Keep Calm and Carry On.  The saying originated from the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 as the Second World War broke out.  It’s a saying that you see everywhere now after it was rediscovered in 2000 at a second hand bookstore.  Twelve years later and it is probably stronger then ever with all kinds of parody’s that use the saying, like the one I found at the Cows store in PEI which reads “Keep Calm and Graze On” and the crown is on top of a cow head.  I was reminded of this saying last Sunday when my boyfriend and I decided to trust the GPS after we missed our turn off.  The GPS lead me to need to Keep Calm and Carry On.  Maybe you can tell by the picture what happened!

Cows Parody of Keep Calm and Graze On.  Just thought I would share with you!  If you are not from Canada, be sure to check out the online store and visit a Cows when you come visit us!

On to our adventurous Sunday.  We visited my parents in New Brunswick for the weekend and I needed to get back to Nova Scotia for the afternoon for a Baptism service.  So we headed on our way right after church (well almost right after) and we would have made it just on time.  But something happened.  I was distracted by thoughts or my boyfriend or trying to get back on time and I missed the turn off to NS.  I kept going straight which heads you to PEI.  Instead of just turning around and backtracking to the exit we decided to plug it into the GPS.  Maybe it would get us there sooner.  The GPS did it’s thing and plugged in the fastest route.  All was good and well until the road suddenly turned into a dirt road.  As we looked ahead it didn’t look too bad.  So we decided to take the to the dirt and drive on.

If you are ever in this situation I would reconsider continuing on a dirt road that you don’t know and where you have no clue where you are.  TURN BACK NOW!  DON’T DO IT!  As we continued on there were some pot holes, and a few more pot holes, and some bumps, and pot holes filled with water and as we kept going the pot holes kept getting bigger and the water kept growing!  We managed to drive around the larger water spots.  You know when you have to drive half way into the alders in order to by-pass the big water / mud hole.  That was us.  Contemplating which side was best to go and praying we would get through it.

Then it came.  A decision had to be made.  Right or left?  I chose left and started to drive to the side and through the muddy water.  There was no choice at this point but to put my little echo through it in hopes to get to the other side.  Oh how much further is this road, we thought and said out loud.  We were almost through when the car came to a stop and would not budge any further.  My boyfriend is strong and so he went out to push.  Nothing.  He pushed from the front.  Nothing.  I sat in the car and said, “Now what are we going to do?” and the tears started to well up.  All along we both had been praying for Gods help.  About 5 minutes after getting stuck we saw a car coming down the road.  “Please don’t turn around.  Please don’t turn around!”  Were my thoughts and words out loud!  Really, I was trying to keep calm.  Thankfully I had God on my side and my boyfriend who both helped with the calmness.  The car got closer and closer.  A woman and her daughter from Sackville, NB got out and offered to help.  They were testing out the road to see if it could be taken as a short cut to Shediac.  No such luck.

On a side note years ago (and when I say years ago I mean probably more than 30) this road was used as a short cut from Sackville to Shediac to go to Parlee Beach (famous beach in the Maritimes and another place to visit when you come).  THe road was kept up.  But as the years went on the government/ municipalities stopped putting money into the “back” roads.  Which gets people like us stuck.

Even with their extra strength we couldn’t move the car.  They drove us into Sackville (which we were only about 15 min away) and we called a tow truck.  We sat in there care and enjoyed amazing sticky buns that her 14 yr old daughter made who sells them at markets and waited.  The tow truck eventually arrived (it was definitely more then 10 minutes) and we were headed out to get my little echo out of the mud.

It doesn’t look like we were stuck that bad, but we were.  The tow truck driver said he hadn’t been out for a couple of weeks to tow someone out, but the other driver had been out recently.  I’m guessing that it happens often.  In the end we were freed and it didn’t take long to get off the dirt road, about 10 minutes with only a couple more water holes that we could get around.  We were so close!  Well, it made for an interesting day!

So the situation made me think “Keep Calm & Carry On” because there is really no need to get upset in the situation whether it’s anger or wanting to cry because there is nothing else to be done but call the tow truck or somebody to get you out!

Lesson’s Learned:

  1. Keep Calm and Carry On
  2. Don’t trust the GPS on roads you don’t know
  3. Pay attention to where you are going

 

Have you ever had any GPS Adventures?  When have you had to Keep Calm and Carry On?