During our 8 1/2 hour trip the other day, I drove more than 3/4 of the way. We had to navigate a lot of country roads for hours before finally hitting a dedicated highway. It was beautiful as some of the leaves were changing and we saw deer and wild turkeys along the way.
My husband was in the passenger seat using his iPhone to guide us to the next turn. When he took over to drive I reached into the console and pulled out Maggie. A few years ago he bought me a Magellan and bought himself a more powerful one. I gave mine to his mother because she liked it, so got his because he prefers the iPhone.
That’s how things work in this family. If he wants the new thing, I get the hand-me-down. It’s OK. I don’t like the non-querty keyboard or its counter-intuitiveness but once Maggie found us by GPS and I punched in our home address, she was a good friend indeed. Jim had both Maggie and his iPhone handy while I made strategic turns.
The calm British voice (no she never said “mind the gap”) talked me through some rough spots and the “ding ding” atta girl signal for doing the right thing (clicker training for adults) was accompanied by two pats on the head from hubby!
A few weeks ago Jim’s mother was here with our nephew. I was trying in vain to get them to The Domes, a fascinating museum with different climates and a special exhibit on wind energy. New here, I was trying to find the few roads that cross over the railroad tracks.
Jim’s mom had Maggie and we tossed my iPhone to nine year-old J in the back seat and between them and a 1/2 hour trip throughout South Milwaukee, we made it there. Coming back was a breeze. I initially got the name of the park wrong and we ended up at the stadium, which was cool in and of itself because we could see workers way up on the roof that opens.
But don’t discount Maggie. When I’m driving in a new place by myself, I enter my destination before I put the car in Drive and then I don’t have to pull over and look at a map. My gently used 9 year-old SUV crossover is wonderful but it was constructed the year before they put in nav systems. Mags works for a living and I am only too happy to keep her on life support in the console. Atta girl! Ding ding. Dee
Cooking with Dee 