As I kid I watched my father prepare for extended car trips. The first step was for him to obtain a road map at the local filling station. The map (provided by the oil company) was free. Dad would carefully map out a route taking special note of the location of road transfers along the way to our destination. Typically, each state had its own map.
Now things are different. First no free road maps. In fact, no maps at all as we have come to totally rely upon the GPS for extended directions. Friday morning at the close of our vacation in the mountains, Connie and I ate breakfast at the Huddle House with Bob and Linda. Following breakfast Connie and I said goodbye and headed for home, depending upon our GPS to lead the way to Saint Petersburg, Fl. As we wanted to avoid Atlanta, our route of necessity would be circuitous with many roundabout road transfers. While still in Cleveland, the map on our GPS suddenly started spinning and the device started barking nonsensical directions. The malfunction continued after I rebooted the GPS and removed and reinserted the memory chip. Without the GPS, we were more than directionally challenged–we were completely lost. I stopped at an auto parts store in the immediate vicinity. The store did not carry GPS’s, but the associate pointed out that it was just a few blocks to Walmart. At Walmart I purchased a GPS called Tom Tom. We then continued smoothly to Florida. The incident is remindful that life, with its many twists and turns, is critically problematic if lacking reliable direction.
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