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<\/a><\/div>\nAfter a nice dinner last night <\/span><\/span> in Stillwater, <\/span><\/span>G and I took a stroll by the St. Croix River. As we crossed the street at the point in the above photo<\/span><\/span> (except that it was 9:30pm and dark), we heard someone calling for help.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A large, heavy-set man rumbled toward us from a big truck. He spoke in a thick accent, maybe Russian, explaining that he was told to take Highway 36 to 95 to 64 across the St. Croix River. \u201cBut sign says \u201913 ft. 2 in\u2019 and my truck is 13 ft. 6 in.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n He was obviously stressed out.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d I said, \u201cthat\u2019s a lot of air to let out of your tires.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve had a long history of making jokes at inappropriate times and have noticed that my brother has a knack for this too. Must be a family inheritance thing.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Neither the trucker nor G thought my comment was amusing and the trucker distressfully repeated the directions he\u2019d been given. <\/span><\/span>\u201cHighway 36 to 95 to 64 across the St. Croix River.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Reality didn\u2019t seem to be cooperating.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n After several minutes of discussing the options, G and I not always agreeing how far the next bridge was, whether to go north or south, and what the name of the town with the bridge was, I pulled out my iPhone and showed him the map.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It was clear (and I would like to note here that I was more right) that he\u2019d either have to go north about 20 miles to the next bridge and then back south about 15 miles to his destination or about 5 miles south and then north maybe 15 miles.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n As the trucker walked away, he seemed to be mulling his options, and because he didn\u2019t like the number of intersections he\u2019d have to navigate if he went south, he was leaning on the long way \u2013 north. His first set of directions had gotten him stuck, after all, and despite our good intentions, he certainly wasn\u2019t getting a clear signal from us and didn\u2019t seem to trust the iPhone map either. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Both options required getting his truck out of the bottleneck facing the lift bridge he couldn\u2019t pass through. Backing across a busy main street seemed like the only option \u2013 and very undesirable.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We continued on our walk and after we\u2019d looped back toward the car, we could see our friend leaning up against the rear bumper of his truck with his arms crossed, maybe waiting for a good idea \u2026 or rescue to appear from God knows where.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The moral of the story? A few things come to mind.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Nobody really knows how any one of us is going to get through so creativity is important. But sometimes it\u2019s either north or south.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Listening to others is important and yet their advice should be taken lightly. It\u2019s our life, after all.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Do your best and don\u2019t take it personally that the bridge is impassable. That might be exactly the point of the journey.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Waiting a while can\u2019t hurt but, sooner or later, you\u2019ll have to commit to a course of action. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n And, of course, don\u2019t leave home without your smart phone. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n After a nice dinner last night in Stillwater, G and I took a stroll by the St. Croix River. As we crossed the street at the point in the above photo (except that it was 9:30pm and dark), we heard someone calling for help. A large, heavy-set man rumbled toward us from a big truck. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n