His name Peggy

Travelling with Gordon has always been the most amazing thing. And I am not saying it just because I love him to little bitty pieces - because I do - but because he is such a pleasant person, that anyone would feel the same way I do.

I am sure.

Starting with the preparations for a trip, no matter how long or short, we have fun. While he checks the vehicle and makes sure we will be safe - and he does it very carefully - I prepare our luggage.

And all the other junk that we MAY want to have with us. We travel in "great style" and, so far, never lacked for whatever we wanted/needed from home.

As we get on the road, Gordon is always very calm and relaxed. It is our time, therefore, we will enjoy the heck out of it.

My dad, for instance, was something else. He also prepared for the trip. He also took good care of us. But, as soon as he started driving, the only thing on his mind was TO GET THERE!

Wherever there was.

Dad would drive, and the idea of stopping to look at something, to have a relaxed lunch, or just to stretch our legs was NOT in his mind!

We would have to threat him saying that we were about to pee in his car for him to agree to stop at the next gas station. And, when we got there, we would have to "put pressure" on the pee, so it would come out faster!!!

The other men that I met throughout my life were not fun either. Some were annoying, irritated and some were even dangerous behind the wheel. From friends to relatives, I had never met anyone that I enjoyed travelling with.

Until Gordon. We enjoy great conversations during our driving trips, we enjoy the view. We laugh. We get on our "soap boxes" while venting our indignation over some matters. We share and add to each other's ideas. We play, and we travel silent also.

Just because.

Talking comes and goes without problems.

And we stop, if we feel like it. To pee (without pressure), to check on something curious, to stretch and catch a breath. 

Another detail about Gordon that is quite cool is his sense of direction. Although we do print out Google maps to take with us, Gordon knows his ways here and there, 99% of the time.

Not me. As soon as we get to the highway, I must say that I am lost.

Well, not that much, but close.

During our trip last Fall, when we went to New Mexico, we got kind of lost a little, around a small town West of Tulsa.

Kinda.

A lady at a toll booth gave us directions that did not work! Oh, no! We ended up going down a long road all the way to where "Bubba lost his boots"...

Gordon found our way back to where we should have been in the first place. And, as he mentioned later, there was not discussion, or fight, between us because of the fact that we were lost.

During this last trip to Fort Smith, I had the pleasure of being able to give him a present. Something with which we have been having a lot of fun. A Garmin GPS. 

Not an expensive gizmo, kind of in the middle between the best they had at the store, and the cheapest.

The thing is very, very interesting! To start, we had to download an update of the program/maps. Since we had taken a laptop with us, it was easy.

The first time you turn it on, it tells you where you are!

What?

Yes, it tells you exactly where you are!

Dang! That's cool!!

Then you type in the address of where you want to go, and... boin-oin-oing!   It just plain shows your little car on the road, and starts telling you the way to the end of the rainbow! Fantastic!

There is this  voice - which we later found out can be changed, and we can use our own - that tells you what road to take, how many miles to drive until the next turn. When you are just about to arrive at the spot where you are supposed to turn, it tells you it is arriving.

As you are right there, it repeats it very elegantly:

"Please turn now on Exit 71" -  for example.

If you do not turn, it will say immediately:

"Recalculating" - meaning, now that you passed the spot, the little machine will have to recalculate how to get you where you want. And the whole process starts again. Very, very, very neat!!

Now, as I said before, one can change the voice and the wording that gives the directions.

You can imagine what we did, can't you?

Gordon and I recorded a few different sentences, just for fun:

"Hey, moron! I just told you to TURN!!"

"TURN asshole!! TURN HERE!"

"Now I have to recalculate this SHIT again!"

Oh, and we named our little Garmin GPS  "Peggy", because of him.

I think he cute!!