When I drew this back in 2000, paying $1.70 for a gallon of gas seemed like highway robbery. By 2010, that would seem like a bargain, and we were convinced we’d never again see prices below $2. Well, we almost got there in the past few months, but not quite. Now, prices around here have crept up because of Hurricane Harvey, but that’s a small price to pay compared to the misery many of the storm’s direct victims are continuing to experience. As for gas-station road maps, they’re becoming obsolete at any price.
54 responses to “Treasure Maps”
I’m baaaak!
Me too about the maps. People say my travel routes look like a drunk leprechan plotted them. I say a direct line is boring.
I must teach Ghost to meander. He drives like the pilot he is. Direct and ahead of time with a tail wind.
I took the long road back to my hotel (in Cincinnati area) as I could not turn left to get back on I-75. I typed in the restaurant that I had lunch at as I left my credit card. Instead of taking me back to the Interstate, it took me on winding, hilly unlit roads. Eventually I got my bearings and arrived to pick up my card.
The trip from there back to my hotel is only a mile and I have taken the route many times. My phone popped up an email and I glanced to see who it was from. In just that instant I crossed the center line and I tossed the phone aside asking myself “Why did I just do that?” At that moment I saw someone walking on the side of the road and I had to swerve to keep from hitting the person.
I don’t need anyone yelling at me, I’ve been doing that to myself. Even with out the distraction, I was shocked at how quickly the person came in my line of view. Everyone needs to be carefully.
If I’m travelling out of state I like to have a road map incase GPS and/or cell reception is not good in spots. I get my maps from AAA as part of my membership and will also occasionally get a triptik as well for backup and construction info.
Jimmy: Jackie says a ridiculously circuitous path is the best, if not only, way to see America.
Being discharged now while having lunch. We will make a stop at plastic surgeon’s office for a dressing change and then to the hotel to reunite her with Dickens.
Having bought a GPS to help find my way around Oklahoma and save my cell phone, I found it was trying to send me via the highway every time, even if it was miles in the wrong direction and out of the way. Then I found the settings that let me choose to exclude toll roads and highways and I’m seeing places that the locals probably don’t know!
While visiting with Jackie last year we started having problems navigating with her smart phone. It took me quite a while to find out that Google had somehow switched to giving her the directions according to bicycle paths instead of driving directions.
Glad to hear you’re back Jackie. It would be a much duller place without you!
And yes, a road map or road atlas is like a catalog of places you wish for. It is inspiration for travel and daydreams too, a most wonderful piece of printing.
Ninety-five percent of Jackie is back at the hotel. (I did the math.) She’s a bit tired, of course, but otherwise doing really well. She says she looks and feels much better than she thought she would, for having had such a surgical procedure done. Also, that she’s very happy it wasn’t sex-change surgery. (Meee, too.)
Motor Carrier Atlases have replaced the old folding road maps for me. But instead of looking for the best roads for trucks, I’m looking for places trucks are warned to avoid… like some of those low bridges featured in that video I posted a week or three ago… or highways flagged as too narrow or otherwise not suited for large trucks. I can go there now!
Welcome back Jackie, may your healing be smooth and rapid.
As for maps, for years I carried maps of my state and the neighboring states in my car. Also being a belt and suspenders type I had a road atlas I kept rolled up next to the drivers seat. And to add insurance when I was in the military I discovered they did free trip tiks for military, so when I drove from Texas to Ohio to Alaska I had them make a trip tik for me to go with everything. Today I am a member of AAA and bought a road atlas, and get trip tiks for all my long distance trips to go with my aging GPS receiver.
Ford apparently licenses Garmin software for their in-vehicle navigation systems, and we have noticed the ones in the Mustang and the F150 are definitely biased toward four-lane routes. That’s especially aggravating in Tulsa, where the freeways resemble a plate-full of spaghetti, and NAV will put you one of them, then off and onto another one, just to get you to what would be a couple of miles direct on surface streets. Jackie says her younger got so p.o.’d that she will always use surface routes in Tulsa. Fortunately, she seems to have a pretty good “direction bump.”
And yes, I try to have a highway map for all states in which I travel, as backup to either in-vehicle or smartphone NAV, which can fail. And have done so on me.
You want circuitous? Try Ohio 555. Great ride. Be sure to stop for a bite at the Triple Nickel Restaurant in Chester Hill.
Sunday: $2.089/gallon. Yesterday (when I filled up): $2.459/gallon. No idea why, except possible gouging.
Maps: I can still find state maps in the roadside rests on Interstates. After that, not much is out there.
I was going to add that the back-up state highway maps I carry are available at state welcome centers and rest stops at a very reasonable price…free. But Rick beat me to it. And many state DOTs will you send you their free highway maps by mail when you order it through their web sites.
Ghost, I have a Garmin myself. And as I say, there are settings which let you avoid highways, toll roads, U-turns, etc.
https://scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/22089126_1435629299866619_7776486189608045234_n.jpg?oh=651cdd4a0d820291ef65d4639c033deb&oe=5A42593E
Mark from TTown:
When under time pressure, I use OnStar.
Otherwise, I use maps so that I can take the scenic routes and see the little towns that are now largely ignored or forgotten.
I guess that Charles Kuralt deeply influenced me.
Good morning Villagers…..
Finally going to cool down here. Humidity has been bad.
Got lots to do today……
I like maps too.
Mark, you may like this link…all kinds of tidbits of cat info:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/pets-animals/50-fascinating-facts-about-cats/ss-AAssjNT?li=BBnb7Kz
Reticulated giraffe.
https://explore.org/livecams/african-wildlife/african-watering-hole-animal-camera
and about GPS: http://www.gocomics.com/closetohome/2017/09/18
Giraffes at all 4 Kenya sites.
https://explore.org/livecams/african-wildlife/african-watering-hole-animal-camera
Happy Wednesday, Villagers!
Jackie, good to see you’re doing well! And Ghost Sweetie, remember to take care of yourself while you’re taking care of Jackie.
I have been slightly out of touch for a few days. I went to Asheville with my sister, my daughter, and her flatmate. We had a wonderful trip, and I want to go back and see all the places we missed this time. Yes, the hotel had WIFI, but it was slower than molasses in January, so checking in here was near impossible. Today is laundry and catch-up day, which is the bad part of any trip. Still, I am glad to be back in the Village. I missed you folks!
Charles Kuralt, John Steinbeck and William Leastheat Moon.
That is what Ghost and I are going to do, shunpike across America.
Yes Blue Highways by William Leastheat Moon is one of the great “road trip” books of all time. Self discovery and celebration of backwoods Mom and Pop diners all in one, set on the back roads and highways of America. It really struck a chord with me because I have long taken the back roads when I can. Once my wife and I found a river ferry in KY poking around back roads. Back when we found it a boat with an outboard on it pushed it across the river.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_View_Ferry
Ursen: Looks a lot like this one – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gates_Ferry
We had a ferry like this in front of our house in Louisiana for about a 100 years. It was pulled by hand cables although the ferryman usually had a boat tied to it.