I see the value of GPS now

**supercowpowers** · 08-17-2011, 12:01 AM

I guess I'm mostly posting this because I'm drunk now and under no other circumstance would I be willing to humble myself and admit such a screw up.

A couple weeks ago my fiance and I embarked on a little overnight trip to visit some local breweries. The first leg was from Carlisle to Pottsville, where Yuengling is made. During my pretrip planning I realized that my GPS, a Garmin Nuvi 260 which has served me since 2007, doesn't really work anymore. The original power cord completely failed, and the aftermarket Radio Shack power cord only works intermittently, and not often enough to actually keep it charged. I thought, "No problem, I've gone places without GPS before so this should be no problem!"

I plotted out a nice route though a state park that should have been pleasant in my Miata. It was longer, slower and had more turns than the route most normal people would take, but that's not why I own a Miata. I carefully printed the google maps pages with all the tricky turns presented graphically and everything.

Unfortunately, I managed to screw it up within about ten minutes. The problem is that my directions told me to turn right on Mountain Road in 1.8. miles. At about that time (1.5 miles I guess) I saw "Mountain Road," slammed on my brakes to make the turn, and followed it to the end.... exactly in a place I didn't want to be. As far as I knew, "Mountain Road" didn't end on PA-944, but that's where I was, so I just turned left to go East, which was the general direction I needed to go and I knew would lead me to I-81. After several minutes of confusion which convinced me (and my fiance) to admit that I was lost, I pulled over in an empty church parking lot, broke out the map and memorized the easy interstate and state route way to Pottsville.

Now, when we actually got to Pottsville, my directions should have still been valid. However, I ended up driving around in circles and making U-turns several times. Why? Well, I realized when we were leaving the next day, that the street sign I was looking for did not exist. The street was completely unmarked. Actually, the only reason we ever found the hotel was because I deducted that the street we were on had to be the right one because it was the only unmarked street in between two marked streets that were on my google maps printout, and because my fiance noticed the hotel's tiny "check in parking" sign, about a foot high and three feet wide. The real sign was painted up on the side of the building, which I had no chance of seeing as a driver on the street.

Now, going back to the first "Mountain Road" screw up, I checked when I got home and it turns out that there are TWO MOUNTAIN ROADS... PA-34 N/Spring Rd to PA-34 N/Spring Rd - Google Maps
They're just a bit more than half a mile apart from each other, yet they're both named "Mountain Road"... WTF?!? The first mountain road is obviously the one I took, and was wrong. The second mountain road is what I wanted.

You know, I'll never feel sorry for the people who follow their GPS into life threatening situations like driving onto train tracks or dirt roads in the desert, but I'm beginning to see how essential it is in a world that assumes you're either a local who's familiar with the streets or using a GPS. I used to get around without one but I think those days are over for me. I'll be buying a new one as soon as I can.

**NormSky** · 08-17-2011, 07:46 AM

I've been thrown into gravel road loops cirle around twice before realizing I've been here before at 2-3AM in the morning by GPS. It's infallible, but does help.

Now I run Trapster off the phone as back up to printed maps.

**stealthfz1** · 08-17-2011, 10:52 AM

But now you have a story about the trip and will probably never forget it. With the GPS it would have just been a drive that would have faded from your memory.

**supercowpowers** · 08-17-2011, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by stealthfz1

But now you have a story about the trip and will probably never forget it. With the GPS it would have just been a drive that would have faded from your memory.

Uh oh, looks like we have an optimist on our hands.

That's probably the best way of looking at it. However, I was forced to take the interstate, which I've already seen half a dozen times, instead of the back roads I wanted to.

Even with a GPS I always made sure I actually knew where I was going instead of just typing in the address, hitting "Go" and setting forth into the unknown. I always tried to maintain a sense of position and direction, but the GPS is great for telling you exactly where the turn is so you don't get surprised by it, miss it, or take a wrong road with the same name.

**stealthfz1** · 08-17-2011, 04:48 PM

LOL. I'm old school. I just started texting about a month ago! Plus, I have had a lot of adventures and became friends with people I would have never have met if everything had
went as planned.

**The Stigs Cousin** · 08-18-2011, 06:51 AM

I've had similar situations where I got lost because the road I'm looking for isn't marked or roads have the same or similar names. I used to travel by looking it up on googlemaps, familiarize myself with the route then printing the turn by turn. That's lead to trouble tho.

I'm also a road cyclist. I went on a new route one day. It started raining and the temperature dropped. I got so wet and cold I couldn't move my finger to shift gears. I was about an hour away when I was looking for this road to turn on. Saw the road and went on it only to find myself in the same spot I was 45 minutes ago! The road I was to turn onto soda runs into the road I was on then turns off it again which I didn't know. So there were two places I could have turned but I chose the wrong one.

Also I think Google turn by turn directions need to give you better notes. Like take the road to the end then turn right. That way you aren't checking every side street. I do this for my bike routes.

Now I finally got a smartphone so I have gps if I need it. But I always check the route on the map first. Also I hate how gps flips the orientation. I want north to be north.

**John DiFool** · 08-18-2011, 07:12 AM

My Garmin GPS on my last trip insisted that there was a Subway sandwich shop at the end of a bumpy gravel road...

**voyager7** · 08-18-2011, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by stealthfz1

But now you have a story about the trip and will probably never forget it. With the GPS it would have just been a drive that would have faded from your memory.

+1.

Try getting lost on the Great Lakes at night with no gps.
A night I'll never forget, and what a story to tell.

**stealthfz1** · 08-18-2011, 09:24 AM

Try getting lost on the Great Lakes at night with no gps.
A night I'll never forget, and what a story to tell.

What was her name?

**Maestro** · 08-24-2011, 02:11 PM

okay getting lost because you're following directions is one thing and I have seen where a road name appears in a number of places and you're not sure which one is the correct one. It is understandable to get lost and then driving around trying to figure where you went wrong, and yeah stopping and asking for help is never an options that is admitting defeat and you can never do that in front of your woman.

However, now image doing the same things and you do have a GPS, and in fact it takes you to the wrong place or tries driving you down a road that does not exist and you try and blame it on the GPS and explain to your lady why it is not your fault. That is far worse than just plain old getting lost on your own. I have had this happen a few times, far more times than the old fashion getting lost. Because of this, I now plug in the address on the GPS and look at the overview to make sure it not taking me to the wrong place or down a road that does not exist, this works for places your familiar but it is blind faith otherwise.