is anyone out there???

My back-up plan for reading a map.

We had to drive from the hotel to the University where the quiz bowl competitions were taking place. Brian stayed at the hotel to get some work done, so I was armed with a map and no sense of direction whatsoever. Luckily I decided to rely on a method I've used in the past---with mixed success. I scanned the cars on the road in front of me and found what I was looking for---the car I would follow. Hopefully they were going to the same place I was. Sometimes this method doesn't work out so well and I end up in the completely wrong place. The people in this car, however were all wearing matching red shirts---I was fairly confident they were headed in my direction.

We followed them all the way, right into the parking lot of the University. Yes! They got out of their car and I rolled down my window. "Do you know which building the quiz bowl competition is in?" I asked them. The driver laughed. "We've been lost all day, we don't know where we're going." When I told them that I had followed them over here from our hotel they thought that was the funniest thing ever. I thanked them and waved goodbye. I saw some more cars ahead and decided to see if they knew where to park.

"Do you know where you are going?" I yelled out my window at the next group of people we passed. They looked at me like I was a complete idiot. "Of course we do." They were carrying boxes with buzzers for the competition. I hurried up and parked the car---we needed to follow the buzzers!

Winding through the campus some of the kids were worried we wouldn't be able to find our car at the end of the day. "Don't worry," I told them. "We'll find someone we can follow."