Letter: Re: Errant Guidance from Vehicular GPS Systems

Dear Editor:
I often find myself visiting family in the mountainous areas of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. I can't believe how incorrect my TomTom can be. I first got it because I'm a bit of a gear junkie and I've got one on a boat in the Canadian Great Lakes area which has always been very accurate.

This Christmas, I was blessed enough to be able to be off work from the fire department and went to visit my mother in North Carolina. Little did I know that I-40 has been shut three miles into North Carolina from the Tennessee state line due to an 18 story-tall rock slide that happened in October. BTW ,they say that it'll be open in March or April. My GPS hadn't been updated and I found it hard to get it to navigate me around the mess.

It turns out that my emergency kit I always travel in has [hard copy] state maps for all the states where I generally travel and I was able to follow an un-posted detour that saved me over an hour over the posted route which has to accommodate large trucks, wide loads and such.

I am constantly surprised how my preps for The End of the World always seem to help me out with the lesser or even non-emergencies. What a convenience to be preparedness minded!

I love your site. - T.T. in Kentucky