Traveling with the GPS

[H. John Kohl]

We have had two interesting incidents.
Two weekends ago coming home from Norfolk, VA. We wanted lunch and exited near Williamsburg with the estimate of a restaurant about 3 miles away. After a long enough time (over six miles) we said the heck with it and started back for the main high way. Following the GPS guidance we towed right through Williamsburg. Interesting at a couple of intersections but no problems.

Today near Lancaster I missed my turn to get on the route 23 and followed the GPS suggestion on secondary roads. One sign said bridge clearance 13ft 3 in. That is our clearance minimum and that is CLOSE. When we got to the bridge it was 13ft 3 in but also an old wooden covered bridge with a 3 TON limit. OH NO MR. BILL! I back up and the care taker of the plush horse farm said yep happens about three times a week. He opened the pasture gate we pulled it the nice wide gate, did a turn around noticing three other sets of tracks and headed back the way we came.

Yes we have to be responsible too. I am going to send a note to the county that the 13ft 3in sign should also have the 3 ton limit sign on it.

Cheers,

[boylanag]

We also learned to read directions in a campground directory for the route from a highway to a campground. The GPS would sometimes take on the kind of roads you speak of, John, and sometimes we ended up on two track paths. We use the GPS to take us close and then rely on other methods (Trailer Life Directory, C2C Directory, etc) to get us into the park.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

John, glad you did not take off the roof or fall in the river!

I have such mixed emotions about a GPS. Some of it is great, and other parts, well, lets say, I cannot repeat what I think outloud. SIGH

I find I still use maps, several, as each version will show different amounts of detail. I also use different mapping programs, as we have found that they will route differently, even for "shortest". Different software, different route.

Lately, I have been finding what tends to work better for me, is to do short routes, start a new one at the beginning of each travel day. Also am using a big Atlas map to assist in routing. I look at that Atlas real hard, use Streets and Trips to give me some ideas on shortest and fastest routes, then pick some of the cities or towns I want to go through and tell the mapping program that info.

Also does what Jim is suggesting, use other resources to verify route into a campground.

Makes me chuckle, we used to travel half way across the country, with maps. How DID we do it??

[boylanag]

Yes, Carol. With maps and no GPS, cell phones or computers. How did we do it? It is not quiet as hot here today as it has been but, Tom, watermelon sounds kinda good about now!

[H. John Kohl]

Well I do use the GPS as my Map and Compass. It worked for me but as stated in other posts, we have to be responsible. I did email the township suggesting the put a 3 TON limit sign at the intersection where the 13' 3" height sign was.
I too pre-plan our trips on the computer with Delorme Mapping. That lets me know what route I want to take and then set the truck GPS to route me.
As my wife said this is an adventure.
Cheers,

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

John, let us know if you hear from the township, that would be interesting.

I think that is neat that you went to the extra effort to write them.

[msmoonsatx]

I have found that using the address function in the GPS is more reliable than using the feature function. Using the feature function we located a campground in Colorado Springs and started to use the directions provided. We ended up in a neighborhood that did not remotely resemble the campground. When we input the address of the campground the GPS took us right to it. After looking at a map we found that the campground was opposite the neighborhood across a small canyon.

We have found that we can hook up the GPS to the computer in the car and link to the Trailer Life CD. We then have two GPS units going, one with the campgrounds shown in Trailer Life. I now double check the directions on the CD with the directions being given by the GPS unit.

[richfaa]

Right now we have 2 GPS units in the truck. One our trusty GPS -18 and the other a Lowrance unit that we got free when we leased our present 08 Honda. We programed the same route in both on our trip to Centre Hall, pa.. They were close but different.. I am hearing one GPS voice say turn right and the other saying turn left. One saying exit at the next exit and the other her saying continue 6.5 miles to exit..... The difference was the inability to tell the Lowrance unit that I was a Truck. That one will stay in the Honda.

[RRman]

While its useful and accurate most of the time, our silly GPS could not find a "remote" but long established COE Campground using either name, road address, etc. Paper maps and road signs got us there, and all the while the GPS knew where we were and even knew the street address of the COE Campground when we got there!

Recently, we had to go to a home in a local subdivision and relied on the GPS. It claimed it knew how to get to the address, but took us to the back of the subdivision on the wrong road and claimed we had arrived. Fortunately, we spotted the Street name layout on our way through the subdivision and were able to backtrack to the correct neighborhood / street and find our destination on our own.

Its fun, but someday will surely frustrate us a great deal...