Navigating Streets with Unknown Names
Driving around an island sounds easy….it’s just a circle, yah right. It’s easy if all I had to do was stay on the outskirts of the island. The problems begin when you have to go up and over the island, or find a friend’s house and they never give you the address (because they don’t help you find them), just “farm” directions. If you are from the Midwest, you understand farm directions….when you see the windmill with only 3 blades turn left about 4 combine lengths then right at the silo with the tree growing out the top, etc.
But here, you have to understand the basics before it all starts to make sense. When you come to the Big Oak take the right; when you pass Oprah go another 3 streets and turn right; when you see the turnpike sign (turnpike sign? - it’s an island!) turn left; when you see the …..(fill in the animal: whale, seagull, etc.) that is the street you take. When you come to the “T” in the road at the house with kids playground equipment go right. Yes, I have actually heard all these helpful directions.
I have tried to use Google Maps, and believe me it actually helps SOME. You can’t plug in the actual address because they don’t really exist, but if you can find a common land mark in the general vicinity it will get you close enough that you can then use the “island/farm” directions to guide you the rest of the way, or simply do what I do and call them 2 -3 times until you reach the correct location; but you have to have an idea of where you are to help them guide you from exactly where you are standing. If you try to ask the locals which route number to take forget it most don’t know there are even numbered routes on the island. GPS directions will help you there, but again you need the major landmarks to reach your destination.
My sister and I learned this the hard way when we visited the island on my recon mission before permanently moving. What should have taken us 30 minutes from the airport, ended up taking us 3.5 hours completing exactly the same wrong circle 7 times before finding our way home. If we had only known from the get go that Oprah is a donkey dressed in sunglasses and a scarf at the overlook, or that the 3rd right we were looking for is a major road and not what looks like a driveway that goes straight up the mountain (Sorry people for having to turn around in your carport to back down your private drive, oops). Eventually, you learn to look through the overgrown bushes and trees to see the 1 or 2 road signs that direct you on your way, and downtown the street signs are in the top corner of the 2-story building that is almost impossible for the driver to see, because you have to look up- away from the road all the while trying to remember to stay in the left lane. That’s exciting at first!
Now that I have been on the island for 3 full weeks now, I don’t have to remind myself to stay on the left when driving; just a brief thought when backing out of parking stalls is still prevalent, but feeling natural otherwise. I understand the street markers even more and where they actually are in relation to my new apartment. Learning all the new unique ways of navigational is educational and fun, and just another reminder that I am not in KS anymore. I am working at becoming one with the island and its driving culture.
When you come visit, don’t be surprised when I tell you I’m up the road from Sibs (bar) and you turn at the turnpike sign, and if you reach Mountain Top (tourist spot) you need to turn around and go back down until you see the seagull, or something of that sort. Good Luck and happy navigating!