Pluggers by Rick McKee for December 28, 2024

A plugger knows where the old A&W and the Woolworths were last time he passed through.

A Bugs Bunny reference!

It help when there no internetwork.

Tis much easier to look at that paper map than a small screen ;-)

With a map you can see where you’re going, not just where you are.

Do they make those any more?

Ancient and out of date. Just like a paper map.

We just bought my wife a new car, and we threw out all the map’s crammed in my wife’s old car glove box.

At least paper maps don’t direct you down animal trails and field roads.

Not THIS Plugger!

I’m plugged in! Turn by turn taps on my wrist, and time of arrival on the screen!

Waze will show you how to get there. A map will show you where you are.

Paper maps: Very hi-def, Potentially bigger than any big screen, Easy to expand the view. Not so easy to contract. Have a tendency to tear under certain conditions. Repairs can be accomplished with nothing more than transparent tape.

Aaaand: AAA still has them!

Sounds familiar somehow…..

A map that he still hasn’t learned to refold properly!

Nah, but I could if I wanted to. And I gave it a LIKE for the Bugs Bunny reference.

Plugger needs a bright dome light.

Smart plugger. Research has shown that navigating by map exercises the portions of the brain involved in creating new memories and accessing old ones, and may postpone or slow down the onset of dementia.

Paper maps are good for finding detours after your GPS send you down a road that was washed out in the last disaster. They also are good if you GPS sends you on an alternate route that is cluttered with semis that aren’t supposed to be on that road. (Lots of folks passing through have those problems around us!)

I remember free maps at gas stations. By 1975 when I worked in a gas station folks were furious that maps were no longer free. Also, we did not allow you to just unfold the maps to look at them, you’ll have to be a big spender and cough up a buck.

So do I when I’m in the middle of nowhere and there are no bars on my phone

My flip phone can tell me where I am. Very useful with paper maps.

No we don’t. I am happy to have my phone give me directions. Plugger is not synonymous with luddite.

There are times it helps to have the BIG picture, not just the next two turns.

Back in the 1970s, when I drove an 18-wheeler across the country, we only had fold-up maps and CB radios to guide us. I always found my destination!

That’s how I moved from AZ to FL 20 years ago. And when I go someplace new here, I write down all directions instead of using the map on my phone.

Yes, it is good to follow the GPS (global positioning system) directions if one knows the area, but those directions are useless in a completely new town or countryside.

We have paper maps for seeing the big picture if only just to see where is North on the map when on a car trip….

Fold-up maps are greatly more useful than online maps, where you have to constantly go in and out to see the necessary level of detail in the various locations.

When I go on a road trip, I always stop at the state welcome centers. Not only are the bathrooms always clean, but you can pick up a free state map (and get pointers to fun things to do along the way.)

Remember those cartoons, live action shows and movies where they made a joke out of someone not able to fold the map? It’s because the various oil companies that gave away those maps each had a different folding patterned if you were used to one pattern you might have difficulty with another.

The GPS company must have fixed their directions, at least around here, as I haven’t had anyone going down our private road into the woods ….. for a couple of years ……. :)

Brought to you by BugsBunnyMaps.com

Um…Mr. Plugger, shouldn’t that be “the left toin at Albu-koiky”?

p.s Treeware maps rule! GPS is like trying to navigate thru a porthole; my sense of direction SUCKS if I don’t have an overall picture of the whole route, & I don’t trust what the phone is telling me! I’ll only trust the GPS if I’ve seen the big map first for overall reference – preferably treeware, but Google or Apple Maps on my desktop puter will do in a pinch (& sometimes I print those out too).