This is a story of two Active Seniors that wanted to visit the cemeteries where many members of their families were interred.
The Reluctant (but Good) driver asked the blind Navigator if he could find and direct the reluctant driver to these cemeteries. With the confidence of times gone by, the blind navigator said, “Of course.’’
The day for the trip arrived. With the confidence of ignorance namely the blind navigator said, “Let’s go!’’ The reluctant driver engaged the starter and away we went. Since the reluctant driver was familiar with the first half of the trip the blind navigator settled back and said (to himself), “This is a snap.’’ We had an errand to attend to in Mahomet at the bank. After all with a trip of this magnitude, we might need some money. Errand accomplished.
Off we go to Riverside Cemetery where the reluctant driver’s grandparents and great grandparent and numerous aunts and uncles were resting in peace. What a surprise when we arrived at the Riverside cemetery. We found that a marble monument had been erected in memory of the veterans buried in the three cemeteries of Mahomet—Riverside, Middletown and Bryant. (If you of central Illinois haven’t seen this monument, well, you should.)
After paying our respects to our loved ones, we proceeded through Lake-of-the-Woods Park. At this point the blind navigator had a senior moment and told the reluctant driver to turn south on the park entrance road (instead of going a mile east to the Prairie View Road) so we could go to the Hideaway Restaurant. Now I won’t go into details on what happened in the ensuing half hour and five miles, just that before we got to the restaurant—the reluctant driver saying nothing but (I could read her mind)—thought to herself, “What a mistake I have made to bring along a blind navigator. If I get out of this, it’s not going to happen again.”
Before we got straightened out, we hit two dead ends and fought half the autos in Champaign County. It was thought that, ‘’ye just can’t get thar’ from here,” but despite all the above, we did and the Italian Beef was delicious.
After lunch we went a mile north and caught the township road east to the Fisher road then north to the county road headed towards Thomasboro and the Catholic cemetery south and west of Thomasboro. The reluctant driver now began to see the humor of the past hour and half and we began to joke and laugh about getting lost in Mahomet. Forgive us good people of Mahomet. We acknowledge that you have a beautiful and progressive town. After all, our relatives called Mahomet HOME.
Now the blind navigator only made two more mistakes during the day. First he overshot the cemetery road by a mile (not bad for a blind man). We visited the grave of the Reluctant driver’s beloved brother “just ten years gone’’ and then headed back to Maple Point in Monticello. Well, the blind navigator made his last mistake when he told the reluctant driver to turn toward Fisher. By this time the reluctant driver was so amused at the mistakes, she just laughed. The blind navigator hopes the reluctant driver will let him go along again some time. She said “MAYBE.”
GOD BLESS AMERICA.