I had planned a trip to go "home" and visit my family for the weekend. My husband had purchased a GPS and wanted me to get in the habit of using it just in case I needed it. Well, I didn't need it to get home as I already had this trip memorized, but reluctantly gave it a try. James gave me the basics of how to use it. After the demonstration, I stored it in the console because I would not be needing it for a few hours. When I finally got ready for my trip home, I pulled the GPS out of the console, and set it up as he had demonstrated. Then, I pushed "on", attached it to the windshield, adjusted it, etc. Now, I was ready to start my five and a half-hour journey. One of the things I do like about the GPS is that it would calculate what time I SHOULD arrive at my destination. The time it showed was approximately 5:30.
Everything was going great! I was about 30 miles from my last and final big interstate and that is the last interstate I have to get on in order to get home. Then...I saw a sign that read "I-385 Closed. Detour ahead." First off, I panicked because I-385 was closed, and secondly I do not like "detours"!! I followed a detour before and it got me lost so that is why I don't care for detours. Ok, I calmed down somewhat because I still had my GPS with me. It then told me to take Exit 54. I thought okay, GPS is going to get me around all of this and get me to my destination. I followed the GPS directions, (which by the way, my hubby had programmed it to use its Donald Duck voice, so I had Donald giving me directions), and did as Donald told me to do. I turned on this road, and that road, made a sharp turn here, etc. Then, the next direction it gives me is to turn right. WRONG!!!! It was trying to put me on I-385, but this part of 385 is the part that the construction crews were working on, plus there was a black garbage bag placed over the 385 sign, which obviously means that one cannot use this road! Being that I had no other choice, I simply drove by it. Donald Duck apparently recognizes this and says to me, "Turn around Stupid." Not nice! I turned around and drove right back by it, and again he says to me "Turn around, Stupid". He told me that about three times. By this time, I was panicking because I did not know where I was, only that I was in a town called Ora, and secondly, the GPS could not help me. So, yes, I panicked. First instinct, CALL JAMES. I called him, crying and upset; I was out in the middle of "tim-buck-tu" and had no earthly idea how to get back to I-26 because I was told to take all of these "back roads". Bless his heart, he knows how upset I get when I get lost, and he tried to calm me down. At one time, I had him in my ear and Donald talking in the other. He could hear Donald giving me directions to "Turn around, Stupid", and found it comical...although I didn't know it was comical to him until after I arrived home. He asked me if I could not go back the way I came. No, because I don't remember all of the backroads that Donald took me on. At this point, the GPS was trying to locate the road I was on so it had to find Ora, too. (I don't know if it found it or not, because I reached up and turned it off). I was ready to throw Donald and his calling me "Stupid" out the window, but didn't want to throw nearly $200.00 away, so I put it back in the console. My wonderful hubby stayed with me on the phone until I found I-26. Then, I was fine because I knew how to get to my destination. So, a trip that started off putting me at my destination at 5:30, really wound up arriving at my destination at 6:15.
So, the moral of this story is: Although a GPS device is a wonderful tool, a quote from Father Mouse from one of my favorite holiday movies"don't quite know everything, now, do you?"
