"The imaginary horizontal lines that circle the earth make sense. Our equator is 0 degrees, the North and South Poles are 90 degrees. Latitude's order is airtight with clear and elegant motives. The earth has a top and a bottom. Longitude is another story. There isn't a left and a right to earth. Any line could have been called 0 degrees. But Greenwich got first dibs on the prime meridian and as a result the world set clocks and ships by a British resort town that lies outside of London.

It was an arbitrary choice that became the basis for precision. My father knew a family named Wolfawitz who wanted to go on vacation but didn't know where.

It hit them. Take a two-week road trip driving to as many towns, parks, and counties as they could that contained their last name: Wolfpoint, Wolfville, Wolf Lake, etc.

They read up and found things to do on the way to these Wolf spots: a hotel in a railroad car, an Alpine slide, a pretzel factory, etc.

The Wolfawitzes ended up seeing more than they planned. Lots of unexpected things popped up along the route.

When they came back from the vacation, they felt really good. It was easily the best vacation of their lives, and they wondered why.

My father says it was because the Wolfawitzes stopped trying to accomplish anything. They just put a carrot in front of them and decided the carrot wasn't that important but chasing it was."

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