On Thursday morning, as Barb and I were trying to leave for Atlanta, I realized I could not find my GPS. I tore the car apart but it was not to be found. I called Tom to get permission buy another one. I had never driven from LR to Atlanta and had zero confidence that I would be able to find 1245 McLynn Avenue! He told me to go ahead and get one; we decided we would give one of ours to Jimmy when we found the original. He drives the Wildcats on football trips and sometimes the stadiums are pretty well hidden. The car was headed to Best Buy when Jenny called. She said it didn't make sense to spend the money on a GPS when I had a perfectly good one SOMEWHERE! She volunteered to send the directions to my phone after she finished up at Lucy's "Last Day of School" party and I had to agree that she had a good idea. We turned around and headed for Memphis; Jenny and I were both sure I could find Memphis! I know the first turn I made was correct but, after that, I don't know what I did wrong. When I figured out something wasn't right, we were well on our way to St. Louis!!!! I called Tom, who agreed we were way off track, and we decided I WOULD buy a new GPS at the first place I could find that sold them. After turning around, the first town of any size we reached was Cabot. I pulled off and we spotted a Radio Shack. The manager there was very helpful and quickly convinced me that I needed a certain model that was on sale and had some features my other Garmin did not have. Naturally, even though his computer said he had three in stock, he could not find a single one in the store! A clerk suggested I get the model a step down but the manager was determined I get the one we had decided on. He called the Radio Shack in Jacksonville for me and they promised they had one. (I know that this is a lot of uninteresting detail but all these things will be important later in my story.) The Radio Shack in Jacksonville is pretty well hidden but we finally managed to find it. A very nice clerk tried to help me set up my new GPS but it had begun to rain and locating a satellite was a challenge!
Jenny called just as we were getting back on the road to see if I had gotten the directions she had so carefully sent to my phone and I had to admit that I had broken down and bought a new Garmin. I certainly felt much more comfortable as we began the drive to Memphis with turn-by-turn, lane-by-lane, practically inch-by-inch instruction! When we neared the town of Crittenden, we began to notice multiple emergency vehicles. Soon my GPS announced "severe traffic ahead" and told us to get off of I-40. We did. On our alternate route, we began to see more emergency vehicles and were, of course, stopping for each one. We caught glimpses of I-40 and traffic was at a standstill. Again my device announced "severe traffic ahead" and sent us to a second alternate route. At this point, I decided to call Jenny and ask her to look on the internet to see if she could find out what was happening in our area. She answered on the first ring, a rare occurrence, and I was interrupted as I began to ask my question. "I can't talk now. I am at a 'plastics clinic' with Lucy. She has hurt her face." Of course, Nannah panicked! In a little while, Barbara offered to drive since I was obviously aggitated. Soon we ran into a terrible thunderstorm; it rained so hard that we were forced to pull off of the road and wait for about twenty minutes before we could continue.
Soon after we started driving again, with me at the wheel, Jenny called to say that Lucy had two stitches in her forehead and they were leaving the hospital. She apologized for not explaining the situation more clearly but I had called while she had Lucy in the Ladies Room at the hospital and she was trying to keep her from seeing her face in the mirror. I had to laugh as Jen told me how Lucy, while the doctor was attempting to apply the third steri-strip to the already sutured wound, said, "No, thank you! No, thank you! I don't want another sticker."
When Jenny got home she was able to find out what had been happening on I-40 near Crittenden and it was a terrible story. Two policemen had been making routine drug checks of cars on the highway. They stopped a white van and two men got out with AK-47s. Both policemen were killed. As other lawmen searched for the shooters, every vehicle on the highway was being stopped and searched. Finally, the killers were discovered in a WalMart parking lot; both of them were killed and two more officers were injured.
Barbara and I still can't believe that my new GPS kept us out of harm's way and out of the way of the responding police, ambulance, and fire crews. My old one would not have done that and neither would the model the clerk in Cabot had suggested when the machine I had chosen could not be located in the store.
Here is a picture of Lucy, with her bloody "stickers" showing. They have been changed now; her parents snuck into her room and did it while she was sleeping. Jenny put this photo on facebook to show Lucy's boo boo and to give others an idea of her view of any noodle-based meal Lucy eats!
Miss Hattie is growing and changing so much! Just had to share this cute picture of her.
Tom and I bought Jenny a license plate for her car that says" HOUSE DIVIDED". The plate is half LSU's colors and logo and half Arkansas'. Jimmy's family bought Hattie two pairs of booties, one representing each parent's alma mater. Jenny titled this picture "BABY DIVIDED"!
P.S. It has now been discovered that my GPS, my camera, my laptop, and my empty cell phone case were stolen from my car!
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