Douglas E. Jessmer

No, really — get lost. Which is exactly what I proceeded to do last night (Friday, Sept. 29).

I was headed to Lansing for dinner with a close friend, when I ran into a traffic jam on westbound I-96. Four lanes pinched to one, then were detoured onto a marginal road. No signs back to the expressway meant that I had no idea where it was clear to get back to the highway… which meant I continued on the marginal road until it veered away. I desparately tried to find a way back to the main road, knowing I was going to miss the agreed-upon 8 p.m. meet at the restaurant…

… and ultimately wound up in Plymouth, then in Ann Arbor. Again, I was headed to Lansing, not to A2. The funny thing is, I have no idea how I got there, and don’t think I could retrace my route, if asked. My sense of direction has always been good… and I think it still is… but last night has me questioning myself.

When I moved to Pittsburgh back in 2001, the advice to “get lost” was given me by my then-supervisor. It was great advice, especially since I knew Pittsburgh a little, anyway (thanks, Kerry, if you’re reading this). I found a bunch of neat little neighborhoods that way. After a while, I was confident I had some idea where I was going most everywhere I went in the city.

So that’s one piece of advice I’d give anyone who moves to a new place: Just go drive around and get lost. But, as I was told a couple of times last night, by a couple of different people — stop and ask for directions if you can’t find your way. Remember, you DO have to find your way back to work at some point.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 30th, 2006 at 3:34 pm and is filed under vizeds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.