I have a collection of paper maps and they are invaluable! When I moved from Atlanta to Las Vegas and back again I plotted the whole trip on paper maps. GPS is useful, especially for in town driving and traffic patterns, but for planning a trip give me that impossible-to-fold map every time.
I LOVE this post. In the times before mobile phones, GPS and Google Maps were a thing, I was a supply teacher who at a moment's notice could be on call for any school in the county. I relied completely on a small collection of A-Z's which I kept in the car glove box. I liked to have a cup of tea and scout the route before setting off, turning the map this way and that according to the direction I was headed. It was so much fun looking at all the symbols. You could note all the points of interest along the route (such as inns, tors and historic monuments,) none of which I believe are of any import when using a digital navigational device. I'm so glad that, like me, you enjoy things being a little more pedestrian. A project I'm currently involved with is called "slow ways" https://beta.slowways.org/ which is a citizen project based here in the UK (I'm unsure if other countries have something similar) where collectively, we are making a map of all the foot path routes from town to town, with the goal of creating a walk-able map of Britain. It's amazing to see how people annotate the little short cuts, back alleys and hollow ways that you might otherwise not venture down if you didn't know where they lead. More of this please :)
Thanks, Sarah! I'm so glad this resonated with you, as it's one of my favorites, and I didn't feel it got the attention it deserves... But then I'm used to that, as someone with fringe perspectives and tastes. LOL, I'm glad we're in good company.
Slow Ways is a great endeavor - I wish we had something like that. I guess the only analogous thing would be our local GreenWays, but that's more of a concerted effort to build paths that aren't there already... https://greatriversgreenway.org/
I'm afraid the US has grown up as a car culture, and we're also not a walkabout people... I've always envied the Brits for that, as well as your gardening ethos!
One of my earliest memories is of climbing on a chair in the kitchen to join my father and my brother as they pored over a map. My father taught map reading as an Army sergeant. When I was in high school I went hiking with friends who were perplexed by the map -- and I laughed! It was unfathomable to me that they didn't know what South meant. (Of course, there is karma. I proceeded to read the map incorrectly and had us walk down to a marsh instead of a road). Thanks for bringing back memories!
Jan 16, 2023Liked by Anthony C Valterra, Lisa Brunette
AAA offers maps for all US states and Canadian provinces. If you're now a confirmed road-tripper, it might make sense to join so you can start accumulating your collection!
I'm currently suggesting to my hubs that we make our next visit to my daughter in AZ a road trip... but not with much success. The rigors of 3 LONG days of driving have so far not convinced him it's a better option than tolerating the comparatively brief airport logistics. The discussion continues!
Thank you! Same to you. And feel free to use our articles to try to convince your husband, ha ha. You could break up the trip even more and see sights along the way... or maybe take the train?
I have a collection of paper maps and they are invaluable! When I moved from Atlanta to Las Vegas and back again I plotted the whole trip on paper maps. GPS is useful, especially for in town driving and traffic patterns, but for planning a trip give me that impossible-to-fold map every time.
That's awesome, Stephanie. Did you pick them up individually and just keep them, or did you set out with the intention to create a collection?
I just never threw them away!
I LOVE this post. In the times before mobile phones, GPS and Google Maps were a thing, I was a supply teacher who at a moment's notice could be on call for any school in the county. I relied completely on a small collection of A-Z's which I kept in the car glove box. I liked to have a cup of tea and scout the route before setting off, turning the map this way and that according to the direction I was headed. It was so much fun looking at all the symbols. You could note all the points of interest along the route (such as inns, tors and historic monuments,) none of which I believe are of any import when using a digital navigational device. I'm so glad that, like me, you enjoy things being a little more pedestrian. A project I'm currently involved with is called "slow ways" https://beta.slowways.org/ which is a citizen project based here in the UK (I'm unsure if other countries have something similar) where collectively, we are making a map of all the foot path routes from town to town, with the goal of creating a walk-able map of Britain. It's amazing to see how people annotate the little short cuts, back alleys and hollow ways that you might otherwise not venture down if you didn't know where they lead. More of this please :)
Thanks, Sarah! I'm so glad this resonated with you, as it's one of my favorites, and I didn't feel it got the attention it deserves... But then I'm used to that, as someone with fringe perspectives and tastes. LOL, I'm glad we're in good company.
Slow Ways is a great endeavor - I wish we had something like that. I guess the only analogous thing would be our local GreenWays, but that's more of a concerted effort to build paths that aren't there already... https://greatriversgreenway.org/
I'm afraid the US has grown up as a car culture, and we're also not a walkabout people... I've always envied the Brits for that, as well as your gardening ethos!
One of my earliest memories is of climbing on a chair in the kitchen to join my father and my brother as they pored over a map. My father taught map reading as an Army sergeant. When I was in high school I went hiking with friends who were perplexed by the map -- and I laughed! It was unfathomable to me that they didn't know what South meant. (Of course, there is karma. I proceeded to read the map incorrectly and had us walk down to a marsh instead of a road). Thanks for bringing back memories!
You're welcome, Ellen! Glad we could facilitate that memory. Maps are powerful.
AAA offers maps for all US states and Canadian provinces. If you're now a confirmed road-tripper, it might make sense to join so you can start accumulating your collection!
I'm currently suggesting to my hubs that we make our next visit to my daughter in AZ a road trip... but not with much success. The rigors of 3 LONG days of driving have so far not convinced him it's a better option than tolerating the comparatively brief airport logistics. The discussion continues!
Happy New Year to you and Anthony!
Thank you! Same to you. And feel free to use our articles to try to convince your husband, ha ha. You could break up the trip even more and see sights along the way... or maybe take the train?
I love this! And what a nice surprise to see a quote from me!
Your story stuck with me!