A Step Behind the Latest Technology

I always seem to be a step behind.

Call me Johnny-come-lately.

When everyone else was wearing Gore-Tex, I was still in leather and wool. When all my friends were listening to cassettes, I was rockin’ out to eight-tracks.

While planning a trip last week to North Dakota to get a boat repaired, I sought directions online to the location of Swenson Marine in Bismarck. As I was reaching for a pen and notebook to copy the information from my laptop, a brilliant thought struck me; take a picture with my phone.

The directions were simple once I reached the interstate: Follow I-94 to Bismarck and take exit 161.

“Piece of cake,” I thought.

Counting exits as I cruised through the Peace Garden State kept me occupied with my 22-foot pontoon in tow. Six hours into the trip I finally reached exit 161. That was about as specific as the directions got. I didn’t know which way to turn. Taking a right because it was easier than a left, I was fortunate to spot a Swenson sign in the distance.

Following a very unsatisfying lunch while the boat was being repaired, I returned to the dealership, picked up the pontoon and headed back to Montana.

Barb was waiting at the cabin upon my return, and asked if I’d had any problems on the trip.

“Not at all.” I told her, proudly explaining I’d taken a screen shot of the directions.

“You know there’s a button in your truck you can push and it will give you directions,” she said, instantly deflating what little ego I still maintain.

“I don’t have that kind of a relationship with my truck,” I shot back. “I don’t ask it for directions. I just drive it.”

Instead of following GPS coordinates or Siri’s calming voice, I followed the sun. Drive toward it in the morning, and chase it back home in the afternoon. Had the trip been north-south instead of east-west I might have had to take a different approach, but it wasn’t.

Thank goodness I live in a part of the world with few roads, at least paved ones. There aren’t a lot of places to take a wrong turn out here.

The next time I’m alone in the truck, however, I may just push that button. Sometimes I still need a little direction.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]