Ebbie,

There is an important point left out of this description--You have to drive a block past the street you would have to turn left on to make the first right--then two more rights, and theoretically, at least, you'll be heading in the direction you want, on the street you would have turned left on--

However, this is all based on the idea that all the streets in the world intersect at right angles and are out like a grid, as they are in midwestern towns like DesMoines, Iowa. If you tried that cute little trick in say, Philadelphia, where even allegedly parallel streets can intersect, you could end up in a whole other state. Probably New Jersey.