Busch Family, and so much more. Missouri is also the home of Brad Pitt. Maybe I'll take a weekend and map a drive to someplace interesting here. But, I've got to get over this thing with bridges.
Oh well, glad you decided to spend some time reading Teasas World, thanks a lot!
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