Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 07/25/18> The Lost Art of … Driving Directions.

It never occurred to me until yesterday just how many things that we used to do were no longer doing in this day and age. One of those things is giving driving directions. Giving driving directions back in the days before smart phones and GPS (Global Positioning Systems) was common place if you were going to meet up with someone and they were not familiar with the meet up destination.

I used to take a lot a pride in being able to give good directions even though I can’t remember half of the street names or FM Road numbers, in Texas FM stands for “Farm to Market Road”, because that was the road you took to get to the market. Despite not being able to remember these things people always would tell me that those were, “the best directions I ever got” when I had given them directions.

My day time driving directions were definitely better than my nighttime driving directions because all of my driving directions included landmarks of some form or another. It can be difficult to see a big old oak tree on the side of the road when it is pitch black at night. Also trying to tell just where the barb wire fence ends is difficult to do when your head lights only shine on the road and not across the bar ditches.

One thing I did have going for me on nighttime directions was I had the distances pretty much memorized as to how far one place was in relation to another, most roads I could tell you within a tenth of mile from intersection to intersection because the speedometer on the trucks and cars only measured down to tenths. So at nighttime a typical driving direction I would leave out the not so obvious landmarks and just use distance as the guide.

“Go down this road three miles (pointing south with my hand), you’ll come to a flashing yellow light, go on past the light for three tenths of mile or so and there will be a gravel road on the left, turn there and take it another half a mile, the road will end it a “T” intersection, make a right there and about a half a mile on left is the liquor store.” Those were the directions to the liquor store in Covington from the gas station in Grandview.

It was really an art when you think about, and farther out you lived from the city the better artist you became. It wasn’t uncommon to draw maps either, anything could be used as a map too, I remember one time drawing a map on the right forearm of a young lady who was trying to go see an old friend of mine about some weed. She said, “I’ll never remember how to get there just by telling me, I need a map.” So she whipped out a Sharpie marker and rolled her arm over and said , “draw it right here, this way I won’t lose it.” as she pointed to her forearm. Yes, Mam, one map to Lucas’s place coming right up.

Now a day’s people don’t give “directions” they give “addresses” because that is all you need, well that and a smart phone. Google maps have basically killed the art that was once known as giving directions. The reason I bring this up has to do with having lunch on Tuesday in a small town south of Houston on my way to Victoria. I got to visiting with the owner of the place and he told me that they used to be located down the road a couple miles right where Mustang Creek crosses under the highway. “There is a big red barn there, we were right there.”, he said.

I’ve traveled this highway plenty of times and as he told me that I was trying to picture the place in my mind, I just could not for the life a me remember a big red barn in that stretch of road. It just so happened that I was heading south and that would take me right past Mustang Creek and this old barn so when I got in the truck and headed out I kept an eye on the speedometer and an eye on the side of the road.

A couple miles had passed on the speedometer and I hadn’t seen any big red barn, but I hadn’t crossed the bridge that goes over Mustang Creek yet either. About another ¾ of a mile I'm passing over the creek and I still hadn’t seen any big red barn. Then I got to questioning myself, was it two miles from where I visited with him or maybe did he say two miles past Mustang Creek? So I kept an eye out on the roadside and on the speedometer and I never did see that big red barn.

I really wanted to get a picture of that barn. I will be heading back to Houston today and I am planning on finding that barn and I am also going to stop and get a picture of the sign that says Mustang Creek. If I make it back as far north as his place today and I haven’t seen the barn by then I might just stop in and ask him for the damn address, it will have been pretty obvious at that point he just isn’t any good at giving driving directions.

Keep that name, Mustang Creek, in your mind; you will be hearing it again in a future daily dose.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper