Asking for directions...old custom now

[JDgreen227]

When I moved to a semi-rural area back in 1988, during the warmer months when I was working outside on the yard, flowerbeds, or house, people would frequently stop and ask me for directions. I was always happy to be of assistance. But about the year 2000, the frequency really tapered off, and although I have been retired since 2002 and am outside more frequently, I don't think anyone has ever stopped to ask for directions for 9 years now.

Guess Mapquest, cell phones, and GPS have ended getting lost for most people. But I remember when I drove straight trucks for a living, all over Michigan, with about 400 different delivery locations. All I had then was a state road map, and a Detroit city map. The Detroit maps alone had about 100 different locations marked on it...:laughing:

It would be funny to see people today try finding places with only maps again...

And I kinda miss helping those wayward folks.

 

[sandman2234]

When I moved to a semi-rural area back in 1988, during the warmer months when I was working outside on the yard, flowerbeds, or house, people would frequently stop and ask me for directions. I was always happy to be of assistance. But about the year 2000, the frequency really tapered off, and although I have been retired since 2002 and am outside more frequently, I don't think anyone has ever stopped to ask for directions for 9 years now.

Guess Mapquest, cell phones, and GPS have ended getting lost for most people. But I remember when I drove straight trucks for a living, all over Michigan, with about 400 different delivery locations. All I had then was a state road map, and a Detroit city map. The Detroit maps alone had about 100 different locations marked on it...:laughing:

It would be funny to see people today try finding places with only maps again...

And I kinda miss helping those wayward folks.

People are still getting lost with GPS and cell phones, they just call their destination to find out what the best route is, or get the GPS to "recalculate".
CB radio's were another method for directions, but those are going by the wayside also.
Maps??? What is that?
David from jax

 

[Sutol]

I spent 40 yrs as a truck driver driving artics (semi) and hardly ever had to consult a map as I knew where most places were.

I dont know if these new electronic finder things are a good thing or not. One thing is that people dont concentrate on where they are going they just follow the nice electronic lady's instructions and havnt a clue how they got there

We used to have people calling who had broken down or needed to use a phone but they have mobile phones now and the cars dont break down any more.

Do you think we are loosing contact with each other in the new instant contact society?

 

[JDgreen227]

People are still getting lost with GPS and cell phones, they just call their destination to find out what the best route is, or get the GPS to "recalculate".
CB radio's were another method for directions, but those are going by the wayside also.
Maps??? What is that?
David from jax

What are CB radio's....another gadget that can use the newest 4G technology.....:laughing:

 

[creekbend]

What are CB radio's....another gadget that can use the newest 4G technology.....:laughing:

BREAKER:BREAKER It looks like we've got us a CONVOY.

 

[Combustix]

I guess if you need directions you could use facebook lol.

 

[JDgreen227]

I guess if you need directions you could use facebook lol.[/QUOTE

Have been on Facebook for a year, carry the mobile app in my Blackberry, but darned if I know how to get directions that way. Could just use Google if I had to.

 

[two_bit_score]

Yeah. People don't ask for directions to get to places much anymore. But I think it started before GPS became prevalent. Seems to me people just got to where the could not give directions.

I was in California in 1981 and was amazed at the ability and accuracy with which people could give directions. Seriously, if you were at an intersection and rolled your window down and asked the guy in the next car how to get some place you could tell by his response that he knew what he was talking about. If he said go ten blocks, make a right, three blocks it's on your left and you did it you were there. This happened over and over.

Just a few short years and nobody out there seemed to be able to even know where they were much less tell you how to get anywhere. GPS still wasn't even around so that wasn't it.

Maps? I'm glad to still see maps in stores but I wonder how long that will last.

I don't have a GPS or a phone with it. I travel extensively throughout Texas and carry a few maps just in case but usually don't need them.

I think we've reached a bad place when we can't give directions or Read a map without a blinking light or a 'drop pin' on it.

.

 

[Phils]

I spent 40 yrs as a truck driver driving artics (semi) and hardly ever had to consult a map as I knew where most places were.

My wife and I drove cross-country for almost a decade starting in the late 70's.

By the time we quit, we had a bag with at least 20 pounds of maps. We usually had every map except the one we needed.

We have a friend from then that is STILL driving. He's got his GPS, of course, and a cell phone.. and plugs into the internet at truck stops.

Yes, THAT life has changed for the better.

Phil

 

[JD15302155870]

I hate GPS and the annoying voice. I refuse to buy one. Anyway, I've seen some of the most interesting people, places and things riding around lost. Eventually you'll always end up somewhere.

 

[JDgreen227]

I hate GPS and the annoying voice. I refuse to buy one. Anyway, I've seen some of the most interesting people, places and things riding around lost. Eventually you'll always end up somewhere.

When I drove for a living, I never really got lost....but there were quite a few times when I wasn't quite sure where I was...:laughing:

But as you say, you'll always end up somewhere.

In the early days I was learning my way around, I was trying to find a certain office that was on 33rd, I got direction from a gas station map and when I found 33rd, it was pretty much a rural gravel road...I drove up and down that road for an hour, looking for a certain address...went back to the station to look at the map again, and guess what...there was ANOTHER 33rd across town....I had been trying to find 33rd STREET on 33rd ROAD. Last time I ever made that mistake.

 

[two_bit_score]

When I drove for a living, I never really got lost....but there were quite a few times when I wasn't quite sure where I was...:laughing:

But as you say, you'll always end up somewhere.

In the early days I was learning my way around, I was trying to find a certain office that was on 33rd, I got direction from a gas station map and when I found 33rd, it was pretty much a rural gravel road...I drove up and down that road for an hour, looking for a certain address...went back to the station to look at the map again, and guess what...there was ANOTHER 33rd across town....I had been trying to find 33rd STREET on 33rd ROAD. Last time I ever made that mistake.

In Austin, Texas we have a major east-west artery that changes names 5 times from one side of town to the other.

 

[sandman2234]

I guess if you need directions you could use facebook lol.[/QUOTE

Have been on Facebook for a year, carry the mobile app in my Blackberry, but darned if I know how to get directions that way. Could just use Google if I had to.

You just post on your wall that you need to go somewhere and the next person to see it will give you directions, posted right there on your wall. Depending on the number of "friends" and how often they check in with you will determine just how long the directions will take (or how accurate!!) My friends might be a while if they are waiting on me to check in on Facebook...

As far as directions,
I gave up maps somewhere around 1997 when I got lost in Tupelo, Ms. Actually wasn't lost, just couldn't find a business that I had an street name for, and directions. Seemed that they had moved the previous month and nobody seemed to know where they were. I finally found somebody that was a second cousin to a foreman that worked there, and they called him at home (at 3 am) to find out where they had moved to. When I got home, I purchased a laptop, added a mapping program and never looked back. The GPS for the laptop wasn't added till years later, because I could always figure out where "I" was by selecting the two streets at the nearest intersection. A lot better than a GPS, because I could see any area of the trip by simply zooming in on it, and could see "a better route" if I needed to, whereas a GPS pretty much just shows you where you are and what to expect on the route it picks for you. Not a good thing for a semi-truck. For example, routing from Jacksonville, Florida to Chattanooga, Tn will go right thru the middle of Atlanta, but with a laptop, you can section off any unwanted areas. With the GPS, you have to know what exit to get off on, which way is better, and wait for the GPS to decide that you don't want to make a U-turn or get off on the next 10 exits and go back.
David from jax

 

[jmurray01]

One, and probably the only modern thing I like, is GPS systems.

We have one, and it got us to our holiday in Edinburgh (LMF members may remember my thread, and may even still be drying the tears from me leaving for 5 days...) without a single mistake.

 

[EddieWalker]

I get a few people a year that pull into my place and then ask for directions. I'm on the North part of the road, and the South part is close to 15 miles away, but that seems to be the mistake most people that I've talked to make. The others are being nosey and wanting to see what's at the end of my driveway and I think asking directions is the quick lie that they come up with.

I used to carry a bunch of maps around. I still have one for the city and county in my glove box, but haven't looked at them in years. I used to print where I was going from mapquest or yahoo maps, but now I just put it in my phone and follow the GPS to where I want to go. So far, it's always proven to be dead accurate!!!!!

One more reason for a smart phone.

Eddie

 

[orezok]

My GPS usually tells me "You can't get there from here... You have to go somewhere else and start!"

 

[JDgreen227]

One, and probably the only modern thing I like, is GPS systems.

We have one, and it got us to our holiday in Edinburgh (LMF members may remember my thread, and may even still be drying the tears from me leaving for 5 days...) without a single mistake.

Yeah, and you big fake, you promised to post pictures of your "caravan" as you called it, and then when I pestered you about that, you put up photos of mobile homes.

What a farce that was....

 

[jmurray01]

Yeah, and you big fake, you promised to post pictures of your "caravan" as you called it, and then when I pestered you about that, you put up photos of mobile homes.

What a farce that was....

Caravans are Mobile Homes! :laughing:

 

[JDgreen227]

Caravans are Mobile Homes! :laughing:

And you led us on BIG TIME, making all that hoopla about the "caravan" you were going on:

A "Caravan" according to Wikipedia, is as you described it:

"A group of people traveling together". And THAT is what you said you would post pictures of.

TAKE HEED, MEMBERS OF LMF....jmurray01 may be a good lad, but he is not as honest as he would appear to be....:laughing:

 

[jmurray01]

And you led us on BIG TIME, making all that hoopla about the "caravan" you were going on:

A "Caravan" according to Wikipedia, is as you described it:

"A group of people traveling together". And THAT is what you said you would post pictures of.

TAKE HEED, MEMBERS OF LMF....jmurray01 may be a good lad, but he is not as honest as he would appear to be....:laughing:

You've ruined me!