"Gary" > wrote in message ...
> Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 21:06:07 -0800, "Julie Bove"
>> > wrote:
>>
>> >I was headed to Winco today but wound up at Walmart instead. My stupid
>> >GPS
>> >rerouted me through the parking lot at the Everett Mall and tried to
>> >make me
>> >get onto the freeway which is what I was trying to avoid.
>>
>> Did you set it to avoid highways? Most have a setting for things like
>> that.
>>
>> I try to look at a map to see where I'm going as the navigation often
>> picks a route that I'd rather not take. It is a computer and uses
>> only programmed data to make the route, not human things like nice
>> scenery or heavy traffic.
>
> I know my area well, no need to use a gps. If it's a street that I
> don't know, a quick glance at a map will suffice. Sounds strange that
> Julie was using a GPS to go to a somewhat local Winco. She's lived
> there long enough to find her way to local stores without help.
But I wasn't coming from my house. No problems there. I had to see a new
Dr. in Everett and I don't know that area well at all. Yes it is nearby but
in general I have no reason to go there. Now that they have opened the new
Winco in Lynnwood I have been shopping there. I know that city much better
as it is very close to where I grew up. And it has a much lower crime rate
than Everett.
So... I was going from a Drs. office to Winco. I do know how to get from
the Everett Mall which I managed to get to, to Winco but the route I take
makes me double back. Since the GPS was showing me a different route, I
assumed there was some shortcut that I didn't know about. To take the
freeway would have been silly as it would have taken me some out of the way
as well.
Problem is, the way the streets are set up here is silly. Many are winding,
perhaps because it is so hilly. They're not always the grid work type
pattern. Many dead ends. And only a few streets go through. For instance,
there is an ER quite near here. But to get to it, you have to drive several
miles in the opposite direction and double back. No other way to get to it
as no streets go through but that one.
One year, my parents were supposed to come here for Christmas lunch but they
didn't arrive until almost dinner time. My dad got frustrated with the
traffic and thought that by now they would have made some changes to the
streets and something would now go through. Nope. He wound up getting lost
in the maze of roads in the same exact area that I did many years ago,
leaving a birthday party. They just wind around and around and eventually
you'll realize that you are going in circles. Nothing goes through and it's
all residential. Maps won't help you there either unless you somehow get
your hands on a really updated one. Why? They are ripping down entire
streets, building new ones and putting up so many housing developments that
nothing will add up.
I once took my daughter to a friend's house to drop something off. I had
only been there once and I wasn't driving so didn't pay attention. I used
the GPS to get there and that was fine. But then it told me to continue
down the other end of the street. I couldn't as there was a cement barrier
there. Apparently at some point that street had gone through. Now it
doesn't.
At least the ghost houses seem to all be gone now. When we first moved
here, there were houses in two areas that were totally landlocked. Not just
single houses but what appeared to have been entire streets of them. But
the streets were no longer there. One bunch appeared to have been built in
the 1960's. One of those had clearly had a fire. None of them even had
driveways and there was no way to get to them. And sure enough when I
looked it up, a man claimed the area to be haunted. I used to have to take
this route to get to Angela's school and I always felt creeped out in
driving down it. But now, I no longer do. Read abut it he
http://www.ghostvillage.com/ghostcom...howtopic=26711
The other area had houses far enough back from the street that I couldn't
see them too well, except to see that there was no way to get to them.