Have GPS, Will Travel

Three years ago, Pancake and I embarked on a 5,000-mile road trip that took us from Kansas to New York, then down to Florida and back to Kansas. Before we left, we invested in a GPS system that we installed on Pancake's computer. I did most of the driving while Pancake, computer on his lap, connected to the internet via his cell phone (so he could keep an eye on the business) and, thanks to the GPS, let me know every time we were within 25 miles of a Krispy Kreme. Other than pinpointing donut shops, the GPS let us find hotels when we were road weary and call ahead for pricing and availability. We also used it to plot a new route through Georgia when I-95 turned into a parking lot. While I'm not a technophile, if we were to take another trip I would invest in a GPS handheld. I checked out some of the snazzy new gadgets at Northeast Marine Electronics, and they have electronics for camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, and driving. FYI: boating enthusiast can now get free electronic downloads of NOAA's Raster Navigational Charts. The NOAA Web site http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov contains a fully updated raster chart for each chart in NOAA’s files. If only AAA offered something so cool, I'd be set.