it calculated an 800 mile route. Must have been only using Interstate highways. I then set it to Shortest Distance. Well somewhere in Arkansas I got off 71 where it turned east to bypass a mountain. I bought a snack and starting the car again, the GPS told me to go through town southward. Before long I was on a road without stripes and the pavement was pretty rough. Common sense said "Stop!" and so I did and took time to zoom way out on the GPS map. I could see that some miles ahead the road I was on ran into 71 as it returned from the mountain bypass. I proceeded driving and before long I was driving over that mountain on a red dirt road! Well if you know me you know I love to take scenic detours. I did finally get to the highway and it remains a mystery as to weather the "shortest distance" route was equal to the "shortest time" had I followed 71 around the mountain. 
+ The worst part of the drive was the half hour I spent on pins and needles when I realized upon descending the mountain that I had but a 16th of a tank left. It was Sunday, after 5 pm in rural Arkansas. I turned off the blue-grass music I'd played all day as I imagined spending the night on the shoulder with some hillbillies like the Greiner Brothers watching me from not far enough away. (Movie reference there... Can you name it??) Alas I did find an open station. Amazing how all my fears went away when the tank was full again!
2 comments:
I was thinking "Deliverance" as soon as you mentioned your dwindling gas supply! Glad you made it!
Exciting!
BTW: My really good friends, the Sperry's, live in Bentonville. I've been down to see them once... it's beautiful in the Summer when all the trees are green. Ben was telling us all about the cats on Sunday. Sounds like a good time.
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