[Tony711sc]

In the Army, there is a piece of (sometimes) humor that says "There is nothing more dangerous than a Ranger with a map"... and that is true for me, UNTIL... I need to travel on the suburban or rural roads at night without a dashoard compass and a co-pilot (particularly on the twisty, windey roads found in the older States that built their roads on old cow paths). I am hopeless, and I will show up an hour late with some lame excuse about having left home late, again.

I have become an auto GPS believer!

[Tony711sc]

In the Army, there is a piece of (sometimes) humor that says "There is nothing more dangerous than a Ranger with a map"... and that is true for me, UNTIL... I need to travel on the suburban or rural roads at night without a dashoard compass and a co-pilot (particularly on the twisty, windey roads found in the older States that built their roads on old cow paths). I am hopeless, and I will show up an hour late with some lame excuse about having left home late, again.

I have become an auto GPS believer!

[camelback147]

Somehow it's possible when travelling north through Washington, DC to transfer from I-95N to I-395N and back to I-95N. However, the exits necessary to complete this navigation are not well marked and I've never been able to do it. Several times I've tried, but I end up driving to the end of I-395N and drive through parts of Washington, DC until I run into the Baltimore Washington Parkway (which adds a significant amount of time to the trip).

If only my phone could give me proper directions!!!

[Catman51]

Lost! Holy cow, my sense of direction is so bad that when I lived on the East Coast friends would call for directions, and if they went the opposite way of what I told them they'd actually get there.
I've been lost in every state I've lived in! GPS would be a lifesaver...

[jvanliew]

I could have used it when I went to visit my brother in Deleware. Being from San Francisco, I was constantly lost.

[docwagner]

I would have to say it was the time my Senior Chief Petty Officer and I were trying to drive to Las Vegas using a short cut through the desert from Marine Corps Base 29 Palms CA. We started off at dusk and after driving for what seemed like too long, we pulled over in the desert and tried to look up at the stars and navigate our way there. Have you ever seen the desert sky at night? There were so many stars that we couldn't figure out which was which. We eventually made it to Vegas after gambling that we were on the correct road all along and just going for it. It sure would have been convenient to have a GPS tell us we were on the correct path!

[Gomedog]

Well I wasn't actually lost, but had no good way to find a sepecific address for a meeting I had to attend. Having a portable car-based GPS always allowed me to just get in the car and input the address from there - rather than having to print out directions before I left. I always power my GPS through it's cigarette lighter adapter. But on this day, the metal tip of the lighter adapter broke off and there wasn't enough juice in the rechargeable battery to keep it going. I would have loved to have had GPS software on my phone at that moment - I wouldn't have been really late to the meeting!

[burnabytom]

We were following written instructions to get to my son's football game and they said turn at the first light after entering Mission. well the first light after a sign entering mission was miles out of town. We couldn't belive that it could be the right one, so we kept going. My wife and fearless navigator got nervous that we had not turned and suggested we pull off. We got out a map an confirmed that we were a far way from our destination. As I'm going to pull out of this side street, a pickup with a couple of quads on a trailer shoots by at a begillion miles an hour and I almost get sideswiped. Having a GPS would solve the problem of going to new places and not knowing the way. It would also reduce the heart rate of being lost and navigation anxiety

[Jason Dunn]

The contest is now over. The winner is Budpritchard.

Thanks to everyone who entered and shared their stories!