Ya gotta love them city people...

http://www.rgj.com/article/20091229/NEW ... regon-snow

Gump

I read that yesterday...wow. Tough to teach common sense.

It reminds me of that Office episode where Michael and Dwight drive into the lake because the GPS directed them to.

Wow! How has the human race managed to survive for so long?

The real beauty of these scenarios is they are actually self perpetuating.

Instead of the reporter asking them why they didn't turn around when the snow got 4 then 8 then 12 then 16 inches deep, and instead choosing to proceed until they got stuck in 1 1/2 feet of the stuff, it was instead reported:

The couple was well-equipped for winter travel, carrying food, water and warm clothes, the sheriff said.

Well equipped!!??? How can you be well equipped for winter travel when you're lacking both common sense and a shovel? Either one would have saved them. And they weren't carrying a shovel, or they would have just dug themselves out and turned around.

So, now, all of the unwashed masses will read this story, and they will make a note to themselves: Must be well equipped with cell phone and munchies and then just do whatever the gps tells me, and I'll be fine.

We will be entertained by the same story all over again next winter, only the names will change.

Now we can't be too harsh on these poor folks. Technology really does confuse some people. They actually put their faith in these devices to such a degree that it prevents their thought processes from working properly! To their credit they did come reasonably prepared which is a lot more than most people do. They just needed someone to teach them not to pick the shortest route GPS option and instead pick the main roads option.

I am glad they are okay and we have such a funny (that would never happen to me) story to read!

I disagree on the shovel. If they had a shovel they would have dug in front of them and contimued tp follow the GPS.

Tim

Put wings on that SUV and they're not any brighter than more than a few so called pilots I know.

Gump

A year or two ago I was helping our other driver with a run to Florida and we were taking the route from Jackson, MS down to Mobile, AL to hook up with I-10 to FL. The other driver was running down Hwy 98 out of MS and the GPS was telling him to stay on 98 through downtown Mobile. I was sleeping in the bunk during this period but was awaken by all the stop and go, turning left, turning right. I finally got out of the bunk to see where the hell we were going. I asked what the heck he's doing and he replied that he was following the GPS directions. I told him that he should have turned south on I-65 then down to I-10 (not taking a tour of downtown Mobile) then we'd be almost in Florida by now.

Our 2007 Kenworth T-600's have the Loran GPS units and I don't like them. My Garmin 396 works better when it's in the "Automotive" mode. But, I still always back it up with the map.

Just what the hell are gp's anyway???

Just what the hell are gp's anyway???

I'm pretty sure that GPS was the main reason for the trappers' rendezvous. They had to come down out of the mountains once a year to stock up on double A's.

And to get the latest e-map updates. You wouldn't want to lose your scalp for trapping in Blackfoot country just because you were too cheap to buy the new Garmin map.

This says it all...



Gump

Gump,
I remember the Stolpa's, and in fact had my own adventure in the same area when a wheel bearing seized up on a '58 IH pickup, had to walk about 4 hours, so I could hitch hike another 3! Got it all resolved that day (summer) however.
That video was frigging hilarious and oh so true, like the guy a few weeks ago on national tv who said, after he heard his Toyota was being recalled for the floormat/throttle issue "I'm scared to drive my car"!!

Up in my neck of the woods, there are several towns that are about 25 mile apart as the crow flies, but about 75 miles and 1.5 hrs by state highway the long way around. For some reason garmin and mapquest used to give people directions to take the forest roads through the tree farm as the best route.

When I used to work in the woods, it seemed like several times a year you would run into some lost tourists who apparently couldn't read a map or use common sense. After running up 14 miles of muddy gravel, dodging log trucks, they would ask "is the the way to Pe Ell, my GPS says so." We would say yes, you have a Weyerhaueser key right?