Exhibiting unusual preplanning, Bucky recently purchased our new GPS. Miraculously, our former GPS girl, Samantha, with her calm reassuring voice also arrived in the Magellan box. It would be good to have our old friend with us in our travels. As soon as the new GPS arrived, Bucky spent time fussing with the settings and frequently urged me to witness the many new helpful features. I did so with little or no interest. He assured me that the difficulties encountered with our old GPS would no longer infuriate us. No longer would we need to enter "recreation" then scroll down a long list... horseback riding, sky diving, water park, all in an effort to find camping. Now, with a simple touch of the screen, a modern well erected tent appears leading us to the nearest camping area. No longer will we need to enter "pharmacy" to find Walmart, so often our hotel parking while on the road. Now, just hit W and the round, yellow smile appears beckoning us to spend the night. I agreed with Bucky that these seemed like great improvements over our old GPS with its outdated software. Too frequently it had , sent us to boarded up restaurants and defunct gas stations. Once, when trying to find a new Walmart in the suburbs of Calgary, Samantha was forced to frantically "recalculate", r"ecalculate" and "recalculate", until I thought I sensed our own frustration come through in Samantha's usually calm voice. Our new GPS would make traveling sooo much better. So, why are we showing no progress?
Exhibiting no advanced planning, two days ago, Bucky suddenly realized the need for a Greyhawk oil change. Fortunately, the "we take anything in trade" folks at G Stone Motors were able to sneak the RV in. In hind sight, our new GPS might have made a good trade! The time spent at the garage gave Bucky a chance to inquire about synchronizing our Bluetooth technology, all of which is beyond my comprehension. Bluetooth, what a lame name, how does that term relate to anything technical? It seems more closely connected to an absessed tooth than to making our phone, GPS and radio somehow inexplicably linked. We were both surprised later, somewhere near Seneca, Ny to hear Levi's voice arrive in surround sound from our GPS! Yay! We can now speak ot our GPS, but still have no clue where we are on I 90. The GPS'd inability to move beyond the Wagon Wheel Road turned out to be just the tip of our technology iceberg. Hoping to keep the Greyhawk afloat, I used Google search on Bucky's phone looking for much needed answers. It was then, as the phone began to die, that I searched quickly for the car charger only to realize I had neglected to bring it.. No biggy, I would use our nifty hot spot to connect my laptop to the internet and continue to solve this GPS mystery. Hot spot on, computer on, connection made, Google hit, nothing! What the heck? Giant red X between hotspot and computer! As the hotspot's battery diminished I went to the back of the Hawk to retrieve the power cord or the inverter. Hmmm, where could they be? Oh, I know! Right where I left them both, sitting at home. Did Samantha know all this? Is this why she didn't want us to leave? At present, Bucky's phone is our only working piece of technology because it unexplainably can share a cord with the Kindle! Sometimes I feel there is a higher being. We're not going down, but I feel the Hawk listing. I guess in the future more thought should be given to packing cords and connectors than the adequate number of socks and underwear. Or, maybe Samantha would like us to return to the days of accordian folded maps and, yes, I can fold them on my first try, and find our way by stopping to ask directions. There is one motto that Bucky and I have lived by when traveling, "whatever we have forgotten can be found at Walmart". This once required a 8 mile walk in flip flops to the Windham, ME. Walmart to buy the running shoes that Bucky had forgotten.
Now, as daylight fades, I hope these tired eyes can see that tall, big, blue sign!
Walmart, on our fist night, Erie, PA
