I know how to get to the grocery store. I know how to get to the train station. I know how to get to the hardware store, the Italian restaurant we like and the park where we go to outdoor concerts. For those trips I throw caution to the wind and set out un-GPS'd. Yes, it's possible that there is road construction or a broken water main or something along the way that will cause me to make a detour. But having lived in the area for over 30 years I have a pretty good mental map of the streets around us. Not that I have taken every road, but I have enough of a sense of direction that even if I deviate from the usual paths I can get myself there and back.
For other trips slightly further afield, however, I confess that I do succumb to the mindless efficiency of Google Maps. You might be a Waze or Apple Maps person, but it's all basically the same. Enter where you are heading, confirm where you are beginning, tap the "Start" button and off you go. Just follow the prompts and the little car on the screen gets you there with a minimal amount of muss and fuss.
Depending on your destination the app might show you a few options, with one being the primary. The others might be a little slower but more gas efficient, or just different for the sake of being different. Regardless of which you chose you will still wind up at the same end point. Assuming the trip is about an errand and not about a vacation, usually that first choice is the best: get me there in the least amount of time with the least amount of aggravation.
On this particular Monday, the destination was the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my license. Over the years I had been there numerous times, and could certainly make the trip with no digital guidance. However, because it was just a bit out of my normal circuit, I plugged my phone into my car, popping up the usual options on the screen. Yes, the standard route up the interstate was the quickest and highlighted in blue. Normally I would have just gone that way. But it was a drizzly day, I had cleared my calendar, and had an extra hour before my appointment. So...
I took a left versus a right, drove past the entrance to the highway, took the spur instead of the main. The nice thing about GPS is that you are never really lost, you're just going a different way. For sure my speed was far less than the 60+ MPH I would have clocked on the highway, with the result of adding 8 or 10 minutes to my journey. But I also wasn't dodging trucks and tailgaters, and was less concerned about cops and speed traps. At the very least it was a more scenic trip, as I passed lakes and vistas that reminded me of why we like to stick around where we live in the summer.
But as they used to say in late night infomercials on cable TV: "Wait, there's more!" As I wandered my way north, I passed places and sites I had never been to or seen. I found the entrance to a bike trail I had always wanted to try. There was a little bakery at a nearby intersection I had always bypassed, one I will surely sample on that upcoming bike ride, not to mention a local pizza place I also added to my mental catalog.
Eventually I got to the DMV with time to spare. As a bonus I ran into an old friend and made a date for dinner, AND I was able to read the eye chart without glasses. I went home a different way, this time pausing to admire an outdoor sculpture at the entrance to a farm, as well as what turned out to be an 1860 stone mansion built by Patrick Ryan, the man who built the Hell Gate Railroad Bridge in New York City, at the time the world's longest steel arch bridge. So all in all a good day. With apologies to Robert Frost, when two roads diverged, I took the one less traveled. And while it didn't make all the difference, it was a way more pleasant diversion.
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Marc Wollin likes to keep his eyes open on more than just the road when he drives. His column appears weekly via email and online on Substack and Blogspot as well as Facebook, LinkedIn and X.
