lap-quest......
One of the bravest things you can do if you live in the city of Atlanta, is to learn it's navigation..... the endless and quirky twists of road names, neighborhoods, and construction sites are overlapping and confusing. We are a city on the move....... all the time, and getting bigger everyday. My job forces me to rely on a silly little thing called: mapquest. Ha! Take it from me (and a few people I ran across today) that mapquest has it's issues, and none of these amuse me when I am far past the parameters I am used to driving. This especially isn't a good time when you have a morning like Atlanta experienced today.
We were on the bottom end of a weather mass that came through and took all the nice 60 and 70 degree weather away. The northern end of the state did get snow, and we had slush, rain, and cold temperatures. Not a pleasant way to want to start your day, being in traffic in this city.... and certainly not wonderful thoughts crossing my mind about the delivery I have an hour away...... and in an area I am totally unfamiliar with. Silent prayers to my God, and the Gods of Mapquest, I put on my best face at 4:30 AM, and shoved out the door regardless. There are people to be fed! That is the El-quest in me.... one must never disappoint, for you could lose needed funds. Carry on, El-quest!... and lets hope mapquest got it right.
With map in lap, and reading glasses affixed securely in place, I set out on the road heading south of the city. I could have used the option of going straight through the city on 85 south, but decided I'd concede to mapquest's suggestion of taking 285 west, to circumvent going through the heart of the city. One never knows what a nightmare that could be, so going around the city seemed to make sense at 10AM anyway. Getting me to Fayetteville, some 50+ miles away, mapquest came through with shining colors, until I got to the last street. Turning on some backroad highway that was probably farmland not more than 2 years ago, was now filling itself with new businesses, subdivisions, and very poorly marked address numbers. Following the guide from mapquest, I should have only gone 0.1 miles till I see 1260. Bear in mind, mapquest does not tell you what side of the road number 1260 is on.... only that "you will arrive". Ok, I know what you're thinking here.... just find one number and all that side of the street is either odd or even. Easy to do when everyone remembers to post their numbers, which no one did. I stopped to ask directions, and was told: "Yeah, well, mapquest"ll get ya lost, this is where you need to go." It turned out that the last direction should have read 1.5 miles, and "you will arrive". No biggie, I was there in plenty of time, set up, and almost out the door when I turned around an asked for directions back to 85 north. It seemed to me that I could just shortcut back through without having to go around as I did. When I showed the directions to the office girl, she laughed and said, "Mapquest"ll get ya lost, let me show you a better way". Her directions worked like a charm..... and even the sky cleared to a dull overcast for the ride home. Kissing my pansies on the way in the front door for being such brave troopers through our little ice storm, I kicked off my shoes, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Even if the Gods of Mapquest hadn't risen to the occasion completely, at least my God did for getting me home safely.
xo~
posted by Ellen at 3:24 PM
15 Comments:
:) Ya go up there a bit til you see the store with the old coke sign, now if you take a left it'll put you on the interstate and a right will bring you right back here, Thank God for good directions and turnip greens. I love that song. I was wondering how the panies were doing, they showed North Carolina and South but they never did show Atlanta. :)
Looks like the south has had more snow than New England this year!
I always get the map printed out in different sizes, far out and close-up, but usually from
http://www.randmcnally.com/
in case ya want to check out the quest-competition!
I always hate the last mile to places I've never been to- especially with impatient drivers on my bumper!
At least all went well, n people were nice enough to help you out- Some folks would be driving in circles for hours (they won't ask)!
Sounds a lot like Austin. Half of our streets have three or four different names. Or are old this road. It is weird.
It's not just Mapquest, Google and Yahoo will too. Even the little GPS deal in my mom's Lexus gives the wrong directions - or at least bad ones. At least you made it - and home again!
Mike
Hey Ellen.......I sure don't miss big city driving. There are times when I miss the big city (toronto) and all it has to offer, but the driving? Yuck.
However......having said that.....I got lost, lost, lost the other day out in the middle of booneyland. I ended up on some rutty old logging road while looking for a client's house. The biggest clue was when an oversized logging truck came barreling towards me out of what seemed no where..... I'm sure the guy driving was thinking...."what the hell is "middle aged woman" in a van doing back here in the woods?"
I eventually found my way.....turned out I had the wrong logging road. It was the next turn off!!
Glad you made it home!!! That storm sounded awful.......Fla. got nailed badly?
Hi Ellen! I miss your posts! Getting lost is something I excel in if I have a map or not. I have called my ex-bf crying on numerous occasions and he's had to stay on the phone and get me back in the right direction!
i tend to use google. although sometimes teh map they give you is for the birds, they're pretty accurate regarding time and such, so i often use google maps for that purpose alone. one of the other reasons why i like google maps, and that they're graphics are easier to read especially if you zoom out. if the directions seem a bit too bakroady, then i'll zoom out and see if there's another way... and more often than not there is, and then i click the hybrid button so i can see the digital road map overlayed on the satellite, so i can get a sense of where i'll be. i found that directions from clients are always better than what any online map service will get you. i rmember when i was planning my sister's baby shower and i wanted to put mom's house on the map, not one of the map services could find her street... turns out that if you look anywhere online and in paper maps they've misspelled her street name.. or maybe it's been mispelled on the street sign since the raod was created... they all added an 'L' in the street name where there really is none. it's no wonder the UPS guy always got confused....
I use google maps all the time, and it is right most of the, but its never always right. Sometimes you just need a little common sense and intuition to get where you are going. :)
Ellen - I had problems with mapquest when I used to give them to the drivers for my previous company.
Try using these guys next time and see if they work any better.
http://www.randmcnally.com/
Peace & Hugs,
- Neo
WOW! I didn't expect so many of you to stop by, as I have been very absent on the blog lately... and haven't even gotten over to your blogs to read. I plan to take this afternoon to catch up in that area. Sooooo good to see you all!
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skye~
The pansies are doing great. They seem to thrive in this type of weather.... but then we tend to warm up a lot more during the day then most places. I guess we just live far enough south to get the bottom end of weather nastiness.... but then, February is are "winter" month.
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snaggle~
Well, we were lucky not to have to deal with the snow, just a bit of slush in the colder areas, but that quickly turned into water after it warmed up. You'd have thought I drove on an old logging road with all the mud on my vehicle though.
I also go to Google to get their maps, and do the zoom thing with all the maps. If it's an area I already know, I can easily find a connecting road I already know, if not, I am at the mercy of somebody getting the directions put in correctly... although hubby tells me that there isn't any one person who sits down to get the directions typed in. I guess they work off a satellite system or something.
As far as stopping to ask for directions, I have NEVER been shy in that area. Beats the heck out of driving around in circles, and having that bumper-humper on my butt.
Thanks for the addy of rand mcnally, I'll check that out.
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myutopia~
Atlanta has the same problem, as well as changing the name in the middle of a route (even if you have never turned off), and picking up the old name again 5 miles down the road. Loads of fun if you are on a time schedule, isn't it? I always wondered who thought of that tactic.
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mike~
I had friends who had visited from New Hampshire on their way to live in Arizona a few weeks back. They swore by their map system, and even said it was getting a little annoying. Apparently it also talks to them, and you can get your option of a male or female voice. We laughed when they told us that anytime they turned off to make a pit stop, the voice would come back on to tell them that they were off track.
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awareness~
Yeah, Boonyland, also known as: Bahookaville, Hinterlands, and Boonies... been there many times myself.
It wouldn't be so bad in Atlanta if they just kept the same name for the streets. So many of them "crook" and change names going straight, and keep the old name at the turn. It can be frustrating if you don't know your way around. Delivering as much as I do, I can navigate better than hubby, and he's a native of the area.... over 50 years! He is a wiz at downtown though.... and I'm hopelessly lost there. He has the advantage though, as he works in the heart of the city, and I work in the outer suburbs.
To funny about the wrong turn into the forest, and thank goodness for the logging truck you met along the way. The mental picture is priceless!
We were luckier than Florida who took the brunt of the storm. No damage was done to anything here, Just lots of rain and cold weather. They say it's supposed to go up into the high 50's for Wednesday. Hooray for one less sweater to wear!
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barbara~
Thanks, sweetie! I miss my free days when I could blog more!
I love geography, and love maps, and have a pretty good sense of direction if I keep my mind on the road. I do get distracted sometimes, and find myself turning off at the wrong ramp or something, but for the most part never get lost altogether. I love having that feature in my car, you know, the "home" button. I've had to use it several times after a long night of catering.... the car knows the way home, even if I'm too tired to drive.
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mb~
I actually like google maps better than mapquest.... their directions are easier to type in, and the maps are a little better. One of my partners likes the mapquest maps, but I like to go to both if I have the time. That way I can compare the two.
Directions from people are so much better, as they give you the big things to look for (BP Gas, Walmart, etc....), and they'll tell you what side of the street to look for them. I find this especialy helpful from my clients, as they know I have their food, and they sure don't want me to be late.
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wes~
Intuition....I agree. And with me, the ability to stop and ask if I do get a little too turned around. Nothing worse than traveling in circles. All in all, I've only been goofed up by Google/ Mapquest maps a couple of times.... not too bad considering how many places I go to.
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neo~
Snaggle had the same suggestion, and I've added Rand Mcnally to my favorites. It will be fun to see what the difference is between the three. At this point, I still like Google maps better, but do like to compare them to see if the routes are any different. I did notice that Mapquest sends you around the mulberry bush a bit more than Google does.
xo
hi Ellen............thinking of you.
Is spring coming soon?? hope you're not too crazy busy.......
Ellen - Maybe you could spring for some GPS, those things kick ass.
I completely understand!
Hope you are doing well Ellen!
Have a great week!
~xo
Happy Valentine's Day Ellen!
~xo
awareness~
Just a little crazy busy... and enough for me to be bogged down and behind again. Thanks so much for stopping by to inquire, and forgive me for taking so long to get back to you. I have kept up reading but only have a few moments to jump to someone elses blog to read before I need to snap back into WORK again. I promise to stop by to say hello real soon!
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neo~
Yeah, I hear those a real nice. I have a few friends who have the system as part of their new car price.... but it was worth it as they are moving from NH to Arizona. It helped them find my house on their way south and west. That'd be nice to have one of those puppies!
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lee ann~
You too sweetie.... and I'll be over to wish you a happy heart day later.
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