One thing I’ve discovered is that people in North Carolina like to give directions with landmarks. A simple request for how to find a certain store often goes like this:

Local person: “You take you a right after Boomer Wilson’s store.”

Me: “Where’s that exactly?”

Local:  “Oh, ‘at’ll be after the Baptist church."

Me: "Which one?" There are 50 in town.

Local: "You know, out by thar Bar-B-Q place."

Side note: There are 15 barbeque places, but I do know of one next door to a Baptist church so I don’t ask.

Local: "Now don’t you go lookin’ for the name Wilson on the store ‘cause somebody else took it over about 30 year ago. I can’t think of that fella’s name to save my soul.”

Me: "Can you just tell me the name of the street? I’m real good with maps.”

Local: “Don’t know the name. You cain’t miss it though. It’s the road that’ll take you out by Podunkville.”

Side note: Podunkville has a population of 12 and isn’t on any maps.

Like I said, I’m real good with maps. That’s my preferred way of finding places. Trouble is, you have to have an address first. You also need an address if you have a GPS (which we don’t have and are not fans of). Our first time using a GPS was in Colorado last summer. We didn’t have an address, just the name of the town and Panera Bread. The GPS took us to a bread distribution warehouse in a seedy part of town. I kept telling Steve I didn’t think a cute cafe would be in that kind of neighborhood.

Thankfully, our friends waited for us. These friends have a great sense of humor. The last time we’d seen them, about three years before, we drove up to their house 30 minutes after their roof collapsed from the snow. All the neighbors were gathered outside to watch the firemen cordon off the house. Our friends were doubled over, laughing about it.

It helps to have friends like that when you can’t find your way.