Have Garmin, Will Travel

I get lost.  In fact, I suspect that I am a little cross wired or dyslexic.  If you say right, I will go left.  Doesn't seem like much of a handicap, but when you are driving and have no idea where you are and you happen to be wound a little tight (internal fluctuating constant state of anxiety) - it is panic time.  I'm not ready for the handicap parking signs but the Garmin GPS system was a real blessing.  Oddly, I suddenly was willing to travel more, explore more and accept invitations where I would have in the past politely come up with some reason why I couldn't come.  The real reason was I didn't think I could make it there and back home and that is on the local front.  I certainly would not have gotten in my car and driven two states to house sit for friends.  But last August with Garmin in hand I drove to Bellingham, WA and house sat for 3 weeks.  I explored everywhere.  However, there is one problem with being dependent on an external navigator and that is:  What do you do when it is late at night and the satellites have decided to all go to bed, or have decided that they don't have time for you?

I once again was in Washington, attending a wedding and exploring the area.  I have family and friends there and had spent the evening with friends that ended with a movie.  It was late, very late and I had a 20 mile drive back to where I was staying.  Great night, hugs all around, into the cars, wave goodbye as they pulled out of the parking lot and my GPS system would not come on line.  I waited, I started to drive in the direction that I thought was home, I wasn't sure, I turned around, I couldn't find the movie theatre parking lot.  10 minutes has gone by and I am starting to panic.  So I did the only thing I could think of at midnight and called Scott who had been with us at the movie theatre.   "I don't know how to get home and my Garmin won't acquire the satellites"  Now the great thing about Scott is that where I can't find my way out my closet (an expression that he has used in regards to my great directional ability), he has a savant ability to know exactly where he is in the world and each and every landmark along the way.  Still being awake, and having google earth up on his computer doesn't hurt either.  I described a Round Table Pizza I could see and he knew exactly where I was, directing me in great detail on how to get out of the parking lot up to and including what side the bushes would be on as I left and turned on to the road.  He then proceeded to direct me intersection by intersection to where I needed to be.  I envy that ability and I was certainly grateful for it that night.  I hated calling him, but I was one step away from total panic, my Garmin GPS might not have been working but the Scott GPS was for which I was truly grateful.