Lesson Learned!

Living in New Hampshire required a serious navigation system if you wanted to reach any destination in a timely manner.  While serving our mission we went everywhere we wanted to on our days off from the archive and found the navigation system a huge help in reaching our point of interest. Not only did it show you a map but it also gave verbal directions of where to turn and when. Another handy gadget was it would also give you an estimated time of arrival.   After 18 months we were confident that we'd find our way back home!  After our first stop in New York after leaving Concord we planned to drive to Perrysburg, Ohio for the second night but made plans to visit the Gerald Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan first.  We typed in the address of the library that morning and pushed "set as destination" and confidently hit the road.  Since unfamiliar with the area I entered the freeway ramp as directed an began heading north.  All was well until I saw a sign that said Niagara Falls, next right.  At that point I realized that we were approaching the Border Check into Canada.  When the man asked why we were coming to Canada I replied..."because our navigation told us to!"  He chucked and assured me that this was a faster way to Ann Arbor.  Although it wasn't the way we had planned on going, the trip through Canada was beautiful and again the country was covered with freshly plowed farm land.  Once in Michigan we encountered a pretty intense snow storm which slowed our trip down considerably but we finally arrived at the Gerald Ford Library at 2:58 p.m. Unfortunately, they were closing so we didn't get to go in!  At least we can say we went to the library and can leave out the little detail that we never got inside.

The lesson I learned from this experience was that sometimes we have to chart out our own course.  It is often easy to let others do it for us, but eventually we find out that although we arrived at our destination we didn't enjoy the journey as much as we may have if we would have put more thought into the preparations.