Lost

  Due to a stressful and unfortunate mistake I have determined (with Jim's approval of course) what our next investment will be.
   This afternoon I had an IEP meeting at a school I had never been to. Since I have a horrible fear of being late I was about a half hour early.(I must get it from my dad because that trait certainly did not come from my mom.) When I got there no one knew about the IEP meeting they had several scheduled but didn't recognize the name of the child I was there for so they started to call around to confirm the meeting (this is not the first time that has happened so I was not concerned). The wonderful preschool teacher took me to her classroom and showed me pictures of classroom activities (seriously she could not have been more welcoming or helpful). While I was looking through the album she was making phone calls in an attempt to figure out if/where there was a meeting and at one point we were told that the meeting had already taken place earlier that morning. With each phone call I became more and more befuddled. I had just talked to the mom the previous day and confirmed the time and discussed directions to the school. Then we received the final word that there was indeed an IEP meeting at 12:30 (I KNEW IT) but it was at another school. The nice principal gave me directions on how to get from this school to the other one. This is where the real trouble began.... now you have to understand the reason I had never been to this school before is that it is in the middle of  NOWHERE and the other school was out in an area I am not very familiar with either. So I follow the directions. Turn right out of the school, make a left at the flashing lights and go straight.................... and I go on for a while and there is still NOTHING. Mind you I was already unsure of my surroundings and now that I have made two turns I no longer have any sense of direction or which way to get back to what I know. I decide to call Jim.... no answer. I always call his cell first but he doesn't have good  reception at his station so I tried the station phone.... no answer there either... they must be on a run. Normally when I lived in Columbus and needed directions I would call my dad if Jim wasn't available. Needless to say my dad doesn't know much about navigation in the outer extremities of Horry County, no point in that then. I did the only thing left to do was Just Keep Driving.There was no store or gas station... only very spread out houses. I was seriously concerned at one point that I could possibly see a sign for North Carolina at any point in time. Luckily after some driving I finally made it back to a road that I was familiar with, unfortunately I ended up nowhere near the school that I needed to be at. Fortunately as well that this was not the initial IEP but rather an update and the mom was understanding.
   Now, if you hadn't already figured it out a GPS will be our next investment. Jim and I had talked about getting one before but I had said that I had pretty much gotten down the routes to the homes of the families that I work with. I also am able to google map my destinations before I go to meetings and ask my co-workers how to get to schools, parks, libraries, or doctor's offices.  At that time I was not thinking about these types of situations.... I don't think it will take much reminding now.  Anyone else navigationally challenged? Any suggestions on what brand is the best?