Don and I have returned from our Florida trip. I hope my friend had a birthday to remember. Between dives and eating at fabulous restaurants, we explored. Not all necessarily by choice. Greta the Garmin LIES. She lies. She lies worse than sticky handed kid who denies eating candy.
More than once we ended up in The Hood in several coastal Florida cities. Most embarrassing was having to do several U-turns and going by the same ‘good eyes’ and the men sitting on stoops. I’m sure these were all nice people and understood when I shrugged. A happy note, I got to see some brightly Easter egg colored houses. Key Lime green, robin egg blue, Pepto pink, Florida orange–these were all in the same block. And palm trees. I love palm trees.
While trying to find Festival Flea Market, Greta kept sending us to the Florida Turnpike. We didn’t want to go that way, so off we went with the Garmin screaming, “Recalculating!” :-) At one corner of the hood, there was a guy who must have been trying to get some girls rides as he approached cars stopped at the traffic light. Those two young girls needed a meal or three as they were quite thin. Quite sad, really.
As we traveled farther, we decided it was a game of wits. Her against us. We were the big winners. The journey was filled with laughs, excellent conversation, beautiful sites and just being together was soul-satisfying.
My unsolicited advice: when using a GPS buy/print/pick up a REAL paper map.
Had a similar experience. Drove from Palm Beach intending to circle Okeechobee and ended up in Belle Glade – truly heartbreaking to go from extreme wealth to desperate poverty. Sometimes an unexpected diversion can be an eye-opener
and make you view life a little differently.
Kathy–
We have the same in the Dallas area.
Our GPS has a name. Susan. I call her “The B@$#&”. After our last trip she is unplugged and buried in the console never to be heard from again. The navigator on my smart phone is easier, nicer and doesn’t tell me to make a “U turn at the next available opportunity.”
Debbie–
LOL…What? No ‘recalculating?’ No fair dumping Susan in the console. If I could read my phone, then maybe I’d use it more. Might try with the iPad.
Glad your phone doesn’t talk back.
Hey now, Meg, with the “meal or three”!!! Lol
Melissa–
You’re beautiful and with the handful of kids you corral everyday….. Yeah, a meal or 3.
Bob’s Garmin is named Matilda, and not only does she not know where she’s going half the time, she can’t pronounce our Oklahoma/Indian names AT ALL. I much prefer maps or asking questions.
Marilyn–
Is Matilda still with an Austrailan accent? I can’t even pronounce all the Oklahoma/Indian names either.
You know I’m sooo bad about asking directions–forge on! Let’s explore.
So…you will ride shotgun while I drive. I’ll make you in charge of Greta and the maps. Have you decided where we’re roadtripping yet?
Yep, she’s still Matilda DownUnder.
I like that piece of paper. What can I say? I’m old. LOL
Ours is Regan. The kidlet named her when she was about 6. I still don’t know where she got that name considering her animals are all called: Bubblegum (pink/white dog) or Fuzzy (a bear). We always take both paper and Regan, well, we have to take Regan since she’s integrated into the car, but you know what I mean. There’s many a time Regan would send us into a cow pasture when there was a perfectly good road a quarter mile away. Sometimes it’s better to test them out on familiar roads before you start the unknown territory.
Our house has been here 30 years, and Matilda insists our address doesn’t exist.