I Took a Detour

Lifetime Racquetball Court

It seemed innocent enough. I played racquetball yesterday morning, but got done a early. I was excited about getting to work a few minutes early--about 15. 

I had talked to Chris, went over the plan for the day and had just hung up the phone as I approached the exit for my place of employment.

That is where it went bad.

There are three exits from the highway near where I work. I was a distracted as I was reviewing the day ahead of me and I turned early to exit the highway onto another four lane highway. Panic! There was no going back--suddenly, instead of exiting into the parking for my job, I was headed down a road to a destination I had not intended to visit.

No problem--I thought, the next exit is not too far, I'll turn around there and still be early to work. 

Then the car started telling me of a problem with the cruise control and lights. Ugh. I got distracted again and missed the exit! Darn. The next exit is a lot further--but I have no choice.

Traffic was beginning to build and I needed to keep my attention on the road, but the warning message on the console in my car was not only annoying, it was flashing as if it were important! Ugh, I was trapped. 

Time passed, traffic increased and finally the exit loomed. I made the exit and successfully reversed my direction and was not headed towards rather than away from work.

During the remainder of the journey I needed to stay extremely alert because traffic stopped completely on a number of occasions for no apparent reason. It can be somewhat scary to be in the middle of executing a lane change and suddenly everyone is stopped!

I finally, and uneventfully arrived at work. On time!

My detour had used up all of the extra time by driving around aimlessly on the highways. 

Moral of the story? Stay alert when driving. Bad things can happen!

As an aside, I looked up the earning message, and I need to replace the brake switch--but the lights actually do work!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD