As I mentioned earlier, when I first joined the furniture industry I spent a short time on the road as part of my training calling on furniture stores. I traveled Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. In those days there were no GPS navigation systems for your car and cell phones were still kind of new. I was lucky if I remembered to bring a map.

I had an account in north eastern Maine, across from Mount Washington in New Hampshire called Newly’s Furniture. Every time I went there  I always seemed to get lost. To get there, I had to drive up the Maine Turnpike and get off at Grey, Maine. From there I would take a windy, two-lane road for what seemed like an eternity through Poland, Maine (where Poland Spring water comes from) continuing north to Bethel Maine. From Bethel, there were a series of circuitous streets that, if one was lucky, you’d end up on the road north and another 45 minutes further to go into the wilderness. Newly’s Furniture was literally in the middle of know where.

On my last trip to Newly’s Furniture, upon leaving Bethel, I managed to get through town but then found myself hopelessly lost. As a rule I never asked for directions, but I decided that today would be an exception. I saw a farmer on the side of the road and pulled over to ask him directions. “How do I get to Newly’s Furniture?” I asked hesitantly. “Well,” he said in a thick Maine accent, “Go up the road a piece, turn left were the wood pile used to be, and then turn right where the barn burned down.”

I had to smile. “directions, Maine style…”

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