Bits of necessary background:

Some of you know that Dianne and Gerald are planning to renew their wedding vows this October, their 25th anniversary. She’s been kinda sorta looking for a dress for about a year.

This was our first trip to Western NY. Dianne and I tend to like to stop every hour or two and look at something – landscape, thrift store, something. I have a GPS that I can move between the car and the bike. Everyone who has used one knows that sometimes the path is not exactly direct.

Dianne observed that when it’s my turn to buy gas, I start looking for a station when the tank is half gone; when it’s her turn, I wait until there’s only a quarter tank left.

The story:

After a wonderful time visiting our friends and enjoying the beautiful landscapes, on Wednesday Dianne and I headed back toward SC. About five miles from Mary’s house, my cell phone rings. I answer, “What did we forget?” We’d left Dianne’s hanging bag of clothes. Sooooo back to the house, get the clothes and a bag of other minor things we’d left. Stop for breakfast at a local restaurant and fill our bellies. About an hour down the road, the gas guage is registering about half so I start looking for signs.

You know those information signs on the side of the interstate? Near an exit there’s info about gas, food, lodging, entertainment? Well, there’s a sign with a gas pump and no store name, but that’s good enough for me. Exit onto a divided four-lane road with no businesses in sight. But wait! That’s a traffic light in sight. With that same gas info sign with an arrow pointing to the left. That’s okay. Turn left.

Less than a tenth of mile, a stopsign and we must turn left or right. No sign of a gas station. No info sign. Turn right. Houses. The back side of a sports-vehicle retailer (motorcycles – no we didn’t shop-, four-wheelers, jet-skis, etc). No other businesses. Back to that four-lane. U-turn time. Back past where we’d turned into this road. More houses. Is that a gas tanker parked in that driveway? No other businesses. Ben’s calling asking something about his laptop. I’m ready to stretch my legs. I’m thirsty. I have no idea about the laptop. I’d told the GPS not to recalculate. No businesses in sight. Back to the fourlane. Oh yeah, there was a Pop’s Something-or-Another with one pump back there on the four-lane but we couldn’t get to it when we passed it — barrier in the middle of the road. On a good day, I would have known which direction to turn. But this was not the best of days, so I hit “home” on the GPS. We turned left on the four-lane. The route was different from the original one, but the time to get home was about the same and shoot! we like going new places anyway. We eventually arrive at a small town, get gas, order a snack at Burger King (that’s breaded and tastes nasty so it gets trashed), and go on down the road.

Fastforward to Thursday:

We’ve been driving for about an hour through beautiful country. I’m about ready to stretch my knee out straight. Gas tank is half empty. Dianne is sleeping. Info signs for gas, food, lodging. As I approach the exit, I see NO tall signs, the ones they usually have so you can see them for miles from the interstate. I’m not ready for another gas chase, so I go on by. Just as I pass the exit, I can see the signs. Oh well, too late. A few more miles and I thought I saw a sign for a rest area, but not sure because the semi was blocking my view. Yep… there it was … saw it as I passed it. Miles down the road, another exit. This time, I’m exiting, even if all I do is park on the side of the road and walk a little bit. Exit. Turn right at stopsign. Still can’t see stores. But there it is! Scenic Outlet. Don’t know what it is, still go toward it.

Turned out to be a neat little shopping center. We browsed through clothes, bought a drink at a restaurant selling Mayberry Cookbooks, looked at some unique furniture. I could harldy believe that Dianne didn’t buy one of those cookbooks for Gerald. The one item of clothing purchased: a wedding dress for Dianne. No, it’s not white with a train half a mile long, but it’s very pretty. About a foot too long, but that’s easy to fix