My head barely peeked above the steering wheel on the large sport utility vehicle Friday evening as I struggled to remember where the streets go in Columbia.

Five minutes later, the SUV magically teleported onto Assembly Street where I waited patiently in a bottleneck for a traffic light to nudge me ever closer to the starting gate for the return home.

The Gaffney High basketball team had just won the 4A state championship in the Colonial Life Center. The dashboard clock read 11:05 p.m., alerting my brain we were two hours away from home.

My passenger was involved in an animated conversation reliving key moments from the game as I tried to remember if the International House of Pancakes (IHOP) I wanted was on Harbison or St. Andrews street.

There was a time when the answer would have been automatic.

I got to know the streets of Columbia quite well during four years of journalism school at the University of South Carolina. The school was the main reason I made multiple trips on I-26 between my home in Clemson and Columbia.

The only time I ever get back to Columbia now is for business.

I’m usually in the state capitol when Gaffney High is playing a state championship game or the state Department of Education has an education reporters conference. The South Carolina Press Association is a destination on occasion.

I intended to come back to Columbia on Saturday evening for pleasure since my alma mater Daniel High School had teams playing in the boys and girls state championship basketball games. For old times sake, I thought it would be neat to root on my old high school since I didn’t have to worry about being objective.

The state championship weekend plans reminded me I was supposed to be searching for an IHOP. I located the familiar blue sign just as I sailed past the exit for St. Andrews Road.

I had missed this same exit for the second straight year following a Gaffney High state championship basketball game.

I turned off at the next exit, got back on I-26 and returned to St. Andrews Road. I was waiting at the traffic light to turn into the parking lot when my passenger said, “How did you find this place?”

I chalk it up to years of making wrong turns and getting lost wherever I go.

At this point in the rambling narrative, the reader is probably wondering a few things if they actually made it this far.

Why don’t you get a GPS or look at a map? What does an IHOP have to do with getting home? Does this column even have a point?

I do not have a GPS. It is a great device if you are driving in a strange place like Hawaii. I just find the female voice on the GPS system to be quite annoying.

I find it’s much easier to find my way back if I have already been lost getting there. On returning visits, I usually can remember the wrong turns and correct myself before making the same mistake again.

There was a more important reason for needing an IHOP. This year’s breakfast of champions was double blueberry pancakes, bacon, coffee and some new splash orange concoction.

There were enough calories in the meal to keep me alert and focused on the road until I walked into my place Saturday just before 2 a.m.

I never did make it back to Columbia on Saturday.

Sleep deprivation had me sound asleep by 9:30 p.m. that evening.

Here are a few sobering reminders on why adults should get as much sleep as possible, especially with losing an hour for Daylight Savings Time this weekend.

Adults who get less than six hours of sleep per night have a 70 percent mortality rate compared to adults who get seven to eight hours per night, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

The foundation reports sleep deprivation and sleep disorders are estimated to cost over $100 billion each year in lost productivity at work, medical expenses, sick leave and workplace accidents.

Police report 100,000 traffic crashes each year are caused by drowsy drivers.

We live in a culture where it’s considered cool to burn the midnight oil and give up sleep in the name of getting things done. If one more hour a night can keep you alive, isn’t it worth it to get to bed a little earlier?

Scott Powell (spowell@gaffneyledger.com) covers education issues for The Gaffney Ledger.