Yesterday, I was a bit tardy getting to the Kirby exhibition at Cal State Northridge. Here's why. I went first to visit a friend in the hospital, then got in my car and told my GPS to take me to Cal State Northridge. I pretty much knew how to get there without the GPS but I like having it suggesting streets to me and tracking how close I am to my destination.
It told me to take a left on Tampa instead of a right and I thought, "Huh? Well, maybe it knows some better route to me that's not obvious." Every so often, it helps me that way. So I followed its directions for about five minutes and I kept thinking, "This is taking me in the wrong direction."
Then I noticed. From the hospital to Cal State Northridge should have been about fifteen minutes. The GPS was telling me I was 65 minutes from my destination.
I pulled over and checked it. It had the right address but somehow there was a disconnect between the address showing on the screen and address to which it was taking me. I was being steered to a totally different location out in the hills of Agoura.
I canceled it out and programmed in the address again: 18111 Nordhoff St. Sure enough, my GPS pointed me to an address that seems to somewhere out on Lindero Canyon Road in Agoura. What to do now? Well, even though I don't think there's any such address, I programmed in 18113 Nordhoff and — wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles — it gave me correct directions to the actual campus of Cal State Northridge. Weird.
As it turned out, I didn't even follow that route. I figured out my own. If you're going to go see all that peachy Jack Kirby artwork, don't bother with any address on Nordhoff. Get to Reseda Boulevard and then go east on Plummer St., which is about a half-mile north of Nordhoff. Drive east on Plummer and it'll take you past the Art Gallery. Park in the lot to the right of it.
And never — never! — follow your GPS mindlessly. You may think it's guiding you to the Lincoln Memorial in our nation's capital when it's really taking you to some address on Lindero Canyon Road in Agoura. I have a feeling that's the home residence of some guy who designs GPS devices and he has his daughters outside selling overpriced lemonade to hot and bewildered Cal State Northridge students.