Camping, backpacking, hiking, et al

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

OMG. Well, I guess that - and that's about the only thing - rules out suicide.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Probably wrong topic, but some people are just idiotic.

A co-worker has a spouse that is totally useless in the common sense dept. The other day, the spouse was taking the two kids to see family in the backwoods part of Arkansas. The spouse calls because the phone charger hadn't gotten packed and there was only 4% battery left and they weren't going to be able to 1. find the house without the phone or 2. do anything else without the phone.

Like...maybe you notice this [expletive] well in advance of 4% battery life and be able to function well enough to get to a store where you can buy one if not. Sheeeeeesh.....

[Freed Roger]

http://m.wikihow.com/Escape-from-a-Sinking-Car

A decent analysis of getting out of sinking car-a scenario that is perhaps my worst fear.

[Popeye_Card]

Probably wrong topic, but some people are just idiotic.

A co-worker has a spouse that is totally useless in the common sense dept. The other day, the spouse was taking the two kids to see family in the backwoods part of Arkansas. The spouse calls because the phone charger hadn't gotten packed and there was only 4% battery left and they weren't going to be able to 1. find the house without the phone or 2. do anything else without the phone.

Like...maybe you notice this [expletive] well in advance of 4% battery life and be able to function well enough to get to a store where you can buy one if not. Sheeeeeesh.....

In their defense, I've had times when travelling in the boonies where my phone goes from full charge to almost nothing within an hour, because of constantly searching for signal.

That said, if you know you are going to the backcountry, maybe don't rely on your phone for a map. Or know to turn it off until you need it.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Probably wrong topic, but some people are just idiotic.

A co-worker has a spouse that is totally useless in the common sense dept. The other day, the spouse was taking the two kids to see family in the backwoods part of Arkansas. The spouse calls because the phone charger hadn't gotten packed and there was only 4% battery left and they weren't going to be able to 1. find the house without the phone or 2. do anything else without the phone.

Like...maybe you notice this [expletive] well in advance of 4% battery life and be able to function well enough to get to a store where you can buy one if not. Sheeeeeesh.....

In their defense, I've had times when travelling in the boonies where my phone goes from full charge to almost nothing within an hour, because of constantly searching for signal.

That said, if you know you are going to the backcountry, maybe don't rely on your phone for a map. Or know to turn it off until you need it.

If this was a one time thing, it'd be different.

And, another thing that drives me nuts. People anymore don't have maps or know how to read them. Ms. AW is the worst about this. One time we took a roadtrip to Houston and I asked her how we were getting there as we were leaving. Her response, literally, was to do what the phone said. Drives me crazy!! Lo and behold, we took a wrong turn and then I get in trouble for not knowing why we did it. [expletive] me right.

I've never been without a physical map in my car, especially if driving to unfamiliar places.

[Popeye_Card]

Probably wrong topic, but some people are just idiotic.

A co-worker has a spouse that is totally useless in the common sense dept. The other day, the spouse was taking the two kids to see family in the backwoods part of Arkansas. The spouse calls because the phone charger hadn't gotten packed and there was only 4% battery left and they weren't going to be able to 1. find the house without the phone or 2. do anything else without the phone.

Like...maybe you notice this [expletive] well in advance of 4% battery life and be able to function well enough to get to a store where you can buy one if not. Sheeeeeesh.....

In their defense, I've had times when travelling in the boonies where my phone goes from full charge to almost nothing within an hour, because of constantly searching for signal.

That said, if you know you are going to the backcountry, maybe don't rely on your phone for a map. Or know to turn it off until you need it.

If this was a one time thing, it'd be different.

And, another thing that drives me nuts. People anymore don't have maps or know how to read them. Ms. AW is the worst about this. One time we took a roadtrip to Houston and I asked her how we were getting there as we were leaving. Her response, literally, was to do what the phone said. Drives me crazy!! Lo and behold, we took a wrong turn and then I get in trouble for not knowing why we did it. [expletive] me right.

I've never been without a physical map in my car, especially if driving to unfamiliar places.

My wife is also awful with directions. She'll ask me sometimes where town X is. I'll say "a bit north of city Y". "So near City Z?" (Nowhere near City Y.). "No. Wrong direction."

She too relies too heavily on phone directions. We'll be heading to some store in City Y. I'll ask where it is at.

"On Spring Street."
"OK, where is that?"
"I don't know." *tries to map on phone using voice command, doesn't work, gets mad, tries 3 more times until it finally works.
"OK, it says go north on Vine street."
"Vine Street? Like back in (origin city)? We are way past there. Just show me the map of where it is at, please."
"No, you are driving."
"I just need to glance at it to know where it is in City Y. I can get there if I just know approximately where to get off the highway."
"No. I can't bring up the map anyway."
"WTF? Give me the phone."
"No, you are driving. I will tell you how to get there."

So aggravating. I usually end up having to pull over, look it up on my own phone in like 3 seconds, and get back on the road. I've learned to look up every place we could concievably go that day before we leave, and try to memorize every location.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

That's hilarious popeye.

My natural description of a place, also, is east/west/north/south of some established point. That's like speaking greek to ms. aw.

Google earth has been a big help in that I can look at where we're going before and actually zoom into see where the turns are and all that which actually helps. Also, usually after the fact, we'll go to google earth to see how a place actually is east/west/north/south of whatever established point is described. New Orleans is a city that's tough to do this in, however.

[thrill]

That's hilarious popeye.

My natural description of a place, also, is east/west/north/south of some established point. That's like speaking greek to ms. aw.

Google earth has been a big help in that I can look at where we're going before and actually zoom into see where the turns are and all that which actually helps. Also, usually after the fact, we'll go to google earth to see how a place actually is east/west/north/south of whatever established point is described. New Orleans is a city that's tough to do this in, however.

You'd love Salt Lake City. Perfect N/S E/W grid.

I had a rough time in Vegas last week because I was using the strip as my orientation point but didn't realize until day 3 that Las Vegas Blvd doesn't run N-S. It's NE-SW.

[Freed Roger]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3SFqV0hMyo&sns=em][/youtube]

[Freed Roger]

http://m.stltoday.com/news/state-and-re ... touch=true