On day #2 of driving, we found ourselves headed to NYC. Why do we always end up driving through NYC on holiday weekends??? This meant an extra several hours stuck in traffic. Plus it was smoggy and we couldn't even appreciate seeing the buildings from a distance.
As we continued our long drive north we decided that a vacation would not be complete without a stop at REI. We really needed a good camera case for our Canon Rebel and some USGS topo maps of the White and Green Mountains {some people collect pottery or stamps, we collect outdoor gear and maps of national forests}. With a little research, we found an REI in Connecticut that was on the way. When I punched the address into our {several-year-old} Garmin GPS I had to laugh.
It wanted us to go in a counter-clockwise direction from Maryland... out through North Dakota... up through Manitoba, Canada... and across Canada before coming back into New England. Talk about a technology fail. While at REI we ended up buying a software upgrade for our poor, outdated GPS. *Unfortunately the software update is not compatible with Apple.
Update: We figured out the reason for the ridiculous routing was that we had it set to avoid toll roads!!! Obviously a bad option in NY state. Oops.
Update: We figured out the reason for the ridiculous routing was that we had it set to avoid toll roads!!! Obviously a bad option in NY state. Oops.
If you have a iPhone or iPod Touch, you might want to try out an app called "Topo Maps." It is like 7 bucks but you can download all the USGS topo maps you want...it even integrates with the iPhones GPS when you have signal, however it can be used without signal...just without the gps feature!
ReplyDeleteGood to know Bryan! We have yet to crossover into the world of data phones and don't have an iPod Touch. We have been seriously considering upgrading one of our phones and we may do it sooner than later after this experience with our Garmin. It has served us well for many years. We will have to check out the Topo Maps feature if we ever get a data phone... but like books I don't know if I can ever truly give up maps...
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