Not All Who Wander are Lost

... that is a bumper sticker given to me some years ago in recognition of my joy in traveling unguided, with only the foggiest of destinations in mind and little in the way of navigational equipment. This in spite of the fact that my proclivity for directional confusion is well known in my family. Take my wife blindfolded to any state in the Union, spin her around, and she can find north. I have a hard time finding north with a compass on a sunny day and have pretty much been lost everyplace in the US and many places in Europe. But I always find my way home.

It's kind of like the story attributed to the frontiersman Davy Crockett who, when asked if he had ever been lost, replied: "No, but I was a might be-wildered for three days one time."

We live in an age where one should never get lost, what with MapQuest, Google, Smart Phones and GPS. But not all who wander are lost ... and not all who follow the soft voice transmitted from a GPS are found. I read a study that says we humans tend to respond in a positive fashion to a human voice and thus are wont to do whatever the voice says, in spite of all evidence suggesting that so to do can lead to disaster. Add this to the fact that we are dependent upon technologies and you have some of the most bone-headed moves imaginable, like driving into a canal in front of you, down private roads clearly marked "DANGER" and turning into trees because the voice told you to Turn Right, Now!

The truth is that as humans we have developed automatic responses for dealing with the vast amount of information that comes our way; we cannot possibly process it all in such a way as to keep us safe, and so we default to tried and true methods of coping. But by so doing we often become captive to our creations, and they slowly begin to create us. The more embedded we become to technologies like GPS the less able we are to be reflective about their impact on us. The end becomes pre-determined by the means.

This is not a diatribe against modern technology or the use of GPS! There are times when it is great to simply plug a destination into to your GPS and get a route. And although I have heard horror stories to the contrary, I have found MapQuest to be pretty accurate.

But when I hit the road every summer, I just want to wander a bit. I have found some of the neatest people and places, seen some great sites and had wonderful conversations, when I was "lost." Lots of fascinating sites are not listed in any guidebook, like the broken down and shuttered bar in Mississippi where I stopped to eat my lunch one day and discovered a plaque on the wall, rusty and dusty, announcing that the birth of a famous blues group began right there. Or the fellow in some grease spot in New Mexico, who drank his malt liquor at 8 AM and told me about how he had kicked Troy Donahue's ass back in the 1950's for making a pass at his wife. Cool stuff ... and it never would have happened if I had not wandered into those places.

There is a time to be found and a time to be lost ... we just have to discern the difference.