Duh!

When I was in high school, I had to write an autobiography for one of my English classes. I don’t remember what exactly I wrote in there, but the name of my autobiography was “Duh! The Story of My Life.” Well, a couple of weeks ago, I added what could be another chapter to my autobiography.

A group of us planned an overnight trip at an indoor water park in Sandusky, Ohio. After dropping off the dog, the directions to the water park were pretty much as simple as directions can get: take the turnpike west to route 250. Head north, it’s on your right. That’s it. No problem, right? Well, there was a problem.

You know how on most interstate highways, there’s a sign every tenth of a mile stating the highway and direction along with the mile marker? Did you know that the Ohio Turnpike doesn’t have any such signs?

My husband had some important work-related calls to make, so I was driving. And since the directions involved a whole two turns, I figured I could do the navigating myself. And for the first hour or so of the trip, I talked to my husband, asking questions and being mentally involved with whatever he was doing. As time moved on, and we didn’t see the exit approaching, I didn’t think much about it; it had to be coming up soon.

Finally, I saw a sign. “Pittsburgh 73 miles”. No, not the sign I was hoping to see. Then, “Last Exit In Ohio”. And something about Youngstown.

Yes, Youngstown, as in the city on the opposite end of the state of Ohio from Sandusky. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I turned the wrong way on the turnpike. Instead of heading west for a quick one-hour trip, I took my family on a three-hour tour of the Ohio Turnpike.

And so, the story continues.