Friday Follies ~~ Lost

“I don’t reckon I’ve ever been lost.  I been bewildered a time or two.”  …Daniel Boone.

I’ve always had a good sense of direction and a good visual memory.  I may never have known exactly where I was, but I’ve always been able to get back.  I’ve always known that home was over that way.  I was somewhere around age 10, when I realized that other people actually could get lost.

But roads don’t always cooperate.  Roads have a way of being stubborn.  They insist that you go where they are going, not where that innate direction tells you want to go.

  Add in rivers, mountains, and other terrain features such as fences or deep ravines and finding one’s way home can be a challenge.

I’ve moved about a good deal, in a long and busy life.  When I’ve shifted to a new town, I’ve always enjoyed exploring, on foot, by car, and by bike.  The basic pattern is one I worked out many years ago.  As soon as possible, right after unloading all the goods into the new apartment/house, take off with no particular destination, wander around aimlessly, and see what there is to be seen.  Usually, these treks leave me not knowing quite where I am for a good bit of the way.  But the idea is always to get back home, preferably without asking directions.

I am not one of those guys who never stop to ask directions, but I prefer to do that when I am trying to find something specific.  I’ve learned to notice firehouses; they have to know where things are!  Mail carriers are good too.  Way back, when “gas station” meant more than gas pumps, and there was always a mechanic shop attached, I found those to be good sources.  In this day and age, I’ve learned to avoid asking directions at convenience stores.

There’s something very satisfying about getting good and lost, and then finding one’s way back home.  I’ve discovered some of the most interesting things along these rambles.  Parks that no one seems to know about, interesting houses, useful alternate routes, fascinating food establishments, to name just a few.

I’ve lived where I do now for longer than I’ve been anywhere else in my life, over 25 years now.  It’s almost impossible for me to get lost in this area.  I have to go farther and farther away to accomplish the trick now.  Anyone interested in doing some wandering over toward Alabama?

NOTE:  Remember, the first of our Novice Mountain Bike Rides will be a week from this coming Sunday, That's 30 January, and the Baseball Soccer Complex.  2:00 PM.