Run Out and BUY This Thing!!!

Yesterday we drove down to Tucson for the day to do some sightseeing. Before we left I carefully looked up the places we wanted to visit, and wrote down the addresses. Then I went to mapquest (of course) to get directions, an approximate driving time, and figure out a logical itinerary. I remembered that we have GPS in the truck, so instead of wasting paper, I didn't bother to print out the directions or even write them down.

When we got to Nettie's townhouse, we switched from our big, gas-guzzling truck to her (our old) minivan, so we had enough seats for all six of us. (No...a MINIVAN is not what you need to run out and buy...if you really wanted one of these for the large hauling capacity, you already have one...) This was pre-planned, so switching cars was NOT a surprise to me, much as I might like to pretend otherwise...

As we drove, we switched CDs occasionally, so nobody got too bored with what was playing. (I agree that the 6-CD Changer we have in the truck is really nice...and Satellite Radio is a really nice option, as well, but, NO, neither of those extras are what you must run out and buy...)

As we got closer to Tucson, I suddenly realized that we are in ARIZONA, meaning it is HOT and very sunny in the middle of the day. So, I decided we should switch the order of our sight-seeing and go to the further away but nice, cool, shady, adobe mission church first. Suddenly, I realized I had made a BIG mistake. I had the address written down...but no directions. I seemed to remember we needed to switch to another interstate near Tucson, but couldn't remember the details.

...NO directions...NO GPS...looking for someplace most people probably had never heard of (unless they were interested in old architecture/churches)... What should we do?

Randy mumbled about having decided not to bring his laptop this time because the car might get too hot for it when parked. (This is a bit of a hot-button topic for us---I see no reason to drag that infernal laptop with us everywhere we go...Randy figures we might want to look something up with it...OOPS! He was right this time!!)

I thought of calling someone to ask them to look up the directions on the internet and dictate them to me over the phone. (NO, you do not need to run out and buy a cell-phone...I assume you probably already have one of those...)

Then Randy came up with a MARVELOUS idea, a miraculous idea, an awesome product, (can you feel the build-up? Yes, THIS is the product you absoulutely MUST run out and buy!!!) Someone has actually come up with the wonderful idea of printing out all sorts of maps you might someday use and making them into a BOOK!! It can be stored underneath the seat of the car and pulled out when you most need it. WOW! You absolutely MUST go get one of these astonishing products for those times when you don't have instant internet contact to get to mapquest or google maps...

Yep, we were saved by an ATLAS! And, imagine, it even had little squares marked on the Tucson map and labeled with the exact places we wanted to visit!!

(PS...just for your info...the photo above was of a "road" that was marked as paved in the atlas...obviously wrong! But we used that same atlas and found a different way to get to where we were going using better roads.)