Getting lost in Cedar Rapids

   I got lost!
   Not in New York City or Hollywood, but Cedar Rapids.
   I had the day off my regular job last Friday and wanted to take my camera to Photo Pro Camera Store on Collins Road to have the digital sensor cleaned.
   I heard about the camera store on Facebook. I had called a couple camera stores in Des Moines. One wasn’t cleaning cameras due to being closed for COVID-19 and the other store was out of my price range for the service.
   It has been a few years since I last had my camera cleaned and it is something that I prefer to let the professionals do. So, I decided to make the trek to Cedar Rapids.
   Before heading off on my journey, Debbie printed out Mapquest route directions for me. I should have looked over the directions better instead of thinking I had this under my belt. I’ve been to Cedar Rapids before. I knew my way around that town, I thought!
   I was doing well until I ran into a road closed sign on Highway 151 just outside of Waldorf, home of Wild Hogs Saloon & Eatery. Only in Iowa would they name a restaurant after hogs. It does sound like a good place to eat! 
   Anyway, I took a detour past the Eastern Iowa Airport and headed north on Interstate 380. After taking a right on Collins Road, I headed east. The directions said go 1.61 miles and the camera store would be on the right.
    After driving past hotels, restaurants, a school, a church and several businesses, I found a shopping mall and pulled in the parking lot. I thought I had gone too far. It seemed a lot further than 1.61 miles. Seemed more like three or four miles.
   In my infinite wisdom and thinking I missed my destination, I turned around and traveled west on Collins Road, only to end up in ten buck two. After making a roundabout journey, I got back to 380, got off at Collins Road and tried it a second time. I ended up back at the same mall.
    To add to my misery, I ran out of data on my cell phone. I never run out of data. And what timing! There I was in Cedar Rapids, no internet service, no phone number to the camera store and lost four blocks from my destination.
     It had to be a miracle from the Heavens as I got internet service again and was able to call the camera store for directions.
    So, off I went east on Collins Road, only to get lost again trying to find the place. I finally found it after driving around Lindale Mall and making my way along Collins Road for the 20th time.
      There went an extra 1.5 hours of my life that I will never get back.
The nice folks at Photo Pro cleaned my camera and off I went. Next stop was Culver’s in Hiawatha. I knew where that was at as Debbie and I stopped there a couple years ago. Anytime I get to eat a Culver’s is a good thing.
    I then made my way to Sam’s Club on Blairs Ferry Road to purchase supplies and household goodies.
      A stop at Sam’s gas station to fill up the tank was in order before leaving. I filled up for $1.72 a gallon. 
      While there, I struck up a conversation with a lady filling up on the other side of me. She was having a tough day as well as her gas pump froze up. She said it was third pump that day.
      The attendant asked me if my pump was working and I said it was.
     Before she left, I had to ask if she had ever met the police women from Cedar Rapids who was on Survivor a couple times and won it once.
    “No, I haven’t met either lady,” she said of the police woman and also a sex therapist who hails from CR that won the survival game another year.
     I hope to meet one or both of the ladies someday and have my photo taken with them.
    After filling my tank, I made my way south on Interstate 380. I turned right on 30 and right on 6th Street SW, traveling south a couple miles for the final stop of the day at Tractor Supply.
    It is crazy driving around Cedar Rapids. All the roads are SE, NE, NW and SW. It’s almost makes one car sick driving around that town with the rivers and roads winding every which way but loose.     
     I’ll stick with north, south, east and west. It is simpler and less confusing.
Thankful, I made it home safely.
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.