Misadventures with Garmin

Let me begin by being positive--Friday's misadventures gave me an opportunity to appreciate my wonderful husband for his patient, calm ability to rise above situations which bring out my most irritable, unpleasant self and I was able to view a pheasant in full overhead flight (for the very first time in my life--I've seen them fly horizontally a few feet above the ground but have never viewed them from below--that dragon-like tail wagging was very cool).

Now you may ask, "How in the world would you view a pheasant in full flight while traveling the freeway home from Monterey?" Good question. Answer: you wouldn't. You would view it while being at the bottom of a valley on a 25 mile an hour street amongst mansion-esque homes with horses in their spacious yards.

If you're like me, you might be feeling a temptation to swear and a desire to scream the burning question, "Where in the heck are we?" You might be wondering why your new GPS unit led you to travel a vomitously windy two-lane road from CA-1 and then dumped you unceremoniously in the middle of mansion-esque homes on a 25 mile an hour road. Are you beginning to sense my frustration?

It was about to increase rather than abate as we journeyed forward. We were eventually led to a more commercial area with distinct possibilities. Our silent prayers were answered (because I didn't give in to the temptation to swear) when we spotted a green FREEWAY sign pointing to the right. In direct defiance of Garmin, we u-turned around a decided to follow the sign. Along this path the misdirecting siren called for us to turn around, but we paid her no heed. It took 4 blocks to actually spot the freeway, but our faith was rewarded when Hwy 101 North finally came into view. "Recalculating." Recalculating?? This is where we were supposed to be heading!

Our sense of relief at being rescued from rural isolation quickly evaporated as we immediately hit rush-hour traffic on the outskirts of the San Jose area. But Garmin to the rescue (dripping sarcasm here): "take the Calaveras Rd exit"--a quick check of the map revealed the hellacious fate that would've awaited obedience to this command--a long, winding road reminiscent of a shaky seismograph. This two-lane byway would've taken us around the Calaveras Reservoir and through the Sunol Regional Wilderness. We'll stick with the parking lot traffic--at least it doesn't require multiple barf bags.

Thank goodness for DVD players. Although it did require the rolling down of her window which caused uncomfortable vibrating pressure on everyone else's eardrums,Rachel's nausea was kept somewhat at bay by the antics of Napoleon Dynamite.


Are you familiar with that longing to be home at the end of a four day trip? We looooonnnnnngged for an end to break lights which haunted us from the 101 to 680 to I-80 where it eventually lightened up about Vacaville. It felt great to FINALLY be home.

How did this misadventure begin? After doing a little research, we discovered that the "avoid traffic" option had been activated in all the playing around we had been doing with our new device.

The trouble home actually started with the dreaded four-letter word, "shop." We needed to return something to Kohl's and Old Navy and pick something up from Target. It just so happened that on our way to Monterey we spotted a new shopping plaza housing all three stores in the town of Marina. We had been having fun being Garmin-guided around Monterey and Pacific Grove and used it to program in the drive to the stores on our way out of town. This should've been our first inkling of trouble. Garmin had us exit in Seaside and take some crazy back road to Marina, passing us through a graveyard of large abandoned buildings. Scenic driving at its best. No traffic, no apparent signs of life or recent habitation either.



After more crazy directions leaving the stores, we finally made it back to CA-1, evidently after the 156 connection.

Live and learn and appreciate Steve's graceful acceptance of frustrating situations.