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Celebrate National Read a Road Map Day
Apr 03 2008 by Sara Lacey
4/3/08
Ditch Technology and Chart Your Own Course
I like technology most of the time, but I have to confess to being frustrated by all the updates to and new versions of the software I use. It always happens just when I'm finally comfortable with whatever lamentable, sad, slow, current version I'm using, and I have to start over from scratch.
The exception to this is maps. I love MapQuest, Google Maps and Google Earth, as well as some manufacturers' navigation systems. I also love my husband's Garmin navigation system. I particularly love the turn-by-turn directions given to me by Garmina, its British-accented female voice. I feel slightly James Bond-ish whenever I use the system, and I love how simple and easy it is to operate. Most of all, I love how it's never been wrong (coulda used THAT in Detroit in January).
In fact, I love all this glitzy map technology so much it seems I've been neglecting the original, simpler ways we used to navigate. I realized this when I found out that April 5 is National Read a Road Map Day. When was the last time you read a road map? Shoot, I can't even fold a paper one.
Yet there are some things paper maps can do for you that the technology can't. My friend Jane took a road trip with her family last summer and brought her AAA maps, pens and highlighters along for the ride, then spent the trip marking where they'd been and what was to come. It was pretty cool. Can't do that on a Garmin. I don't even read the map on the Garmin; I make Garmina read the directions to me.
So in honor of National Read a Road Map Day, perhaps we should all pick up a road map and check it out. Try to figure our a new driving route on your own — you can always use the electronic versions to check your work. Maybe you can come up with a faster route or a more scenic one. It may not be as speedy as the updated, current version of whatever you're using, but it might be more fun.
