While social distancing, I accidentally stumbled on something that killed more time than I expected. It was fun, but a little melancholy. I basically spent the first 22 years of my life in the same smaller town in Iowa. Since graduating from ISU I've lived in several states, all far from my hometown, for the past 30 years.
I got back home to visit family every couple years, but less frequently over the past several years. I keep up on things in my hometown and read a story about a local police situation at an address I didn't recognize, so I popped it in Google maps. I realized I knew the area because it was near a spot in the river we used to swim as pre-teens. The memories of that "swimmin' hole" and that time of my life rushed back.
Even though I've been back over the years, I decided to take a virtual driving tour around my home town using Google Maps as my car. I followed the routes I would walk or ride my bike, from the house I grew up in, to the swimming pool, through downtown, around the neighborhood, to areas I played, went to school, and places I hung out and got into trouble. As I toured the city, so many great memories came back to me that had escaped me for years. Although I've seen much of it in person, so many things have changed over the years, but so many other things have stayed almost exactly the same.
So if you find yourself looking for something to kill time while you quarantine, give it a try.
