If long road trips into unfamiliar places intimidate you, a Global Positioning System (GPS) may be just what you need. I recently used one for a lengthy road trip for the first time. Of course, some cars come with a GPS, but in this post I’m referring to a Garmin nuvi 1300T.

A GPS can have many advantages, but it’s still a computer telling you what to do. I hope all new drivers learn how to navigate with maps first, before turning to a GPS.
Advantages of Trips with a GPS

If you make a wrong turn, you’re automatically re-routed. It’s dummy-proof.
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We’re on a cross-country road trip with our 5-year-old who has a bladder the size of a pea. When he needs to go, he needs to go immediately lest we suffer the consequences of the great flood inside our car. We’ve seen our share of frightful potties along the way. The open-air rest stops in the desert always worry me, especially when I see the “watch for rattlesnakes” signs. But I was at a complete loss when in the vast emptiness of west Teas my son announce, “I gotta go.” There probably wasn’t an exit in sight for another 60 …read more

More years ago than I wish to admit, when I was not quite a year old, my parents packed up the birdshit white Volkswagen Camper and drove from Southern California, up through Canada to Flushing, New York. My father was beginning a post-doctorate fellowship in immunology, and my mother was escaping to some semblance of independence from a family she’d been bound to since birth. This was the days before car seats and other safety devices (before air conditioning was standard in cars, too) and my father was thrilled to have developed this net-like contraption that would latch on the …read more

We are about to embark on our cross-country road trip. I love road trips. They allow you to see so much of the country that a flight simply misses. Since I’ve probably done more long-distance road tripping than the average person, I thought I’d post my to-do list to get ready for the big trip.

Service your car. That’s a no-brainer. We’re taking the Touareg in Monday for the 75,000-mile service. But I’m also taking it later in the week to NTB to get two new tires and a rotation. It would really suck to be in the middle of west …read more

Shut UP!

That’s what I said when I saw this ‘08 Tahoe Hybrid and all it’s fancy shmancy features.
I said it when I saw the reverse camera and the XM touch screen radio and the GPS and the tire pressure monitor.

Well, read BlogHer or Bust! to find out just how opulent and extravagant a $52,780 car can be.

Image Source: Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me