Captain's log, Stardate 93190.45...

Technically, that should be Navigator's log, since I am currently in the Navigator's seat in the minivan. But Captain's log just sounds better. As I am writing, it is Monday morning* and we have just left Barstow. Our destination is Washington, UT, close to Zion National Park. Not sure when I will be able to upload this entry; it is one of those things I am still figuring out.
Anyway, I thought for my first entry I would give the story behind my blog title. I've been the car navigator ever since I was a pre-teen in the LA area, with a hefty Thomas guide on my lap, helping my Mom navigate on countless trips around the area. After I started driving,I still much preferred the role of navigator to driver.

When I met Dan, he had a car and I didn't, so naturally I fell into the role of navigator once again. I honed my navigational skills even further after moving to the Boston area. We joked that Boston driving required two persons in the car: one to drive and one to figure out where the heck you were after you inevitably got lost. It didn't help that most of the major streets lacked street signs indicating which street you were on, making it difficult to figure out where you were after the street you were on suddenly shunted you off onto some other road. And of course most of the roads didn't follow any sort of grid. I became such a good navigator that I could get completely lost and intuitively find our way back on course without a map.

Which is why I was slightly perturbed last month when we all got in the minivan for a short trip to the Bay Area, Dan powered up Google Navigation on his phone, and a female voice started giving out directions. Turns out he had been using it during his solo trips up to visit his parents at their Bay Area nursing home. So, naturally I mocked "her" navigation every chance I got, and made jokes about Dan preferring "the other woman". I started referring to her as "The Bad Navigator" (B.N. for short), with the implication that I am The Good Navigator. It was a good running joke for the entire trip.

So when I was thinking up a name for my blog, I figured that I would be needing some good navigational skills in the near future, both on the cross-country trip and navigating our new life in Connecticut. So "The Good Navigator" is ideally both a current statement and a hope for the future.

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It's now 8:30pm. We're in Washington, Utah. We stopped by Treasure Island in LV for lunch (Alice: The bathrooms are SO FANCY!). Then we went to the Valley of Fire state park in Nevada. Amazing! I will post some photos once I figure out that part of blogging. B.N. screwed up in Las Vegas - she glitched and had us 3 miles off from our location and was sending us way past Treasure Island. Fortunately I figured it out and got us to TI. Because I am The Good Navigator!

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If you want to check out Charlie's blog for another viewpoint of our trip, you can find it at lifeinconnecticutcnj.weebly.com. Disclosure: I have no idea what Charlie is posting on his blog!

*The stardate is correct for the time and date I started this post.