Friday, August 11, 2006
Beach Trip Adventure
I'm sitting here, typing this on my mighty Zaurus. I'm too lazy to go upstairs to my desktop, and have the Zaurus handy. I recently started blogging (again) and have been simply dying to put pen to paper and regale you with a recent adventure.
A few weeks ago, my girlfriend Bobbi and I spent a week with her family at Ocean Isle Beach, NC. It's something her mom and stepdad make possible for the whole family: sons. daughters, grandchildren and everyone's significant other (that's how I get to go). Next year, there will be a greatgrandchild. We all get to spend a week together in a beach house. In addition, my own family lives about 30 miles away. I get to spend time with both families, and when I'm tired of one, I can go see the other.
Although this is my fourth year making the trip, I'm never quite sure of the best route. I have no problem finding my way there; I just don't know the most efficient route. Even though Bobbi pretty well knows the way (until she gets to Whiteville, anyway), I decided to consult Mapquest and see what they said.
There were two options: quickest route and shortest route. I already knew their quickest route, so I chose the shortest and got a printout. Even though it was the shortest route, it was listed as a 6.5 hour trip (the quickest is longer, but nearly 2 hours faster). When it came time to leave, Bobbi and I both decided that we were in no particular hurry and decided to take the scenic short route, even though it took the longest time.
We started out on the main highways. but it didn't take long for Mapquest to take us off the beaten path. As far as I can tell, when finding the shortest route, Mapquest basically draws a straight line between the two points (start and finish). It then lists every highway, byway, street, road, trail, lane and path that the straight line intersects. It didn't take long for us to get mostly lost. Most of the time we were out in the country, and at one point we were on a gravel road for a mile or so. Eventually, at an intersection, Mapquest instructed us to turn right, go .5 miles, and turn left. There was no street name or state road number listed; just go .5 miles and turn left.
At the .5 mile mark, we found a couple of narrow gravel driveways marked "Private Property". Nothing more. We kept going (eventually going nearly 4 miles), but never found any left turns. Only right turns. We went back to our start point and tried again, going .5 miles and looking for a left turn. Still nothing. We went back once again and found a mail carrier (I grew up in the country, and we always called them "mailmen" but this one was a female and "mailwoman" sounds like I'm describing a hermaphrodite, so I'll go with the politically correct term, this time). We asked her if she knew of anything that sounded familiar, but she just looked confused. None of the roads sounded familiar to her (how the hell could she deliver mail and not recognize any of the road names?!). We eventually thanked her for what little assistance she had provided and went about our business of getting un-lost.
By this time, Bobbi and I had decided that the scenic route was a waste of time. We had already wasted two hours on what should have been a 45 minute drive. We took off in what we thought might be the right direction. Every road we got on eventually ended at a stop sign, where we would have to decide on a direction. After 15 or 20 minutes of this, and still not knowing where the hell we were, I was ready to find some place where I could ask directions (we hadn't seen anything even resembling a convenience store, let alone your basic country store, in nearly an hour).
We soon came upon a store at a crossroad, and I pulled into the parking lot. On the way in, however, I noticed a signpost on the road, and turned around to see what it said. Asheboro - 6 miles! Exactly what we needed. And best of all, I hadn't actually had to stop and ask for directions. Six miles later, and we were finally on our way to the beach.
A few weeks ago, my girlfriend Bobbi and I spent a week with her family at Ocean Isle Beach, NC. It's something her mom and stepdad make possible for the whole family: sons. daughters, grandchildren and everyone's significant other (that's how I get to go). Next year, there will be a greatgrandchild. We all get to spend a week together in a beach house. In addition, my own family lives about 30 miles away. I get to spend time with both families, and when I'm tired of one, I can go see the other.
Although this is my fourth year making the trip, I'm never quite sure of the best route. I have no problem finding my way there; I just don't know the most efficient route. Even though Bobbi pretty well knows the way (until she gets to Whiteville, anyway), I decided to consult Mapquest and see what they said.
There were two options: quickest route and shortest route. I already knew their quickest route, so I chose the shortest and got a printout. Even though it was the shortest route, it was listed as a 6.5 hour trip (the quickest is longer, but nearly 2 hours faster). When it came time to leave, Bobbi and I both decided that we were in no particular hurry and decided to take the scenic short route, even though it took the longest time.
We started out on the main highways. but it didn't take long for Mapquest to take us off the beaten path. As far as I can tell, when finding the shortest route, Mapquest basically draws a straight line between the two points (start and finish). It then lists every highway, byway, street, road, trail, lane and path that the straight line intersects. It didn't take long for us to get mostly lost. Most of the time we were out in the country, and at one point we were on a gravel road for a mile or so. Eventually, at an intersection, Mapquest instructed us to turn right, go .5 miles, and turn left. There was no street name or state road number listed; just go .5 miles and turn left.
At the .5 mile mark, we found a couple of narrow gravel driveways marked "Private Property". Nothing more. We kept going (eventually going nearly 4 miles), but never found any left turns. Only right turns. We went back to our start point and tried again, going .5 miles and looking for a left turn. Still nothing. We went back once again and found a mail carrier (I grew up in the country, and we always called them "mailmen" but this one was a female and "mailwoman" sounds like I'm describing a hermaphrodite, so I'll go with the politically correct term, this time). We asked her if she knew of anything that sounded familiar, but she just looked confused. None of the roads sounded familiar to her (how the hell could she deliver mail and not recognize any of the road names?!). We eventually thanked her for what little assistance she had provided and went about our business of getting un-lost.
By this time, Bobbi and I had decided that the scenic route was a waste of time. We had already wasted two hours on what should have been a 45 minute drive. We took off in what we thought might be the right direction. Every road we got on eventually ended at a stop sign, where we would have to decide on a direction. After 15 or 20 minutes of this, and still not knowing where the hell we were, I was ready to find some place where I could ask directions (we hadn't seen anything even resembling a convenience store, let alone your basic country store, in nearly an hour).
We soon came upon a store at a crossroad, and I pulled into the parking lot. On the way in, however, I noticed a signpost on the road, and turned around to see what it said. Asheboro - 6 miles! Exactly what we needed. And best of all, I hadn't actually had to stop and ask for directions. Six miles later, and we were finally on our way to the beach.
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