When I was in the eighth grade my friend Roger and I decided to go on a bike ride. We thought we were old enough to just take a long ride. Well, we certainly did. We rode and talked and rode and talked and the time and the miles passed away. We avoided the highway and rode the back streets and kind of out of town. We noticed farms and that the distance between houses had gotten quite long. but not to worry.
Then all of a sudden, we realized it was getting close to sunset, and we had no idea where we were. And just as suddenly there were no houses. We figured if we rode in one direction long enough we would have to find a house. That was our plan.
Finally, as it was getting gray before dark we came upon a house. We went up to the front door and knocked. They answered and were very nice. We asked for directions on how to get back home. They kind of laughed and suggested we call one of our parents. It turned out we were around fifteen miles outside of Evansville somewhere near Darmstadt.
I called the house, and my dad answered. They were very worried where we were. He ended up getting directions to where we were and drove up and put our bikes in the trunk of the car and drove us home. I was amazed that he wasn’t upset with us.
I found out years later that he had done something similar and understood. Roger and I learned how to read maps after that.
