Yup, was a Garmin. Part of me has been a little worried cause i can’t find my way anywhere without GPS anymore, and Google has been getting shittier every day.
Hell, I remember the first time I used maps on a computer to plan and print a route, and the first time I could do it online with MapQuest.
Those were moments that the Internet really felt like the future.
I used to tape maps to the gas tank of my motorcycle on trips.
Then mapquest became useful and I taped printed directions. Made it a lot easier.
Then I got a Garmin waterproof, handlebar mounted GPS and it was glorious, though you had to buy map updates every couple years.
Eventually phones were actually able to be used for directions and I kept a phone connected to a homemade battery pack in my jacket pocket, with an earbud under my helmet, so I just listened to directions and music.
Finally got a phone connected to a handlebar mount, plugged into the bike power, with a Bluetooth headset built into the helmet. Probably the least safe of the options, but I can listen to podcasts, audiobooks, music and see the maps while it directs me with audio, just like a car display would.
I’m still not sure how i found anything before gps was a thing. I remember getting my licence and my first trip with a friend. He printed out like 20 pages of google maps. He sat next to me and went through it like a person wo went mad on the nautilus. Halfway through it, he threw it all on the backseat and only kept the last page and said: "we’re looking for some place that sounds like hitler and then 15 min later we go left and there is a house with a dragon in the yard.
We never took a wrong turn on the whole trip. Same at work, i would get a bad printout of a city block where i wasn’t even sure where it was. And somehow after driving around in circles for a bit i would always magically find it.
