Frustration Rant !

[Texas Proud]

I feel your frustration. DW (and I love her to death!) simply can't read a map. On a trip I once asked her how far to the next exit and was told, "about half an inch." She is annoyed by the GPS because it interrupts her. I usually get directions as, "you should have turned back there."

I better hope she never reads this post.

This is one of my sisters story, but it is similar... and way before GPS....

My sis was giving instructions to her DH on driving somewhere... he said he did not need her help... well, he missed a turn.... he was driving for 30 or more minutes before he turn to her and said "I missed a turn, didn't I?".... Sis said she was not going to say anything no matter how long it took.... I think he got the message...

 

[MRG]

I noticed DW doing something frustrating today as we went to a new CPA. She told me about where it was three miles away then demands I don't start driving till the GPS starts talking. I've tried explaining.

 

[braumeister]

My wife used to automatically touch her wedding ring to check for left.

There's an old Army story (probably apocryphal) about a drill sergeant having trouble with basic recruits who couldn't tell left from right. He had them pick up and hold a leaf in their left hand and a pebble in the right. Then he would march them down the road calling out "Leaf, Rock, Leaf, Rock, …"

 

[NW-Bound]

When I was 4 or 5, somehow I mixed up the left and right shoes and had problems putting them on. So, my father cut a small square of red electrical tape and put it on the right shoe to help me identify it.

Apparently, I knew which of my feet was the right one, even though I could not tell the right shoe from the left one.

PS. It may be more of a spatial orientation, when I looked down and noted if the location of the red square was where it should be.

 

[meierlde]

My 2nd home still has not shown up on Street View. I guess the Google survey car driver did not know there were more houses down that unpaved road, or he was afraid to drive too deep into the boondocks.

I wonder if the street view cars don't go on unpaved roads for fear of getting stuck, and/or not knowing if you can get thru on such a road. They may be told to stay on paved roads for safety's sake.

 

[meierlde]

Having spent time at a geology field camp where the main activity is making geologic maps, I learned how to read maps well. I don't have a hand held device and did not subscribe to the directions service on on star. If I am going to a place I don't know I use google maps directional service, and then cross check the route with street view to see if there are traffic lights where left turns are needed.

Note that with the google maps directional routing you can preview the route and avoid making mistakes like the couple did in northern NV when their device sent them onto a dirt road and they got stuck, and he died going for help. If need be of course you can move the route to a better choice also. (Or pick an intermediate way point) It does seem that the google maps route loves freeways even if it means 80 miles out of the way.

 

[MRG]

There's an old Army story (probably apocryphal) about a drill sergeant having trouble with basic recruits who couldn't tell left from right. He had them pick up and hold a leaf in their left hand and a pebble in the right. Then he would march them down the road calling out "Leaf, Rock, Leaf, Rock, …"

Just them? What would the rest of the class do?

 

[pb4uski]

...Anybody else suffer this maddening frustration ?
?

Yes! But once I came to understand that DW knows more about how to get from Point A to Point B than Garmin then there has never since been a problem.

She is constantly questioning our GPS directions and know a better way... I've learned to live with it.

 

[NW-Bound]

...Note that with the google maps directional routing you can preview the route and avoid making mistakes like the couple did in northern NV when their device sent them onto a dirt road and they got stuck, and he died going for help. If need be of course you can move the route to a better choice also. (Or pick an intermediate way point) It does seem that the google maps route loves freeways even if it means 80 miles out of the way.

Though I plan my RV trips and drive the route with MS Streets and Trips software, I always use Google Street View or Google Earth whenever possible to know in advance what the narrower road segments look like. It's also my pastime to preview the scenery and the topography of the back roads. I also enjoy doing a virtual drive through the small towns that I will pass by, and may visit if it looks interesting.