boknows
Adventurer
Well, I am new to the forum but I have really enjoyed it thus far and can’t believe I’ve not found until recently. I drove across country last year from Florida to Washington State for work and stopped along a few NPs along the way, in doing so I found some interesting quirks with my GPS. I used my Garmin Etrex Legend Cx loaded with North America City Navigator because my Garmin Nuvi 350 had recently been stolen (damn thieves). This story is from last year but figured it was worth telling.
We drove our 2006 T4R and in tow were my 97 Jeep TJ, my 8 ½ pregnant wife and 3 year old daughter. It was a full house to say the least and both vehicles were packed to the brim. We decided that it’s not often you get to drive across the country and so we might as well try and stop at a few National Parks along the way. We took the Northern route and decided to stop at the Badlands State Park, SD and Yellowstone, and a few others.
The Garmin Etrex worked efficiently, plotting concise routing along the way and I manipulated the routes using Map Source in the evenings if there was something we wanted to add along the way. Only when I missed the turn in big cities, unintentional or not (I like to tell myself and my wife that I am just testing the GPS for accuracy), did the Etrex get overloaded trying to process too much information.
Well, we finally got to the Badlands State Park and for those of you that have been there before; you know you can drive through the Park from North to South. Also the town of Wall is right there and what a cool drugstore they have…no kidding it’s like a theme park for travelers. The plan was to drive from I-90 South through the park and get on Highway 44 that ran West, Parallel to I-90 until we got to Rapid City where we would jump back onto I-90. Being that it was March the park had not officially opened but you could drive through nonetheless as we proceeded to do. By the time we had gotten through the park and about 5 miles onto SR44 my wife’s already small bladder was apparently being jumped on by my unborn son and she started giving me the look(need bathroom, food or whatever the hell else a pregnant women wants). So, being technologically savvy, I say Garmin give me the fastest way to Rapid City. To which it replies (not actually talking back but I am talking to the GPS) make a right turn on the upcoming road go back through the park 15 miles and onto I-90W. Then I get the countdown, 200m 100m and just as we are slowing down and getting closer I see a dirt two track road with a locked gate. I was actually more surprised than anything to see that not only was this was an actual road recorded on the GPS but that it would take me to Rapid City faster. …………….
Picture of Wall drug store, my T4R/Jeep setup, GPS telling me to make a right on 201 Ave and a pic of 201st Ave gate, this road looked abandoned for 50 years!
We drove our 2006 T4R and in tow were my 97 Jeep TJ, my 8 ½ pregnant wife and 3 year old daughter. It was a full house to say the least and both vehicles were packed to the brim. We decided that it’s not often you get to drive across the country and so we might as well try and stop at a few National Parks along the way. We took the Northern route and decided to stop at the Badlands State Park, SD and Yellowstone, and a few others.
The Garmin Etrex worked efficiently, plotting concise routing along the way and I manipulated the routes using Map Source in the evenings if there was something we wanted to add along the way. Only when I missed the turn in big cities, unintentional or not (I like to tell myself and my wife that I am just testing the GPS for accuracy), did the Etrex get overloaded trying to process too much information.
Well, we finally got to the Badlands State Park and for those of you that have been there before; you know you can drive through the Park from North to South. Also the town of Wall is right there and what a cool drugstore they have…no kidding it’s like a theme park for travelers. The plan was to drive from I-90 South through the park and get on Highway 44 that ran West, Parallel to I-90 until we got to Rapid City where we would jump back onto I-90. Being that it was March the park had not officially opened but you could drive through nonetheless as we proceeded to do. By the time we had gotten through the park and about 5 miles onto SR44 my wife’s already small bladder was apparently being jumped on by my unborn son and she started giving me the look(need bathroom, food or whatever the hell else a pregnant women wants). So, being technologically savvy, I say Garmin give me the fastest way to Rapid City. To which it replies (not actually talking back but I am talking to the GPS) make a right turn on the upcoming road go back through the park 15 miles and onto I-90W. Then I get the countdown, 200m 100m and just as we are slowing down and getting closer I see a dirt two track road with a locked gate. I was actually more surprised than anything to see that not only was this was an actual road recorded on the GPS but that it would take me to Rapid City faster. …………….
Picture of Wall drug store, my T4R/Jeep setup, GPS telling me to make a right on 201 Ave and a pic of 201st Ave gate, this road looked abandoned for 50 years!
This is about the time it all hit me. I am 20 miles away from the nearest ranger station that is probably not manned because of budget cutbacks and the time of year. So I start thinking, crap,(actually I wasn’t using that kind of sugarcoated language) I may have to deliver a baby out here, live off prairie dogs for food, I could hike out in a day, but I have a 3 year old and a pregnant wife that couldn’t. My wife, way overconfident in my abilities, just looks at me and starts laughing, “you got us in now get us out”. I guess this is better than the alternative of telling me I am an incompetent moron. 
