Confusing the GPS

Chase and I bought a GPS device, a TomTom named Susan to be specific, when we moved to DC. Susan (named by our 4-year-old nephew Tyus) has been a faithful friend and worth her weight in gold since we moved to one of the most populated areas in the country. Seriously, without Susan I'd probably be a hermit, unable to leave my house save for going to the Metro. She's been a lifesaver.

Today, we drove down to Liberty University, because tomorrow morning Chase is taking his comprehensive exam for his Master's degree. (Don't worry. He's ready for it, and it'll go smashingly!) Susan was a big help, but I'm afraid we nearly did her in.

We got about 40 miles from home (which took a good while thanks to Friday afternoon traffic), and I decided I wanted a blizzard from DQ. After some hunting, we found a DQ only 4 miles from our route, so we took the short detour. I pulled through the DQ, ordered my blizzard, Chase's malt, and 2 waters. Susan REALLY wanted us to get back on a main road. So we did... only to realize Chase doesn't like malts. Who knew? So we detoured, got rid of the malt, and headed a block over to a McDonalds. Again, Susan was frustrated that we were swerving through parkinglots rather than taking main roads, but she recovered when we were in the drive through.

I ordered 2 small fries and a carmel frape (Chase's latest obsession). We paid to the sounds of two of the McDonalds workers oogling over the dogs in the backseat. (See below -aren't they adorable?) We pulled up to the second window, got our bag, and pulled out onto the main road to Susan's relief. She told me to get 3 lanes over into the far lane because we had to turn in 50 feet.

Chase opened the bag to discover a yogurt cup. Not our order. Fortunately, no one had pulled up behind us, so I navigated us back across the three lanes to loop through the parkinglots and return to McDonalds. You can just imagine what Susan thought of that move. She was very frustrated. She even got a little off kilter. You can see it on her face below. (The picture was actually taken about 50 miles after the incident, and you can still see how discombobulated she was!)

What was supposed to be a 4-mile, 5-minute detour to get a blizzard turned into a 25-minute, get-to-know-how-to-navigate-the-parking-lots-really-well scenario. By the time it was over, my blizzard was gone, we had fries for the road, Susan was exhausted, and we were all ready to settle into the rest of the drive.

I'm happy to report we made it to Lynchburg and are getting ready for a good night's sleep. They always say how important that is for individuals taking tests the next day...

(More to come next time on our trip to Lynchburg...)