Lost

It is spring and that means road construction season. My usual route to Toastmasters was going to be closed for a bit. I would need to find another way. C wrote down the alternate route on a piece of paper for me. He has been living in the Cities for over 30 years and I knew he would know the easiest route to take. I put the directions in my purse so I wouldn't forget them. I decided to leave a little early in case I got lost. That way I would have a bit of extra time. I quickly reviewed the directions. I was supposed to go west on one of the highways around the city. That didn't make sense to me. My meeting is in Wisconsin which is east. I decided not to worry about it. C knows what town my meeting is in and he has never had trouble finding his way around. I got on the first highway and drove. It wasn't going to be bad at all. Still I was a little nervous. C told me that things would look familiar as he and I had driven this route before to go to Woodbury. I found the exit to go west and got on it. The traffic was a little heavier that I had expected, not too bad. I decided I liked the old route better even if it did mean crossing the Lafayette Bridge. I saw the exits going into Eagan and started to worry. I wasn't sure this was the right direction. As far as I knew we didn't pass Eagan when we go to Woodbury. Maybe I was going to come from a different direction. There are a lot of suburbs and I don't know where they are in relationship to each other. I kept driving. Then I saw signs directing me to different terminals at the airport. I knew I going the wrong direction. I was going west and I needed to go east. I also knew that I had to turn around. The problem is that you can't really do that by the airport. I saw a place where I might be able to turn around. I took the exit. I was now on another highway. I recognised the number and knew that it would take me to St. Paul. What I didn't know is where in St. Paul it would go. I started to panic. I like to drive, but I don't like it when I don't know where I'm going. There are some bad parts of town, parts that are a little dangerous and it is possible that I could drive into one without knowing. I found an exit for another highway that I recognised as being one close to our home. I took the exit and crossed the bridge. Things were starting to look familiar. I found another highway and took it. I was getting close to home. The good news was that I was now on familiar territory. The bad new was that I was not at my meeting. I still had to figure out how to get there. I took the interstate that goes north/south. I knew I could exit onto a road that goes around downtown St. Paul and would get me to the part of the interstate I needed to get to my meeting. Time was running out. I saw the exit and got off onto the road. I was in trouble again. The road I was on runs right along the Mississippi River. I also knew that the river was running a bit high as it usually does in the spring. The road up ahead was closed. I hoped there would be a well marked detour. When I got to the detour I followed it and saw the sign I was hoping for. 94 East this way. I followed the road hoping to see more signs. There were none. I pulled out my cell phone at a stoplight thinking that I could call C if I got lost again and get directions. Finally I got onto the interstate. I was 15 minutes away from my meeting and really upset at the fact that I was going to be so late. I was never late before. People would wonder. I called C to let him know what had happened. He was sorry about the confusion and told me that I was making good time. He wanted me to call him once I got to the meeting. I got into town, pulled into the parking lot and gave C a quick call. I asked him to send a text message with correct directions for getting home. The first speaker had not started yet. I was all right. I slid into a seat and got out my pen. I made it. Whew! I hope my regular route opens up soon.