Knowing the back roads.

I don't really know the back roads around here well. However, I have a thing for maps, and recently I've been peeking at maps of my county, courtesy Google Maps.All this peeking finally came in handy today.There was an accident about 5 miles from Vernonia, in the north bound lane. Actually, it was in both lanes. I came upon a very long back up of traffic. You know it's bad when people are turning around on a road where there really isn't room to turn around. I did a quick inquiry, and decided to follow the crowd and head for McDonald road, which was a few miles back. I wasn't positive I could find my way to vernonia taking that road, but had been looking at the maps enough where I had a pretty good idea of where I was going. Apparently, me and a lotta other peeps decided McDonald road was looking like a nice quick and scenic way home.It was beautiful!I will be taking it again on Monday. It's absolutely gorgeous, with it's fields of hay edged in thistles, Tansy, Queens Lace and Sweet Peas. It smells like country. It has old beautiful homes dotted along it's edge. It has those little groups of trees that when you drive through them, the air turns cool and damp and smells like rich, loamy dirt and the color green. I saw a few places that made me think, "I could live THERE"!I want a map of my county. I like Google Maps, but tend to get turned around when I have to tile the roads together in my head. I want to explore other ways home. I want to see all these beautiful places. I want to know my backroads.