| Author | Message | ||
     Kansas |
GPS, I get it. Can we talk about the merits of getting lost? | ||
| Kansas |
 We've all seen things. Share with the class. | ||
| Portero72 |
 Getting lost Rules! | ||
| Portero72 |
 Texas CAN be pretty. | ||
| Atoms |
In defense of the GPS, the most uh, challenging dirt/gravel/rock strewn "road" we (yes, with the wyfe on the back) took this year was BECAUSE of the GPS directing us to a campsite in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. We were not technically lost, but it sure felt like it. I was in over my head, the road kept getting more rugged and it was getting dark. We never would have been there if not for the GPS and my failure to check the "avoid washed out, critter infested, steep and rocky dirt roads" option. I actually bailed after a mile or so, but even that was tricky as there was not much room for turning around and that '07 steering lock... In retrospect it makes for a great story, but at the time it was not very much fun. | ||
| Kansas |
No problem Atoms. This is not an anti-technology thread. One can't be a Luddite and take digital photos. Thanks for the story! | ||
| Sekalilgai |
wandering about Goblin Valley State Park in the Utah desert....after dark...dodging the critters and generally not distracted by the kaput GPS  | ||
| Paralegalpete |
Well I do my best to get lost without the gps and then use it to get me home when I've had enough fun.  | ||
| Johnboy777 |
For me at least, having a GPS on my bike defeats the whole idea. I vote for getting lost - then figuring out how to get back... or getting there with just a basic idea beforehand. YMMV . | ||
| Trevd |
Actually, on a recent trip with a buddy down to eastern TN and Georgia, I wished for a GPS because my buddy is directionally challenged, and I found myself doing this too many times:  And at the end of a long day when you're looking for a campground, I think a GPS could have helped relieve some frustration. | ||
| Thetable |
I far prefer paper maps, something about pulling out a map saying I want to go from here to here, and these roads look interesting. Trying to do this on a little GPS screen or even a full size computer monitor, just isn't the same. I do carry my iPhone with its somewhat functional GPS, for the I have 30 miles to go before the tank hits bone dry. My best rides seem to be when I am not looking at any directions though, just following intuition on which roads look like they would be interesting, and go the same general direction I want to go. Sun rises in the east and sets in the west; I don't even need no stinkin' compass.   (Message edited by thetable on August 12, 2009) | ||
| Rotorhead |
I love getting lost even with the GPS. You know the roads that only appear when you zoom way in. Riding along and see one pop up and taking that road you never was there before is cool. Those are the roads always worth taking. "Getting lost" is a mind set to most of us that have purchased a ULY. Now talking on a cell phone while your riding!!! That's one never taken when I'm "Getting lost". They normally don't work where those zoomed in roads go anyway. | ||
| Hmartin |
I study maps before I head out, and I've got Streets and Trips on my phone if I get too turned around. GPS's are pretty cheap, now, but I still prefer to let the road talk to me. U-turns on a Uly are better with practice. All three of these pictures were unexpected finds while out "exploring" one day.    I tell my wife all the time, "I'm not lost; I'm exploring!" | ||
| Reepicheep |
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| Wolfridgerider |
But sometimes the GPS lies.... and takes you down a "Fun" road  | ||
| Court |
 | ||
| Paralegalpete |
My gps found this road yesterday   | ||
| Ourdee |
I use an old E-trex that doesn't have a map. It just tells me how far it is and the direction on the compass to some coordinate that I have entered off a map. As good as being lost at times. It is how I found RattleSnake campground in Indiana. Pavement and bridges end before you get there. I drove through 3 creeks. Campground has a one hole outhouse, no water, no elec. | ||
| Froggy |
An E-Trex? You would be better off having an old blind lady pointing which way to go. | ||
| Reepicheep |
What I love about a GPS, is that I know I can take any random intriguing looking turn, at any moment and for any reason, and know I can still get home without an excessive "this is stupid" factor. That picture above was taken on the "offroad" alternative to the Cherohola highway. No way I would have found it, or been able to follow it, without a working and flexible GPS. (Of course that route still blew an engine before I was done, literally, but it was all part of the adventure... HTFU.  ). | ||
| Ourdee |
I have a compass if it breaks. Yep the old yellow E-Trex, Why is there something better out there Froggy? | ||
| Pso |
Wife and I use my GPS to deadhead when out camping in areas we have never been. gets us back to trailer. Also use it to find some good remote tracks not on maps in strange places. Also in back Appalachine areas talking with local riders it is easier to plot to a good dirt road on the GPS than following some of the complicated directions. My GPS also has NEXRAD weather radar so I have been able to skirt some nasty storms on long trips. |
