Mama Says: Welcome to Technology

Welcome to Technology!

Many years ago, when Aleta was young, she participated in Bible Drills. She, along with several others from our church, were going to Apopka to compete. Since one of the mothers had been there before, I asked her for directions. So early Friday evening, we headed for Apopka. I really don't remember consulting a map, because we had directions. Jackie, being a typical male, did not like missing exits or having to turn around to go back to a road if we missed a turnoff. Following our directions, we did pretty well. Just realize this was before cell phones, etc. We finally saw a sign that said "Apopka 17 miles." Following our directions, we got the interstate and headed East. Jackie kept saying "that sign said 'Apopka 17 miles.' We must have gone 50 by now." Much later, we got on another interstate and headed South. Over two hours later, we made it to Apopka, after criss-crossing the state. The directions got us there, to the correct motel, but apparently we took the "not so scenic" route. Jackie always joked that he wouldn't ask her for directions again.

Fast-forward twenty years…The girls and I like to travel and knowing our propensity for getting lost, a friend hooked me up with a GPS at Christmastime a few years back. Boy, did our world change. We could just plug in our destination and no more figuring out maps, taking wrong turns, etc. We could teen type in "restaurants" and up would pop all eating establishments in the area. Ain't technology wonderful? There was just one problem. Our GPS likes to play tricks on us. 

When the girls and I visited Churchill Downs, and Peggy decided to mess with us on the interstate leaving Louisville.

Remember the friend who gave me directions to Apopka? We honored her by naming our GPS after her. Our GPS is named Peggy (my friend Peggy knows that we have named our GPS after her). Peggy will tell us to take an exit and then as you are going down the exit ramp, it will tell us to do a U-turn on the ramp. Once, as we were leaving Louisville, Kentucky, it told us to take Exit 14. So we did, even though I thought we would stay on that road for a while. We took Exit 14, and going down the ramp, it told us to turn around. We went to the end of the ramp, and found the ramp to get back on the road and on our jolly way we went. Then, as we approached Exit 12, it told us to turn. I told the girls"I thought we were supposed to stay on this road," but I exited like Peggy told me. Halfway down the ramp, Peggy tells me to do a U-turn and get back on the road. At the end o the ramp, we found the entrance ramp and got back on. All I can say is that Peggy has a mind of her own and there were a lot of breweries in the area.

Another time, Peggy had us turn off and we rode through a subdivision for about 15-20 minutes before she took us back to the same road we were originally on. I must say that Peggy generally always gets us to our destination. We just always make a few side trips and scenic tours on our route. 

The night we visited Hank Williams grave, and got hopelessly lost looking for a restaurant in Montgomery.

My daughters used to always say that in any given town, I old always find "rape row." Guess what? Peggy can find those same places. I would say that using Peggy has allowed us to fill safer traveling at night. But one night, while searching for a restaurant that we thought sounded interesting, in Montgomery, Peggy took us to a rough section of town. We thought we saw a drug deal go down, then we thought we were being followed. We ended up stopped at a railroad crossing, with one of the longest possible trains going by in an unlit section of town. No street lights around. We made sure our doors were locked and we were glad when that caboose came by so we could continue on our merry way. But was Peggy through with us? Of course not. She took us to three restaurants that looked like they had been closed for years and one spot that had just an empty lot. That's our Peggy. Let me just say here that Jackie would have had no patience with our dearest Peggy.

Once when Rheba was driving, the screen on Peggy showed that she was driving in the middle of a lake. Peggy also once told Rheba to do a U-turn on an interstate in Wilmington.

She took us through "Rape Row" in Dothan where we passed by the "Big Guns and Ammo Hair Salon and Pawn." On that same road was a high school that had been toilet papered…it wasn't even Halloween. Having said that, Peggy took us straight to the cemetery where Hank Williams was buried, through Auburn University, on the night of the Camilla Bowl, with absolutely no problems. Go figure.

Watson Mill Bridge, taken on our covered bridge trip.

On another trip, when it was just Aleta and I, it took us all through the countryside, finding all of the covered bridges we were hoping to find, including all of the dilapidated one in a field. We couldn't actually get to that one, but Peggy found it. 

As I said before, ain't technology grand? My children tell me that we should replace Peggy with a more updated version. But I'm afraid I'm gonna miss Peggy's quirkiness, and that we may not have nearly the fun on our trips.