Garmin and I reach detente

Not to be deterred by a piece of technology, I once again entered the realm of tapping Carmen Garmin's buttons. This time, I started with where I was and kept sliding my finger to show where I knew I should be going. There, coming into map view, was Cooper Lake. Going in closer, there was the State Park. Why, that little rascal! It was there all along. Now, how to make CG bring it up.

I pointed at the intersection and instead of FM 3505, it gave me Hwy 3503. Tapping again found CG waffling in her addressing and naming it FM 3505 and FM 3503. Tsk, tsk. I went back to the Find it screen and typed in the address as Hwy and voila! there it was!

Somehow, with CG, it's all about semantics. Quicker than quick, she lays in the map and wants me to leave immediately. No such luck, girl. I hear the preferred route has a water washout and we'll be detouring no matter what. I suppose, had I been allowed to register and upgrade, she'd have known that?

Not putting money on that one.

Me vs. the Garmin

My children gifted me with a Garmin for my birthday, specifically for our use in California last month. We plugged her in (her name is Carmen Garmin because I like names that rhyme) and, while she didn't always direct us the way the paper map did, she always got us there. Good girl.

But I don't use her around here because I know my way. And I was a bit miffed because to even register her, I had to plug her into my mac and--I really am not surprised--they weren't currently supporting the version (newest, btw) of Safari I have. So, unregistered and non-upgradeable, still she's serving her purpose.

Until today. Today I am quite disgusted with her.

We will soon be venturing for an afternoon to Cooper Lake State Park. It's an hour from here and we know the way. But for grins... why not have CG tell me how she thinks I should go?

I get past the screens for the state and the town and I'm typing in the address as given on the State Park website. I get no further than 'FM' (farm-to-market road) when she immediately gives me two choices of FMs. Neither one is the one I want. There is no getting her off of it. She will NOT let me enter the proper number. I have a take-it-or-leave-it situation.

So I think to outsmart her and go back to the beginning and type in the name of the State Park. The little hour glass spins and spins. And spins. I empty the groceries from the car and put them up and still she is spinning. Finally, the verdict: No Matches.

Perhaps someone should tell the Texas Park system that Cooper Lake doesn't exist. Maybe I will when I check in.