Seems Oregon is a definite No-No for GPS use. There should be a disclaimer on the box.
"If you live in Oregon, feel free to toss this in the nearest body of water or use it as a lighted coaster for your drink at night. If you are doing any traveling, roadmaps are cheaper than this thing. Now go away."
Aside from common sense like you all say, I carefully pour over arial maps and love checking roads online then getting down low like you can on Bing and looking at the actual areas for landmarks. Works great! I've talked my wife in from some wierd spots on the phone while she got crossed up. Told me where she was and I just use the phone and talk here right to whatever intersection, turn, road, etc. Cool.
My father-in-law couldn't believe once on the phone as I was telling him what he was going to see at every turn and what ramps went where he needed to be.
This summer, I went on a trip to Sylvan Lake in N.Y., I looked at images, I checked routes, I used satellite, even printed some routes, and guess what I brought with.
My dad's trusty Road Atlas Book. It'll never fail ya if you bother to open it up and use it. Go figure.
I've seen the GPS in cars work pretty good and real good sometimes but I'm not putting any stock in them on a trip. Good preperation for a ride is key, not something that looks like my kid's Nintendo D.S. but with a map on it.
g.
