Twenty years ago I swore GPS was just a toy for weekend boaters.

Then I ran a dredge in Galveston Bay for 3 weeks straight in fog so thick you couldn't see the bow, and that little screen brought me back to the channel markers every single time - anyone else have a tool they poo-pooed for years before it proved itself?

3 comments

3 Comments

bettyroberts6d ago

Oh I love that "toy for weekend boaters" line because that's basically what I told my husband when he dropped cash on a handheld GPS for our car back in 2005. I said we had maps for a reason. Then we took a detour through some backwoods in Tennessee and every road sign was either missing or pointing to a town that didn't exist anymore. That little screen saved us from becoming permanent residents of a cornfield. Now I won't even drive to the grocery store without checking it first. Guess I was the real weekend boater all along.

susan_wright348d ago

Oh I love that line about it being a "toy for weekend boaters." That's exactly what I said about my dad's old Garmin GPS when he first got it. Then I got lost driving home from a job site in rural Pennsylvania at 2 in the morning with no cell service and dead road signs. That stupid little box got me out of there in forty minutes flat. Now I tell everyone it's the single best thing that ever happened to my sense of direction, which is apparently terrible.

adamr148d ago

@adamr14 Sounds like the fog finally cleared for you. I bet @susan_wright34 wishes she had that fog story as an excuse for her navigation skills though. GPS saved us both from becoming local legends in the wrong way.