Little GPS

If you happened to be sitting in the passenger seat of my car when I opened the glove compartment, and you saw the maps piled up in there, what would your reaction be? My husband thought it was silly. One friend laughed out loud, and asked me when I was going to join the 21st century. I'm there! I have a GPS for directions. I love it and depend on it and it works like a dream. Except when it works like a nightmare. If I don't know where I am, telling me to go northeast when it's cloudy is no help at all. And the instruction to turn left in 800 feet is useless--how am I supposed to know when I've driven 800 feet? Once I was following my GPS to a friend's shore home where the streets were a maze of irregular blocks. After blowing it a few times, I figured out that when the voice said to turn in 50 feet it meant NOW. I think my GPS likes to mess with my mind. Occasionally, heading to a new destination, my GPS has gone completely bonkers, taking me up hill and down dale until it dumps me in a farming community, when I was headed for the main street of a small city. Then it won't take me out again. It won't take me anywhere at all. It ignores me like a stubborn two-year-old. I'm lost and I'm late and I hate that. But I'm not giving up my paper maps. I have always taken my Girl Scout training to "Be Prepared" seriously. What happens if my cell phone breaks? Suppose the grid is down or, less dramatically, the towers are too far apart or the mountainous landscape keeps my device from staying connected. What then? I'm happy to report that a travel article in the Sunday paper strongly suggested carrying maps with you when you travel for just those reasons! Who's laughing now?