Learn celestial navigation. All you need is a sextant and compass. It has worked for navigators for longer than gps has existed.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Anybody have a backup plan?
- Thread starter Joe Nerve
- Start date
- Status
I live in the UK. Most of it is pretty close to the rest of it.
JN lives in the Eastern Megalopolis where the number of travel options may be exponentially more complex than other areas and you can be lost 1/2 mile away from your destination. You can get stuck in a highway segment closure they didn't announce and sit for hours. I've had that happen twice trying to escape NYC.
The actual Neanderthals may have had very good directional abilities.
It's recently been reported that people that use GPS all the time have a shrinkage in the brain of an area related to directional ability. My father always knew where North was and he took chances with rural roads all the time, later he learned to navigate on the ocean with charts and a compass. I have a GPS addicted friend who didn't know that one Somerville exit was South of another,,, just followed directions.
So.... what exactly are "metaphorical" bread crumbs?
BTW, I feel compelled to point out that "Metaphorical Breadcrumbs" would be a great band name.
Being old fashioned, I look at a map online before I leave the house, and get a relative image in my head where my destination is, relative to some waymarks or landmarks. Like, 20m Northeast of the house, or 5 miles East of Decatur, etc. I also dial the most important numbers manually, so they are always committed to memory: my wife, work, best friend, kids, etc. I also keep a land line phone at both our residences for emergencies - incase no phones work, or the cellular network is down, etc. I'm a little geeky about giving up control to technology.
Probably made it sound more hifalutin that it is. For me, it’s just a series of landmarks that I somehow commit to memory and recall as I make the return trip. I might need a map on the way out but never need one on the way back. The metaphorical breadcrumbs never fail me!
And once I’ve been somewhere once, I don’t need a map to get there again.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
Thanks. That helped me understand some of the responses that I can't really wrap my brain around.
How someone would choose a map at 2AM lost on a highway, as opposed to a spare GPS is beyond my comprehension. It's laughable to me also to even THINK of asking anyone for directions at that time of night. It would take me days to find someone who actually knew, and at least a few hours to find someone who'd be willing to help me by getting me directions on their phone. They'd think I was going to scam, rob or kill them.
Get an Anker Battery pack for $40 or so and you’ll be good to go. Get an extra cable tooFor driving directions?
What would you do if you were 2 hours from home at 2AM, in the middle of nowhere, and your phone crapped out?
I drive all over the place for my gigs, and rarely know anymore where I am or how I got there. After my phone dying on me more than once (at good times, thankfully), I've become a bit concerned about the above happening.
My car doesn't have a GPS, and I was considering picking up one of those old fashioned Garmins or something. Just as a backup. I'm not sure if any of them even work anymore though. On Amazon, they all seem like the last ones bought were a decade ago.
Has anyone done this? If not, what's your B plan?
Spare battery pack for phone. Or even a spare, charged phone battery, unless you have an iPhone, in which case Apple has decided for you that you wouldn't ever want to have that option.For driving directions?
What would you do if you were 2 hours from home at 2AM, in the middle of nowhere, and your phone crapped out?
I drive all over the place for my gigs, and rarely know anymore where I am or how I got there. After my phone dying on me more than once (at good times, thankfully), I've become a bit concerned about the above happening.
My car doesn't have a GPS, and I was considering picking up one of those old fashioned Garmins or something. Just as a backup. I'm not sure if any of them even work anymore though
Has anyone done this? If not, what's your B plan?
You can print out directions from Google maps and take them along with you.
If I’m leaving North Carolina I always bring maps. My dad was a truck driver before the days of gps so I have maps for every state. Within the state though I know my way around pretty well after 20 years of gigging. Most towns I play are close to a highway. In fact I-40, I-95, 74 and 85 form a sort of circle that hits most of the major markets in the state. So I can normally stop at a gas station and ask how to get to the highway. I do use 87 when going to Wilmington and 24 to go to Jacksonville. As far as finding venues for the first time I’ll use google maps and print out a map on a piece of paper. That shows the area in more detail than a state mapFor driving directions?
What would you do if you were 2 hours from home at 2AM, in the middle of nowhere, and your phone crapped out?
I drive all over the place for my gigs, and rarely know anymore where I am or how I got there. After my phone dying on me more than once (at good times, thankfully), I've become a bit concerned about the above happening.
My car doesn't have a GPS, and I was considering picking up one of those old fashioned Garmins or something. Just as a backup. I'm not sure if any of them even work anymore though
Has anyone done this? If not, what's your B plan?
Admittedly... Stupid.
3 am, helped out a couple fans in the middle of nowhere and drove them home after a gig. They were in rough shape so actually peeled them out of my car and got them into their house. Got to my car and realized I was in the middle of rural Minnesota... cloudy night so I couldn't even find the north star.
I knew 10 miles east was a main state highway about 15 miles south was an interstate. both would get me home. I figured Canada and North Dakota were the alternatives. I guessed, and lucked out.
No matter what happened... I was wound up from the gig and figured eventually I'd eventually find something that would help me out if I guessed wrong.
3 am, helped out a couple fans in the middle of nowhere and drove them home after a gig. They were in rough shape so actually peeled them out of my car and got them into their house. Got to my car and realized I was in the middle of rural Minnesota... cloudy night so I couldn't even find the north star.
I knew 10 miles east was a main state highway about 15 miles south was an interstate. both would get me home. I figured Canada and North Dakota were the alternatives. I guessed, and lucked out.
No matter what happened... I was wound up from the gig and figured eventually I'd eventually find something that would help me out if I guessed wrong.
First alternate: gas stations - some worker or customer usually knows where
Fecund alternate: 24 hr. poop&get, see above
Third alternate: closest bar - if they don't know, I stay there
Fecund alternate: 24 hr. poop&get, see above
Third alternate: closest bar - if they don't know, I stay there
A thread I can answer.......when playing a gig in Unknownsville, I usually always Google directions and take a printout as well as myGPS...... plenty of times I just used it and not the GPS just so my music doesn't get interrupted by " in three miles, make a left turn on Twonuts Road"
I primarily use a Garmin, and like to carry a big map book for every state I'm traveling in. Google Maps has proven unreliable for me. I do not have a data plan. One time it tried to send me via some wonky route, crashed, and would not open again. I've also had fun recently with a Ford rental car that sent me to a Chevy dealership thinking it was a road. The salesmen got a kick out of that. To be fair, the back end of the lot exited onto the road I needed to be on, it was sort of a short cut vs proceeding to the intersection and turning like a normal human.
- Status
