Those Good Ol' Maps

            I miss maps. Real maps. The paper ones put out by highway or transportation departments as well as those from other entities.

            And I miss using an atlas when traveling somewhere.

            Yes, I know we have access to WAZE, Google, etc. But that’s not the same. I like to see the big picture, to know where I’m going, what’s around me, to see if there’s a better way.

            Usually, The Duppster and I use WAZE when driving, but a few days ago we relied on the Google app on the car as we drove to Chicago. Correction: I drove to Chicago; The Duppster rode.

            Actually, our destination was Evanston, Illinois, at Northwestern University where a nephew, Christopher, was giving his senior saxophone recital. (He’s outstanding, by the way.)

            So, we followed Google’s directions, even getting off the interstate in part of Chicago, taking some crazy turns in what seemed to be the “wrong part of town.” Finally, though, we heard those magic words: “You have arrived.” Yay!

            We looked around. Oh, yeah, we had arrived alright. On one side, there was what appeared to be an abandoned industrial site; on the other side was a landfill. No human activity in sight. Yes, we had indeed arrived – somewhere – but not where we wanted to be or were supposed to be.

            If I’d had a real paper map, I could have told we were headed the wrong way, instead of going through territory made famous by “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.”

            Sure, there’s a downside to those old maps. Once unfolded, a paper map was a bear to fold back into its original design. I never quite mastered that art, but I still like having a real map to go by.