How GPS Saved My Marriage ;)

I love reading maps. Sitting quietly perusing an atlas is an infrequent but fulfilling way to spend a rainy afternoon. My car has at least half a dozen fold-up maps in addition to a North American road atlas, and I literally have a stack of them in my desk at home.

So why would I ever want one of those new-fangled, electronic GPS units?

Shortly before Liz and I went on vacation in Canada, we spent about $150 on a TomTom One (the new version), which comes preloaded with maps of the U.S. and Canada. True to my gender, I consider myself a master of directions, so I thought it was unnecessary. Liz wanted it so we wouldn't waste time trying to figure out where we would be and how to get where we were going. And so no matter what, we'd be able to find our way back somewhere.

She proved to be the wiser. Not only did it guide our path and provide rapid reroute instructions when I made the inevitable wrong turns, but it also contains addresses for a variety of "Points Of Interest," such as restaurants, gas stations, beaches, police stations, movie theaters, etc.

And it made our trip more pleasant in other ways, especially by reducing stress levels. When you don't have to figure out where something is, there's no conflict over what the best way to get there is, leaving more brain capacity for conversation and having fun. And when you're really hungry and don't know where you are, you don't have to resort to the first convenience store you see. It also avoided the clutter of printed maps and provided dynamic information about time and distance to points along the way.

And the technology is cool. The unit receives position signals from satellites and triangulates your position anywhere on the surface of the Earth. As long as you have a clear view of the sky, that is. The signal is lost among tunnels and under a dense canopy of trees. Fortunately there aren't many turns in those places. Much better for on-the-go navigation.

Not that I'm giving up my maps. Maps contain a variety of rich detail about cultural, historical, and ecological amenities that GPS devices (or at least this one) lack, and paper has a certain aesthetic to it. But when it comes to going new places, I'll always bring the GPS too.

Militant Canadians?

During a recent vacation to Canada, my wife and I were struck by the level of patriotism (or whatever connotative term you prefer) our neighbors to the north display. Our route (yes, we drove) took us past Niagra Falls, around Lake Ontario, and through western Toronto on our way to Horseshoe Valley, which lies between Barrie and Orillia.

Crossing the Rainbow Bridge between the U.S. and Canada right at Niagra Falls, one can't help but notice more Canadian flags in Niagra Falls, Ontario, than U.S. flags in Niagra Falls, New York. There are also more U.S. flags in Canada than Canadian flags in the U.S., but that's probably to attract U.S. tourist dollars. Or maybe Canadians just generally like flags more.

Travelling deeper into Ontario, we observed that Canadians seem to display their flag on their homes and businesses roughly as frequently as we 'Americans' do. (I somewhat dislike describing U.S. citizens as "Americans," since, technically, all inhabitants of North and South America can claim that title, although I consider the founding principles of the United States to be far more "American" than the populist socialism of some of our southern neighbors.)

My treetop trekking tour guide--a businessman retraining as a pilot who's having a last 'fun' summer before entering flight school--was generally supportive of the Afghanistan mission and the Canadian efforts there, despite reservations about Iraq. And while on a jog around Horseshoe Valley, I noticed a bumper sticker stating "If You Don't Stand Behind Our Troops, Please Feel Free to Stand in Front of Them." And the truck had Ontario plates and a Canadian flag, so it wasn't a visiting U.S. citizen.

It's worth nothing that my non-U.S. basis for comparison is the time I've spent in Germany (2 weeks in Bavaria, 4 months mostly in Trier) and Austria (3 weeks in Vienna), where the inhabitants are more cautious about nationalism for historical and geographic reasons.

Overall, however, U.S. citizens still seem to express their patriotism more fervently than Canadians. Perhaps there are deeper cultural reasons, but maybe it's simply because of greater U.S. commitments abroad. Or maybe we weren't their long enough or in the right context (we didn't visit Ottawa or watch the Canadian version of C-SPAN).

In any case, it's good to see that love for country does not require excessive entanglements abroad.