I was pretty high tech, I always had my Thomas Guide with me.
Thomas Guides were the mark of real drivers back then. If you called shotgun on a trip out of your home city then you had the map open on your lap, trying to keep up!
Solo driving you only pulled out the Guide if you really got lost. Gas was cheaper then, and I would purposefully try to get lost and see if I could find my way back. I remember the first time I got so lost I had to ask for directions. Pulled into a gas station and asked the oldest man inside how to get back, even he was stumped and asked someone else. "Tom, how you reckon to get to Orange County from here?" 🤔 'Well shit, that's gonna take a minute." Another time I got lost trying to find a night time concert in Oakland, well out of my Thomas Guide range. I had a fold out paper map but the road signage was strange to me and I ended up in the warehouse district... at night. After circling the area for a few minutes just trying to find a way out another vehicle pulls up alongside mine at a stopsign. The other vehicle rolled down their window and for a moment I was on high alert and took my foot off the brake. The dude in other car held up a map. "Are you looking for the concert?" We ended up exchanging maps because neither of us were finding our way. I did eventually find the show, I'll never know if the other guys did.
Nice. I can appreciate all of that!!
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