GPS or Geeks Proven Stupid

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

I will never forget the time about 4 years ago when our oldest son from Oregon, met his mom and me in California to attend his cousin’s wedding. We were there for several days, and staying at the same hotel. One day he said, “Let’s go to lunch.” He had a preference for one brand of restaurant, and I happened to notice one near the airport we landed at, just about 5 miles away, so we could drive there.

So we go out into his car in the parking lot and he starts the car but also starts playing with his cell phone. I ask him what he is waiting for and he tells me he is setting up his GPS. I never heard of it before and said to him, “I don’t know what that is nevertheless you can’t go anywhere until you put this car in reverse and back out of the parking spot and begin driving to where you want to go.”

Well he does and we drive about half the way and stop at a red light. Sure enough he is back on his phone and somewhat frustrated because he can’t find what he is looking for. I also look at the mirror on the right hand side and notice the traffic behind us.

At that point I said alright turn right at this very minute and hit the gas, which he does. Then he asks me, “Where are we going?” My response was to the airport. He asks, “How do you know that?” Very simple, I told him. “I read the sign back at the light that said and pointed to the airport.”

So what can you do to save time and reach your destination? Number 1, when you get in your car, get properly seat-belted and get it started, put your car in reverse and move out of your parking spot. The point here; don’t delay traffic. Number 2 ask someone for help with directions, like the person at the checkout counter for the hotel, and head in that direction immediately. It also pays to check the flow of traffic through your mirrors. Number 3 even GPS has changed. I just traveled with my granddaughter in Virginia last week and she was listening to a voice on her GPS telling her which street to turn on, and she was upset, because she couldn’t hear the name of the street and wasn’t aware of where that next turn was. That’s where maps come in handy, and of course learn to read the street and highway signs as you drive.

Back in the sixties, I and my friends drove twice a year from Long Island, New York to Santa Fe, New Mexico, at a time when they didn’t even have turnpikes across most of the states, and we never got lost.