This is why wine is necessary when moving to a new state:
The GPS started fritzing out on Monday....it's posessed by some spirit that wants me to get lost. I think maybe it's Chester, (the ghost in last office I worked at who used to mess up every piece of technology in the office) followed me down to Florida! I have had nothing but technical issues since coming here. Now the GPS, the only way I find anything, has gone bonkers. I had a very important interview on Tuesday, (which I got!!) and I managed to get myself there, get my self to another town a few miles away and then to Pat's house (the mom of a friend). This was a huge accomplishment!! I was gloating and and bragging. I was thinking.....I don't need GPS, I got this!!
It was about 6:30 at night, it gets dark at about 7:00 and Two and Hakf Men starts at seven so I needed to get home by then! Pat lives 15 minutes away. I knew that all I had to do was turn Right onto Hwy 27, go up a couple miles and then turn Left onto Hwy 19, go through Howey-in-the Hills and I'm home! Wouldn't it be great if that actually happened?! But no.....Florida has turnpikes....I see the sign that says Florida 19. There it is!! Wait for the light to change...turn Left, proud and happy. And then.....I saw it, the Toll booth. Dammit!!!
I'm pretty sure my face is red, my pulse raised......maybe he'll just let me flip a U-turn! Apparently that's illegal in Florida....so I pay him $1.25 and he says just take the next exit and get back on the turnpike headed North. On the Florida turnpike, exits are very hard to come by. Ten miles later, I see the exit. The turnpike spits me out right in the middle of road construction! The GPS was of course not going to work for me even for 30 minutes….so there I am headed up Hwy 50 and I can’t find the Northbound turnpike anywhere! I turn around and just as I’m pulling onto the turnpike, the down pour comes. So it’s dark, pouring Florida style rain, I have no GPS and I have to find the right exit to get back on Hwy 27 so I can get onto Hwy 19. I’m hungry, cranky, tired and now I’m just pissed!
Luckily, even in the down pour I find the right exit. Get to the toll booth, pay another $1.25, get back on Hwy 27 and I’m finally going to get home! I drive straight to the Winn Dixie, run through the rain, and find gold…..a bottle of sweet red wine on sale! I think….ok, almost home….eat have a glass of wine and do less than nothing! Sigh of relief…..until……I get close to the Howey bridge…..and dead stop. 15 minutes of sitting there, in the down pour, the line of cars finally moves. I finally walk through the door, look at the clock….7:50! So what should have taken me 15 minutes, took me 1 hour and 20 minutes!! I think that was the best wine I have ever had!!!
