Monday, September 7, 2009

Oh Where Oh Where Could Cottonwood Be?


I was asked to attend a Sofft Shoe training that was being held at our Cottonwood location last Thursday. I had never been there but I was sure that I could find the place if I googled or yahooed some directions. My department manager lives over in that part of town and used to work as HR for the Cottonwood location. I politely asked her for directions and she willingly drew me a map. She didn't have time to explain her map but I was able to read it and I figured I could get better directions online anyway. When I got home from work the first thing I did was get a yahoo map. It seemed simple enough....take exit this and then take exit that. Turn left on street blah blah blah and so on. The last direction it gave was: Bear right on street blah blah blah and arrive at destination. My managers hand drawn map kinda showed the same thing. My manager urged me to give myself an hour and 15 minutes to get there because of the morning traffic. Easy enough right? So I told Carlos that we needed to be backing out of his apartment complex no later than 7:30 am. I needed to drop him off at work before I headed up to Salt Lake. I knew that dropping him off first would only give myself an hour to get there but I was sure I would have no problem finding the place and I happen to have a lead foot too. After dropping Carlos off at his workplace I quickly got on the freeway and headed to Cottonwood. The traffic wasn't that bad and I wove through the traffic with ease. I was making better time than I thought I would. I took all the exits that were indicated in the directions and I finally turned left onto street blah blah blah where I needed to bear right. I thought for sure I would see the mall on the side of the road. The address was 4800 South (or something like that) and I kept going through lights that were 6500 S and then 6300 S. I kept going expecting to see a light sign that read 4800 something with the mall coming to my view. It was a nice area and there was a nice newish looking Gold's Gym on my left. I thought fondly of the gym as I drove past it (Carlos works for Gold's). I kept on driving until I noticed that the next light read 1000 East or something weird. Then I noticed that I was on Van Winkle instead of street blah blah blah (I can't remember what the street was really called). When did my street turn into Van Winkle. Where the heck was I supposed to bear right? I never saw a mall on the side of the road. My managers map made it look like I would run into the place. I turned around and tried to find the place. I kept going back and forth of street blah blah blah trying to figure out where the heck I was supposed to bear right. Feeling extremely frustrated I texted my co-worker who was going to the same training. He had just barely pulled into the mall parking lot when he received my text. He called me and asked where I was. He tried to figure out where I could possibly be but he really had no clue. We finally agreed to find a place to meet. We found each other and I was able to follow him to the mall. I would have never found that place without his help. The spot where we were supposed to "bear right" was actually 6100 South. Then you drive down that street for miles before you even see the stupid mall. I was pissed! Why the heck didn't the directions say turn right at 6100 South and arrive at destination? What the heck was "bear right" for? That was stupid. It would have been so much easier for me if the directions had said which street I was actually supposed to turn on. Luckily I do drive fast and even with the time I lost being lost we were only 5 minutes late. Not too bad! At least I will now where to bear right the next time I have to visit Cottonwood! I'm a pro now!!

2 comments:

Kami said...

That is pretty weird. I've never seen a "bear right" in any directions. I like using Google maps. It gives you directions and a map to follow, plus street shots, so you know what it looks like.

Melanie said...

I see bear right a lot of times when a street has two names or kind of has an exit of sort onto another street. There may have been another gradual right you could have taken rather than a 90 degree turn. But I agree the "bear right or left" direction is always confusing.