GPS Moment

I had to make an unexpected* trip to a store in Springfield, VA - a location I know really poorly - this afternoon. Luckily, I had my Garmin eTrex in the car to help get me there.

I printed out directions from Yahoo, and made sure to visit GPS Visualizer (http://gpsvisualizer.com) to get the latitude and longitude of the store's address. I then punched it into the GPS when I got to the car.

The Yahoo maps got me to the area, but it was really the Garmin that allowed me to find the place. The lat/long steered me to the very front of the store (hiding in the back corner of a shopping center).

Sure, the eTrex is as basic as it gets. But I love the fact that it sips batteries, so it's always at the ready. It's no replacement for a real car GPS that provides verbal instructions, but it makes a terrific durable backup. Its basic map gave me just the info I needed to see I was headed in the right direction.

If you don't own a GPS, it might be a fun one to try on the cheap.

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*Unexpected in the sense that Shira only told me a few times this week and I kept forgetting about it

--Ben