GPS - A Favorite Thing

My sense of direction is extremely poor. Add to that a very limited memory and you have someone who can’t find her way out of a paper bag. My days have always consisted of lots of wrong turns and endless late arrivals. I purchased a GPS off the Woot a couple of years ago and it literally changed my life.

In the past, when I was visiting someone, I either went where they took me or stayed in the house. Venturing out on my own was an exercise in frustration in which I was very unlikely to indulge. The difference the GPS has made in my life was brought home to me in a very real way the other day. I’m staying at my sister’s house in Georgia this week. She lives in a gated community about 20 miles west of Atlanta in what is still a fairly rural area full of lots of winding roads. The other day she and her children had some appointments and left me home alone. Normally I would have stayed in the house, watching TV or cooking or reading a book, awaiting their return. Instead, armed with my trusty GPS I zoomed over to my storage unit, went to the grocery store and the post office and took a little drive through her local town before returning home. It was a real pleasure.

Nowadays I can sally forth with confidence that my GPS (my nephews named her Gia) will save me from myself. I detour; I follow intriguing road signs; I act on whims and caprices. Gia has set me free.

My GPS is a Garmin Street Pilot. She’s not perfect. Because I bought this one on the Woot it was not the latest model and doesn’t have a lot of options. If I were buying another I’d get one with more variation in the way you can set your route. I’d like to be able to choose things like use (or avoid) the freeway, take me on the scenic route or get me there as quickly as possible. That issue notwithstanding, I love having a GPS and can’t imagine doing without one again!

Do you have a GPS? Do you use it? Do you love it?