Finding Myself Without a Guide; or, an Old Friend Returns

My car has a built-in GPS system.  I had come to rely on it: anywhere I wanted to go, I plugged in the address on my GPS.  Sometimes I wouldn't even look it up before I left, trusting my GPS would get me there somehow, even if it ended up being a bit roundabout.  Then the car accident.  I have not had my car since December 23rd, and thus, no GPS.

I've been driving my old Honda Accord.  My parents got me the Accord when I was fifteen.  It was used and nice and perfect for learning to drive.  I drove it until I graduated from college, when I got the car that is currently in the shop.  The Accord and I have a lot of memories.  It drove me from Missouri to Virginia when I moved at age sixteen.  It took me and my friends to Disney World senior year of undergrad.  It has a few quirks: the gas gauge kind of gets stuck at a little under half a tank, so you have to just guesstimate and fill up whenever you think you might be running low.  I also think the speedometer is slightly off; whenever I pass those automated signs telling me how fast I'm going (usually in a 25 MPH area), it constantly seems that the speedometer runs about three miles fast-- thus, if I think I'm going 26, I'm going 23.  This is a good type of flaw, though, and I think keeps me from careless speeding.

But the Accord doesn't have a GPS system.  So getting places has been a little bit more challenging than in the past.  It has, however, made me feel really human and resourceful and independent.  The other day Zan and I met to see a couple of films at a movie theater near Richmond, and I got there totally GPS-free.  I looked up the directions on MapQuest, committed the directions to memory, then just... drove there.  I got there without any problems at all.  And it felt good.  Similarly, I drove up to Northern Virginia to stay with a friend a few weeks ago, and while that was more problematic in terms of finding her home, it still felt pretty great to get there without relying on an automated voice telling me to turn left and right and every which way.  I can do things without computer technology taking me every single step of the way, surrounding me at all times.

The Honda Accord and I have had a great time getting to know each other again.  It's like returning to an old friend, and rediscovering a part of myself that I didn't even know I missed.