My sense of direction is not great. In fact, it’s not even adequate. But after living in Minneapolis for ten years, I could usually find my way around. All the same, I tended to stick rigidly to the routes I knew & avoided experimenting with new ones. Sure, that other road might have gotten me to my destination–more quickly, more directly–but it’s equally probable that the road would end, or be under construction, or veer off in an unexpected direction, or take me straight off a cliff. Best to stick with the known.
These street smarts were earned over the course of a decade. And now I’m back at zero. I’ve been here almost two months (?!), and I can now identify a couple of major streets and roads. I even experimented with a new way to get to work, and it actually got me to work! A major accomplishment.
For wholly unfamiliar destinations, I’ve been relying on Google Maps. But Google Maps is often wrong. My previous experiences with the site have been uniformly positive; I always got from A to B with minimal fuss. Here, it’s a different story. Either someone changed some of the street names without informing Google, or Google is deliberately trying to sabotage me.
A scenario much like this one has played out several times in the last two weeks:
–I start out with printed directions in hand. I’ve highlighted the turns & read through the directions a few times prior to departure.
–The trip starts out pleasantly enough. I know the major roads near my apartment building, so the first few steps in the directions give me no trouble.
–As I get closer to my destination, however, the sky takes on a menacing cast and road signs shimmer like far-off mirages. I scan the signs desperately for my exit–let’s call it the Electric Avenue exit in this example–but no such exit appears.
–Anxiety mounting, I drive on even though I’ve begun to suspect I’ve missed the exit. Eventually, I wind up crossing a major road I know to be waaay past my destination. I turn around.
–No Electric Avenue exit from this direction either.
–I get off the beltway again, pull over in a quiet neighborhood, and take the Houston map out of the glove box. But Electric Avenue is not marked anywhere on the map.
–I look at the directions, the address, and the map, and then decide to a) go home, b) call the place for better directions, or c) drive around aimlessly until the place has definitely closed, then pursue option a).
It’s not just Google Maps, either. Apparently, no online mapping service has ever actually visited Houston. They steer me toward streets that don’t exist or devise torturous, meandering routes involving U-turns, merges, and ever-more-extreme automotive acrobatics, all performed as I’m clutching the printed directions and trying not to hit other cars while reading those closely-printed lines and driving at 65 mph.
No more, I say!!
Another yet another frustrating navigational snafu last night, I marched right out at the earliest opportunity and bought a GPS for my car. I think this will change my life. I picture myself driving directly to each destination, guided by the soothing and infallible voice of the GPS. I will arrive on time and unruffled.
But part of me is afraid of a result like this.
You know what always got me about Houston was the lack of distinctive physical landmarks–around where I used to live, at least. That combined with the endless sprawl was not good for my sense of direction. Apparently it has the same effect on Google Maps.
Yeah the GPS is the way to go. I call mine “Betty” and she has yet to let me down. The only downside is that I’m helpless-feeling without her, unless it’s a trip to a very familiar place, like the grocery store or my own carport.