Getting Lost|Pad Patter 3.13

[bestcee]

Are you someone who just knows your way around? Or are you someone who gets lost really easy and depends on a GPS or Map app?
I'm getting better at knowing about where I am, unless I go more than 15 minutes from my house - then it's iffy!
DH was driving yesterday, and I asked "Do you know how to get there?" His comment: Nope, but I won't get lost, I have a good navigator. Meaning me. It made me giggle. And of course, one of us said "As long as it's not Wendy's!"

So, do you get lost? Do you have an epic lost story?

*I know, you are wondering about Wendy's. Alright, I'll share my embarrassing story.
We had recently moved to Massachusetts. I needed to get on the 93, switch to the 95, and go down two exits to Wendys. Then repeat the opposite to get back. I failed miserably. I somehow ended up going the wrong way north instead of south, and on the wrong freeway. So, a 10 minute tops trip took 45 minutes. Now, this was before I owned a smartphone with a map in my pocket. I called my husband in tears totally lost....1 mile from the hotel. He did not get any french fries, and I told him not to ask.

To be fair, there were fun signs like this:
See that teeny tiny 128? Yep, this road is now 128 and 95.

Or this one: How can you be going North 95 and South 3 at the same time?!?

 

[IntenseMagic]

I only use GPS when I'm going somewhere I've never been before, and sometimes I just look at Google Maps ahead of time and figure out where I need to go. I've gotten on the wrong road a handful of times, but usually realize it pretty quickly. I have a really good sense of direction and am always the designated navigator. Even when I was a little girl, my dad would hand me the map in the back seat and tell me to figure out the directions.

A few years ago, we went to visit DH's parents in Indiana, about an hour or so east of Chicago. We were out driving around one day and I mentioned that I'd like to see Chicago, not necessarily go all the way in to the city, just see the skyline. I was driving, DH was giving directions, and next thing I knew we were smack in the city. I had no clue where I was, just followed his instructions. He had me weaving in and out of traffic, in a Hummer no less LOL. I did fine, but I didn't really get to enjoy seeing anything because I was too focused on the driving.

 

[Angela Toucan]

I use maps a lot!
I managed to get lost on my Girl Guides orienteering exam. I had a group of girls with me who'd never done it before. The examiner followed behind. When I noticed we were lost I got the girls to play a game looking for landmarks etc then I re-orientated myself on the map to continue. I passed, as I'd proved I knew what to do and didn't scare the youngsters.

 

[HavaDrPepper]

My dad was always good about knowing where he was going and I somewhat inherited that ability. I have always been one to use old fashioned maps and when traveling would get the "TripTiks" from AAA (showing my age!). I have had a GPS for about 8 years, longer than I've had the smartphone. I actually prefer the GPS over using Google Maps when I'm driving. I do quite frequently pull up Google maps on my computer to see where things are before I go then use the GPS once I'm on the road.

The one getting lost story that I remember happened long before I had a GPS probably 20 years ago. I had gone to a high school wrestling tournament several hours away from home. It was in a place I didn't know. Going over it was daylight and I was fine even through the tricky area in a town I went through (much like @bestcee photos above). When I left to come home it was dark. I studied the map and directions I had before leaving so that I would know how to get through that tricky intersection. Well, I goofed up and instead of being on the state route I needed to be on, I ended up on a road in the middle of the country at 10:00 at night. And, there was no place to turn around when I realized I was on the wrong road. I did know what general direction I was heading in so kept going until I came to an area that I felt comfortable stopping and checked my map again. Got my bearings and continued on getting to a state route that would take me to another state route that I have traveled many times before. Ended up adding about 45 minutes to my trip home. But, I didn't panic and that was the important part.

Even now I usually feel confident with getting somewhere, but I do have the GPS for backup especially in an area I don't know.

@bestcee how about funny GPS stories? I've got a few of those as well!

 

[Jan]

My daughter has never had much of a sense of direction. Like in north, south, east or west. As often as we have gone places I don't think she could find things on her own unless it's very close to our home. I don't know if it's a problem of just not paying attention when we are out and about or if there is a real problem there. We used to have her tell us how to get to a place. Okay, we are going to Target, tell me where to turn, type thing. I've teased her about getting lost and calling us for help....Mom, I'm lost. Come and get me. Where are you? I don't know. Well, is there a store by you? What street are you on? I don't know. How can I come and get you if you can't give me a street name???? Life is sometimes so interesting, isn't it?

I remember one trip we took back to Indiana. The day we came home we were trying to outrun a super bad storm that was moving in and they were predicting that nothing would be running once it hit. So we left early thinking that we would hit St. Louis, Missouri about an hour before the storm front hit there. And we would be on the other side of it before there was a problem. We took a wrong turn though and after a half hour finally stopped to ask for directions. Turned out we were headed NORTH to Chicago instead of West to St. Louis! All the roads looked the same to us. There were no landmarks to really show where you were. The land is so flat where we were at. Anyway, we got turned back around, found the original freeway we had turned off of and got going in the right direction. The storm front hit us an hour before we got to St. Louis. What an adventure that was.

 

[ashleywb]

I'm getting better - but I still rely pretty heavily on maps/gps. The longer I live in one place the better I am able to piece things together and don't get as stressed about getting lost. Atlanta has got some pretty crazy interchanges though and I have gotten turned around before.

My husband on the other hand is never lost. He seems to have an innate sense of direction. It's maddening - but awesome at the same time. I never worry about getting lost when he's driving.

 

[jk703]

I usually have a good sense of direction, and can get from point A to B, and back, plus add in a few different ways to get to the same point. NJ is full of roads, and I've been driving them for some time - so that helps, plus PA, NY, DE and VA... and I know my way around mostly. I've even used the GPS, and that thing has gotten me lost, and I figured out my own way, lol! Though... when my friend Kari and I start driving somewhere, we are notorious for missing exits, or going the wrong way. We end up chatting, not paying attention, and then the giggles start. It's the norm, and we get there eventually.

My son has this ability, similar to mine, kinda get where he needs to go, and direction comes naturally. It was a bit eerie - when he was about 5-6 or so, he would look out the window, and recognize places, and streets. I wondered if he could get me home from various places. So, for months after that, we would leave some place, and I would ask him to get me home - using left, right, straight, exit signs, etc. It was kinda cool how well he could get us home, especially from places further away, and only seeing how we got to the location, not necessarily how to get home. A good way to learn left and rights and read signs, lol!

 

[michelepixels]

I might have gotten lost a lot, but I've loved maps from a young age and have used them well! Like Ashley said above, I also learn my way around well the longer I've lived somewhere. I remember when I first moved from southern CA to Fredericksburg, VA, I had lots of complaints about the roads here. Particularly I remember finding it hard to see street signs. Where I live used to be countryside with rural roads. It has grown a lot in the last 17 years since I moved here though, and road signage has improved.

My latest kind of lost-while-driving story was in November. I took my daughter to a concert in Maryland. GPS had me taking a toll road, which I knew ahead time, so I brought money. What I didn't know until I was arriving at the connector is that this toll road does not accept cash. I had to make a split second decision about continuing onto the toll road or attempting an alternate route. Since I didn't want to chance being late for the concert and I figured I could offer my credit card at the toll booth, I continued onto the toll road. Alas! It turns out this toll road has no toll booths! I suspect that the brightly lit tunnel it goes through has cameras so they can photograph your license plate if you don't have the EZ Pass, which is a somewhat new toll system being used here in VA and MD that I know very little about still because I don't really need it. However, I haven't received a fine in the mail, so maybe first offenses get a pass?

Another time I got lost was several years ago when my kids and I were attempting to join a group of homeschoolers at the Udvar Hazy air and space museum. This was before I had GPS. I had printed out directions I'd found on Google Maps the evening before, something I did a lot in those years. I think there was some construction going on and Google Maps hadn't been updated, so the directions were impossible to follow. We ended up eating in a restaurant in Fairfax instead of meeting our friends and looking at airplanes. My kids love to eat out, so they weren't upset, but I was very miffed Google Maps had failed me.

I like to get lost on purpose sometimes. I did it a lot on the way home from my teaching job in the late 90's and I've done it several more times since then. When I was teaching, I usually drove on the freeway between my apartment in Glendale and my school in Arcadia. But sometimes I'd enjoy a leisurely drive home through Pasadena, which is located between Arcadia and Glendale. I have a pretty good sense of direction, so I knew as long as I generally kept heading west, I'd eventually reach familiar streets and home.

Oh! That reminds me of a more recent getting-lost story, just this past January after my kids and I visited Sunset Cliffs. We got lost in Ocean Beach. Not accidentally though. I just decided to take a more scenic route instead of getting back on the freeway. After a while we'd had enough and I turned on the GPS to get the rest of the way back to the hotel more quickly.

Looks like I have some great journaling for an upcoming scrapbook page! But no scrapping for me right now. I've got to put some chicken in the slow cooker.

 

[sakura-panda]

I have a good sense of direction and really only have trouble in the dark, and when I'm looking for houses that I've never been to before, but most of the time, I don't get lost. (Thank goodness I don't get invited to many home parties anymore, because it seems like I can never find a house when it's my first time there.)

I'm one that doesn't like to drive the same way over and over, and I like to try to find different routes so that I know several roads to and from the places I go to most often. I also say that I can't ever get too lost, since I only have to go as far as a Great Lake or Ohio to know I went too far -- just a couple of hours in any direction! LOL

I used to get TripTiks from AAA too, for the road construction on my vacation drives, but now I use the Waze app and that seems to do a good job with picking the less congested routes. I do keep it open all the time when I'm in an unfamiliar area, just because it seems like a good idea!

 

[Cherylndesigns]

I have NO sense of direction whatsoever. I do ok now because of the GPS in my car and on my phone. I love the turn-by-turn.

 

[Juliestcyr]

Our family motto is, "It's not a Feldstein Family Vacation, until we get lost!" But, as we've pointed out to the kids, we always find where we're going... eventually. The Feldsteins swear that poor directional sense is in their genetics. So, as the only non-Feldstein in the car, I have had to learn to become navigator.

When we go to visit my parents in Waterloo, Ontario, we always pass by this sign, which we call "the Cthulu Sign." To get to Grandma and Grandpa's house, you take the 7 East towards Guelph (even though you're going to Waterloo), aka the small arrow in the right.

 

[bonnenuit]

I have all the directional sense and my husband has none. I've always loved maps and planning routes. Most of the time all I need is a quick look at Google Maps and I'm good to go. I do have a GPS that I use occasionally - mostly in big cities and if I've never been in a place before.

One lost story that I remember vividly was way back before GPS was available. We were living in a downriver Detroit suburb and went to a Detroit Tigers ballgame one evening. The stadium was in the heart of the city. DH was driving and somehow took a wrong turn leaving the parking lot at the end of the evening. Because of that, we couldn't find the entrance to the expressway heading south. Somehow, we ended up heading west until we hit Telegraph Road which I knew went all the way south and crossed the road our apartment complex was on. Night time "scenic" routes are not too much fun.

 

[bestcee]

We were living in a downriver Detroit suburb and went to a Detroit Tigers ballgame one evening. The stadium was in the heart of the city

I've been lost in Detroit! I was a teen, and my dad decided at the last minute to take the tunnel to Canada instead of the bridge. BAD idea that day! We ended up totally lost, and it took about 2 hours before we ended up back at the bridge again. Which made us giggle because years ago we lived in Ann Arbor and traveled that direction to visit family in Canada all the time - like at least monthly!

 

[cookingmylife]

I have to come back and read these cause I love seeing mind numbing signs! Washington DC is full of them but I am like @IntenseMagic with a natural sense of direction. My #2 son is the same way.

 

[bestcee]

When traveling would get the "TripTiks" from AAA

We used to get those all the time! I loved them, and always stole them from the drivers as a kid.

how about funny GPS stories? I've got a few of those as well!

Share away! I don't have funny GPS stories - just annoyances. Like Google Maps, and GPS will tell you to get on and off the 215, even though the construction allowing you to stay on it, and just go straight is at least 2 years old! Or that the one exit by my house, maps don't know which road is which so it will tell you to get on the wrong piece of it.

Mom, I'm lost. Come and get me. Where are you? I don't know. Well, is there a store by you? What street are you on? I don't know. How can I come and get you if you can't give me a street name???? Life is sometimes so interesting, isn't it?

Um, we had this conversation with my mother in law when she came to visit. It went like this:
I'm lost.
Where are you? What's nearby?
Albertsons. (Um, okay. There are at least 6 Albertsons that she could have ended up at on the way to our house. And they are all in different directions!)
What else? What street signs do you see? Where did you get off?
Durango. I don't know which freeway I was on.
That narrowed it down to 3 Albertsons. Eventually we were able to figure out where she was, because she went inside Albertsons and asked for their address! Sigh. It was an adventure!

 

[bestcee]

I love seeing mind numbing signs!

These are my favorite! Boston is full of crazy ones.
Here's one just for you!

 

[BevG]

Remember the pre-GPS days when Mapquest would mess up if it could not find the address you gave it - and just send you to the middle of the zip code instead? BTDT sooooo many times. No error messages or anything - no idea your printed directions were wrong - until you ended up in the wrong place. Trying to find a movie theater and it sent us to the middle of a residential neighborhood (I think we ended up driving home since we missed the start time). Or the time we entered an address as Richmond, Va (rather than the suburb of Short Pump) and we ended up at the man on a horse statue in downtown Richmond. Fortunately we had a cell phone and the phone number of the home we were trying to find.

p.s. I ignore Richard (our GPS) if he is crazy. I am slowing starting to use Google Maps. We were using Google Maps in Orlando last week and it kept dropping the GPS signal. It was annoying, especially with all the very crazy drivers in Orlando, where the speed limit seems to be just a suggestion.

 

[HavaDrPepper]

Share away! I don't have funny GPS stories - just annoyances. Like Google Maps, and GPS will tell you to get on and off the 215, even though the construction allowing you to stay on it, and just go straight is at least 2 years old! Or that the one exit by my house, maps don't know which road is which so it will tell you to get on the wrong piece of it.

The best GPS story I have was in 2008. 2 of my scrapping friends from Dayton and I were heading to London, Ontario for a scrapbook retreat. They each had breakfast before they got to my house to pick me up. We were heading up the highway, just north of Bowling Green OH and I was starving. I wanted a Big Breakfast from McDonald's. I've been up I-75 many times and could not remember where the next easy to get to McDonald's was. Stephanie had borrowed her mom's GPS that we called "Sally" for the trip. Jen decided to see if she could find the next closest McDonald's. While she was searching I saw a sign and yelled to get off next exit. Stephanie got off and I got my food. Jen put the GPS back in its holder and we continued on. Stephanie had the voice on and we kept hearing "Sally" tell us to turn around. This continued all the way thru Toledo and into Michigan and thru Detroit. We took the tunnel to cross into Canada. When we got on the other side, we were stopped at a light and a block or so in front of us was the return to the US tunnel entrance. "Sally" was telling us to turn to go back! Stephanie had had enough and pulled over to look at the GPS. It turns out in the searching for a McDonald's Jen had accidentally set it to go to "Aunt Olga's Kitchen", a restaurant in Toledo! For well over an hour, "Sally" was recalculating and trying to get us back to Toledo... Stephanie reset our destination and we continued on our journey with no further problems. During all of this "Sally" had gotten a new name... STUBBORN Sally.

Several years later Jen (same one) and I went to a wedding in Michigan. I drove and had my GPS, "Hannah" with us. "Hannah" had us going around in a circle for about 20 minutes because she didn't recognize the address of where we wanted to go. We finally got off that merry-go-round and on to the road that would take us to the church.

"Hannah" was also fun when I went to scrapbooking retreats in Berlin, Ohio several years. You see, Magellan, hadn't updated their maps (supposedly lifetime updates) and wanted $75 to update. I refused to pay that much and fought with them about it. When the maps were installed on the unit, there was a portion of Route 30 that was under construction so not showing on the maps. When I was driving there, the construction was done and I could drive on the new roadway. "Hannah" showed me driving on green grass I had to turn her voice off because she was so annoying. (I did eventually get a map update after proof that the unit I bought was to have lifetime updates but the next time I tried to update, they again wanted to charge me. I again fought with them about it and then the unit just flaked out on me when I tried to get the update. In the trash it went and my next unit was not a Magellan.)

 

[littlekiwi]

I did dispatching for 3 years so I have a general knowledge of locations but tend to use Google maps a fair bit. I often joke “if its not on a bus route im lost” as that is my main mode of transport and if its dark its 1000 times worse but as long as I know my landmarks im ok.

 

[AJK]

My story:
I navigated all the way from Fort Wayne, Indiana to New York border. Then hubster said " This is my home turf, I can take it from here. Well, we were headed to Long Island to see his family. If you've never traveled to LI, you don't know that rest stops and gas stations, etc are RARE. And there are tunnels, bridges you can get stuck on ( though not too often). So go to the bathroom BEFORE you make that 1 1/2 hour trip!!! WE did not. I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad to gooooooooooooooo!!!!!

But he kept saying- it won't be long... That was at 7pm. At 11pm we were LOST in Harlem! And I still had to go. Back then, it was said in The City that not even cops stopped in Harlem.

And there was no GPS, no Siri! Not sure how we got out of there, but we finally made it to his parent's house. OH boy. I navigate now!!!!