So last night, my sweetheart called to say that he had to run into the military base that they are closest to today, and would be there by lunch and that his Sargent said it was okay if I met them there. How could I turn down a lunch date with my hubby??
Well, of course I was willing to go. Forget the fact that I had never been to this base OR even remotely close to it, and had no idea where geographically it was located OR that I'm in a foreign country where I don't speak the Language OR that I had no cell phone, so if I ran into trouble, . . . .well, I count on human kindness for a lot :-)
Anyhoo, I DID have a GPS with me AND the coordinates I needed for the base (address) AND was told that it's only about 45 minutes away.
Well, 45 minutes later I arrived. . . . . .at the "Supposed" destination. It was not even close. I had taken tons of windy windy mountain roads (gorgeous, mind you). Much of it was completely snow covered (no visible pavement), and isolated. I passed surprisingly few cars.
Well, as I "arrived," it was Obvious that Carmen (my husbands name for our GPS) had led me astray. (She's quite deceitful you know). I suddenly found myself in a little tiny German town with tiny cobblestone streets and barely room for my vehicle to fit. I luckily was able to find a parking area to sit and ponder in. (AKA get annoyed)
I fiddled with Carmen again and the next choice she gave me for my supposed destination said it was 3 hours away. (SO not gonna happen). SOOOO, I tried again. THe next choice was 1/2 an hour away. Not great, mind you, but better than 3 hours.
I also have no way of calling my hubby to tell him why I am late and going to arrive LATER.
So, I drive. I pass more beautiful countryside. My 3 yr old wants to know why we are STILL driving, but good other than that.
At one point, I see a sign saying the name of the town the base is named after. It is pointed in an opposing direction to what "Carmen" wants. I decide that I don't trust deceiptful electronic devices and opt to follow the sign (A MAP in the car would have possibly been a good idea at this point. However, it's written in German, so maybe not)
"Carmen" gets snooty with her "RECALCULATING" comment. And continues to try and persuade me. I turn her off. COmpletely. Fifteen minutes later I'm winding through small streets again and see my first sign of hope in the way of a "Gate 5:tactical vehicles only" sign. SURELY there is another gate nearby. Ten minutes later, I arrive at the Main post gate!!! Wahoo! U.S. soil! (kind of). It still takes me a while of getting lost to get to the designated meeting spot, but I made it.
Now, keep in mind, at this time I am about 50 minutes late. Paul is not around. I would LOVE to call his cell phone, but alas, I have no phone, and pay phones aren't really workable.
I pounce on an un-suspecting private first class who made the mistake of playing with his cell phone with me standing by, and use my 3 yr old's cute face as extra incentive to let me borrow his phone. He gave in, Paul was reached, and we got a whole 20 minutes together as he watched us eat (we were hungry and STILL had to make it back to pick up kids from school on time).
SOOO, almost two hours of driving for 20 minutes of hubby time= TOTALLY worth it! :-) Being able to get home in 1/2 the time it took me to get there (my home was already pre-programmed in)= SOOOOO wonderful.
I'm going to make this as another notch on my army wife belt though. I took on unknown foreign roads ON MY OWN with a traitor electronic device and CONQUERED! Take that CARMEN!
My little man was such a good sport. On a different note, as I was tucking him in tonight, he wanted to show me how good he was at counting. This was his next comment.
T: "Mom! 11 is the AWESOMEST letter I KNOW!" (Ha ha. I love that boy!)
My kids are troopers. Life is good
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