OK...LA...HOMA

Early along their epic journey in the movie "The Lord of the Rings" ...Sam...one of the hobbit characters, abruptly stops and says "If I take one more step I will have gone farther from my home than I have ever been"
That's how I have felt most of today! Even though I have been much farther from my home...I have never driven the route directly south through the heartland. With every mile that ticked away I felt the same pull on my heart that Sam felt.
This morning we set out from Albert Lea, MN...drove through Iowa without setting foot in that state...on to Missouri, Kansas and final Oklahoma. The land flattens out more than it is in Wisconsin, but it looks very much the same. Our goal was to make it to Dallas and spend the night with a friend but after over 12 hours of driving I had to call it a day in Oklahoma City.
For this trip I purchased a GPS unit. I bought a Tom-Tom XL340...it works well, easy to program...AND...includes maps of Mexico. Early in the day it proved to be a really good navigator...however after Kansas City, MO it seemed like Tom-Tom lost his good senses and we ended up on smaller and narrower two lane roads, in small towns...seriously wondering if we were still on the way to Texas or just plain lost! I finally reprogrammed Tom-Tom and it turned us around...only to have to take two gravel roads to get back to anything resembling a highway.
I have come to the conclusion that GPS units do have their place and are great tools but they also epitomize the old adage "the correct answer is not the same as wisdom". Tom-Tom tells me with great accuracy where I am at the moment...but it's not good at really telling me where I am in relation to anything else. It also tells me what to do next...but it does not tell me where that next turn will take us and what route we are taking...you have to trust that Tom-Tom will get you there. Long-story-short...use your GPS, but check out a map ahead of time and take the atlas with you on your trip.
The Caravan keeps trucking down the road with no problems at all (knock wood). We spent some time this morning doing Spanish lessons using MP3 files on the van radio. For the record...Gas was $2.39/gal in Albert Lea, MN....$2.15/gal in Kearny, MO...and $2.17 in Oklahoma City, OK. There were two slight sprinkles of rain in Iowa and an amazing sunset in Oklahoma.