Update on New Toy - GPS

Recently I wrote a post on new toys. I had just received my GPS as an early Christmas present. Well, here's an update.

Tuesday morning we took off for Columbia for an overnight visit. Ken was working and the kids and I were on our own. Before leaving home I entered the addresses of the hotel where we were staying, Sam's Club, and the store where Ken was working.

We dropped Ken off and headed out to Sam's using Greta to guide us. I was a touch nervous when she immediately directed us to go right out of the parking lot when I was sure I needed to go left. But...I did something unusual...I followed directions. You know - it worked! And before I knew it we were pulling in to the parking lot of Sam's in a city I am unfamiliar with.

While in Sam's I remembered there were two movies I was supposed to buy from Circuit City or Best Buy. On my way out I asked the door gentleman where I could find one of those two. He said to go to the intersection of "A" and "B" (I don't remember the street names) and it would be ahead on the left. I programmed Greta with the cross streets and away we went. We were only 4 minutes away, another 15 and I had my movies in hand and was planning our next stop! The "points of interest" listing had Sears and directed us right to the mall. Next stop was Taco Bell for lunch (we saw it and stopped). Office Max was next and it was found using the POI setting. Unfortunately, all of the Office Max stores in Columbia have gone out of business. We were in Target's parking lot now so that was ok, too. Well, it was getting late by this time so I called up the hotel address from my list of "favorites" and away we went. We relaxed in the lobby until time to go get Kenneth and with a few taps on the screen we were on the road and at our destination 12 minutes later.

So, as you can see, I continued to have fun with my toy. More importantly, though, was the sense of freedom and security. I've never been comfortable traveling out of the area. Probably because I have a poor sense of direction. This trip was completely different. It didn't miss a side street, turn, hwy exit - nothing. It showed (and said) exit numbers as well as names, used the street number as well as name (Hwy 29/Wade Hampton Blvd) and showed which side of the road the on ramp would be on. Too cool!

Yep -- there's nothing quite like new toys and this has been better than most!
Happy Toys to You!