QOTD: Trouble Finding Yourself?

Listen, we don’t want to hear about that summer after high school… unless it involved a road trip requiring precise and detailed navigation!

That’s right, today we’re talking about finding one’s way through life in the most literal sense. Charting a course. These days, reaching your destination usually involves a pre-programmed route, satellite linkup, and a detached female voice ordering your every move, barking commands at every turn.

Do any of you still hang on to the old ways?

We’re not talking about a sextant and compass, though the latter can really come in handy if you’re out in the middle of nowhere and have a general idea of where civilization lies.

We’re talking about maps. As a kid, and continuing to this day, I loved maps. Topographical ones, ordinary ones, atlases, online satellite views, you name it. I’m mad about maps, but most new drivers only see such a thing when it’s displayed on their car’s infotainment screen. Maybe a portable GPS unit entered their older car’s equipment roster soon after purchase. They make pretty good companions, assuming they’re on the ball. Perhaps your phone is all you need, plus an Uber-style mount.

Whatever the aid, it makes that old stack of real, honest-to-goodness paper maps an antiquated thing of the past — useful only for campfire kindling after you break down (or “run out of gas”) far, far away from the bright lights of the big city. Many of us still possess such a stack. But how much use do these non-digital pieces of pressed wood pulp get?

If you were heading out on a typical road trip to a somewhat unfamiliar destination, would they even come along with you?

For that matter, does your glove box even contain a map? And if it does, does it ever see the light of day?

We want to know. Has your map life gone wholly digital?

[Image: Jeff Wilson/TTAC]