When Ms. Garmin and Ms. Google are telling you to go different ways pay attention! That was our first road trip lesson. After fighting our way through the snow in Michigan we thought we were home free — cruising across Indiana in the beautiful sunlight. We felt so good that we decided to press on, even though the sun set, to get to Lincoln Trails State Park in Illinois.

All was well until we were within 15 minutes of our campground — or so we thought. It was then that Ms. Garmin and Ms. Google could not agree on how to best get us there. Fifteen minutes turned into and an hour — and then more — as we wandered around the the dirt and gravel roads of Illinois in the dark. Ms. Garmin, who has the soul of a dirt road diva hidden in her programing, thought we’d enjoy winding around farmhouses and barns on roads lit only by a silver of the moon.

Of course when we did get to the campground we had to pick our camping spot — also in the dark. With roughly 200 campsites and only four other campers there was a lot to choose from. Maybe we need some criteria for next time!

And yes, the next morning we did discover that when we thought we were only 15 minutes away form the campground we were wrong — it was less that ten minutes. To say the least we took a very indirect route on Sunday night to cover the final few miles.