I was in Salem, MA, last week, which is near Boston, and I had to get to Long Island, NY, which isn’t. I could have gotten on I-95 and taken it all the way to the Throgs Neck Bridge, but I have a GPS, so I plugged my destination into it. As a result, after getting on I-95, I took several other roads before rejoining I-95 near Bridgeport, CT. In doing that, I saved about a half-hour of driving. So, plus one for GPS.
As an aside, what is a throg anyway?
More often, I take GPS directions as advice, rather than gospel. For instance, driving from Ithaca, NY to New York City, you’d probably take NY Route 17 most of the way, or I-81 to I-380 to I-80. Last time I did it, I took NY Route 17 to Hancock, NY, then drove down Route 97. Why? Because the Upper Delaware River as it separates New York and Pennsylvania is a much prettier ride, and I was in no hurry. The GPS kept wanting me to get back on Route 17 almost until I reached Port Jervis.
As another aside, there’s a little town further down Route 17 than where I left it called Fishs Eddy. There’s also a store by that name in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, or at least there was a couple of years ago. Obviously, it should be Fishes Eddy or Fish’s Eddy. It’s not. I don’t know why it’s not, but live with it.
I leave the GPS on when taking alternate routes because I’m a bit of a contrarian, and because I hope one day to goad the computerized voice of the GPS into screaming at me.
