Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Farmers around here extend the growing season by creating corn mazes in their fields and charging admission to city folk like me to enter them, wend their way around the various paths while avoiding dead ends, and come out the other end. Earl and I had never tried one until this weekend when we went to Barbott Farms Ultimate Corn Maze.

I fancy myself to be a fairly good map reader. When we travel, I’m usually the navigator, turning maps this way and that to get to our destination. Earl prefers a GPS, but if I’m along for the ride I want that role. So yesterday when we went to the corn maze, Earl said: “You be the pathfinder, I’ll follow.”

The map we were given (at a cost of fifty cents over and above the admission price) reminded me of those paper mazes you did as a child where you were supposed to stay in the white space between the two lines to complete the route. I used that logic as we entered the corn. In fact, I held onto that logic the entire afternoon which resulted in our being lost most of the time and not completing the course.

I learned as we were leaving that the two lines and not the white space between them represented the course. This seems like a little thing, but it obviously made a difference. My reputation as navigator had taken a hit, and I suspected that before long Earl would replace me with a GPS on our road trips.

However, this morning he said: “Let’s go back to the maze and try it again now that you understand how the map works.” I jumped at the chance to redeem my reputation, and we spent this afternoon back at Barbott’s. Fortunately I’d brought yesterday’s map with us, so we weren’t out another fifty cents.

This time I understood what to do and we marched through the muddy maze (It’s been raining here a lot.) in what I’d call record time. In fact, next year we’re thinking of having a party where our friends join us for the maze and then chili or something like that afterwards. Naturally I’ll want to preview the course before we organize this event, as I plan to be the ultimate pathfinder.