Comedian Anita Renfroe has a chapter in her book Don't say I didn't warn you:kids, carbs, and the coming hormonal apocalypse about how she is concerned her husband is considering leaving her for the GPS. She compares her loud and bossy back seat driving to the GPS's calm voice making suggestions or "recalculating" the route. I found it hilarious.
Growing up, we spent a lot of our vacation time driving around. Hours spent studying the AAA trip tiks made me into an adept map reader. In my life as a mom, I don't venture too far but when I do I depend on old fashioned maps to find my way. It wasn't until earlier this month when Kevin and I drove to the Jersey shore that I had my very first experience with computer assisted navigation. He recently upgraded to the Droid so we used the Google Maps Navigation App.
The first leg of our trip was from home to my friends house in Robinson Township PA. The app did not recognize her address as being there and kept defaulting to Corapolis PA. We dutifully followed all "her" instructions until we were told cheerfully at the dead end of a city street, "You have arrived at your destination."
I had already seen my friend's recently purchased "landmark property" and I knew darn well we were NOT there. We were close, but that only counts in horseshoes and....what else???
A quick call to her husband got us routed in the right direction. We arrived at her house a few minutes later.
The second leg was from her house to a park near Reading PA. Hubby was supposed to have run a marathon there in early June. He wanted to stop at the park for a run on our way to NJ. Same result. Close but no cigar.
She was successful in getting me to the downtown Reading YMCA. Did she know about the three strikes and you're out rule??
We continued to Atlantic City without incident.
I did OK without her on Thursday when I took the rental and drove down to Ocean City for the afternoon. My innate sense of direction and a doodled map from Kevin's boss were all I took with me. A friendly biker helped me out when I deadended at the ocean after being distracted by the fancy houses in Margate.
Coming home Friday, she routed us north in Philadelphia. It's not the way we would have chosen due to the traffic and we somehow ended up at the end of the turnpike without a ticket, but we did make it home before dawn.
Final verdict: Not too impressed. There is no substitute for being able to read a map, knowing which direction you are going in, and friendly locals to help you out.
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