370 mile drive to buy the paper

clipped from uk.news.yahoo.com An 81-year-old Australian man who became lost on an early morning drive to the shops and ended up almost 600 kilometres (370 miles) away told police he failed to stop because he "liked to drive". Skip related content Eric Steward was visiting friends in Yass, a country town south of Sydney in New South Wales state, when he left to buy a newspaper at about 7:30am on Monday morning. But after taking a wrong turn on the highway, he drove for more than eight hours before stopping police to ask for directions near Geelong in Victoria. He said Wednesday he could not remember what he was thinking during the drive. "I just went out on the road to have a drive, a nice peaceful quiet drive. I didn't know where I was going but I knew it was somewhere, and with a bit of luck I would eventually find my wife again," he said. Steward's wife, Clare, had become increasingly worried about her spouse after reaching him on his mobile telephone. "He's a good driver. Very focused, I knew that much," she said.