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If you plan on hitting the road this summer then you probably know where you want to go or at least have an idea. Assuming you rely on technology (like most of us) to find your destination, via your phone or GPS, what do you do if you loose connection or if technology fails?
Sometimes as RVers we want to go to very remote places and see all that America has to offer like the National Grasslands in Nebraska, or The Badlands of South Dakota. The problem is in those remote beautiful locations, cell phone signal is, lacking to say the least. I remember we were heading from Mt. Rushmore to Lake City, CO we drove through some very cool, but remote places where we didn’t have cell phone signal, unfortunately we pretty much had to just keep driving till we regained signal and were able to figure out where we were. We missed a lot traveling that way. Looking back I wish we stopped at more locations and saw more, we were so dependent on our phones that we missed a lot during our trip. But now we know how to be properly prepared for whatever the road brings on our next vacation.
In cases like this I wished I had an actual map. But honestly, who uses maps anymore?
This was my thought when we first left our driveway and hit the road, I said to myself “nah, we have phones with google maps, we’ll be fine” boy was I wrong. Picture this scenario. There we were, driving down a beautiful two lane road in the middle of southern Colorado, the sky was gorgeous and the weather was perfect, I found a great boondocking site that rested on a cliff face just 20 miles from our location. Naturally I decided to go set up camp for the night. I typed in the coordinates and started heading to the “location.” Within a few miles maps had me take a right onto a small dirt road, “what the heck, its an adventure, why not” I thought to myself. We took the turn and were traveling down an old dirt road surrounded by lush pasture with the occasional cow and giant snow capped mountains in the backdrop, It was perfect to say the least.
Time went on and the miles started to rack up on this supposedly “short trip” when I noticed my gas gauge was reading less than a quarter tank. I looked up at my phone to see how much longer we had and there was the dreaded loading icon eek! At this point I’m not sure how long we went without signal, for all I knew we should have taken a left 4 miles ago .
Decision time, do we turn back and find a gas station, or are we almost there?
After talking it over with my wife we decided to turn back and find a gas station, unfortunately we had to cover almost 50 miles in the wrong direction to find the closest one.
Times like this is where I wish I had a good map. When we returned home I decided to invest in a good quality map for our next adventure. In came Maps.com
I was amazed at how much information was missed when using digital maps. When using your phone or GPS the signal only shows what you need to see not exactly want you wan to see.
For example:
When traveling I like a good topographical map, one that show hills, ranges and different elevations, it helps me get a “lay of the land.” Also I want one that has detailed descriptions of what roads are around me, not just the large main roads in the vicinity.
Doing a quick search on maps.com I found maps for places that I not only needed, but for places that I wanted. If your like me then you love to not only find a great camping site, but you want to go out and explore your surroundings.
There were times when we were boondocking just outside of the Grand Canyon and I decided to take a hike of the surround area, as much as I wanted to hike for miles I knew that a person can easily get turned around and lost in areas like this. On Maps.com I found a very detailed map about the grand canyon and surrounding areas, I wish I had this so I could explore more.
I also found a “Personalized maps” section on the website that allows you to create a map with custom titles. We actually purchased one and named it “Our first trip” (similar to the one pictured below) placed pins at all the places we went and proudly hung it on the wall of our motorhome.
If you read my blog about the Hidden Gem: Lake City, CO. then you read that there are tons of great trails to not only hike in, but to explore on a side by side or dirt bike. I plan on heading back to my favorite spot soon with a new side by side to check out all that Lake city has to offer, come to find out, maps.com has a map just for this, crazy huh?
There are trails for places allover this great country, some are even closer to home than I thought. We live in eastern NC where there isn’t much camping spots around, but there are large national forests to explore, you guessed it there’s a map for the Croatan Forrest just a few miles from our home (wish I found this years ago).
Finding new ways to explore is what sets standard traveling (hotels and rental cars) and exploring in an RV aside from the rest. You can literally pick a spot on the map and go check it out. The most freeing thing I have done is go out and make memories with my family, without the restrictions of finding a hotel.
Its the things like this that makes traveling so much fun, you create memories that last. As a parent of 3 daughters I learned real quick that the one thing we never get back is time with the kids. Traveling our country is a great way to create memories that last a lifetime.
Your adventure is out there you just gotta make the leap to go and go find it. Taking the leap to go do new things can be nerve racking and honestly scary, but I promise you, traveling our great country and camping in beautiful places will make you regret not doing it sooner.
This post contains affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you
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