Wired On The Road

“Dave, you were right.” My husband will treasure this post since he rarely hears those magical words. However, he was right. The Garmin Nuvi, an automotive GPS system, would be a worthwhile investment.

For years, we’ve been debating the relative merits of OnStar vs. the Garmin Nuvi. Both GPS navigation systems help you find your destination, but OnStar is already installed in the family car. Purchasing a Garmin Nuvi portable GPS navigator meant spending at least $200.00 (for a budget model.)

I’ve been arguing that the expense isn’t worth it. There are so many ways to get directions. We get free maps from AAA, in addition to roadside assistance. On the computer, you can get detailed directions on MapQuest, Yahoo Maps, or Google Maps. You can even get extraterrestrial mapping in 3-D on Google Earth.

As it is, we already have OnStar’s Directions & Connections Plan which means that with a push of a button I get directions to wherever I want to go from a human being. This is very reassuring when I’m driving cross country with two kids, two dogs, and no adult co-pilot.

It wasn’t until recent trips where we rented cars that I saw why we do need a GPS navigator.

On vacation in St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands), I don’t need a GPS system. I don’t even need the road signs with route numbers that were installed a few years back for the tourists. Like most locals, all the direction I need is “turn left at the big mango tree, next to the pink house.” However, this past summer I decided to do some off-island exploration on St. Croix where the “scenic route” means that there are dirt roads and lots of pot holes. Without my friend’s Garmin Nuvi, we would have been totally lost on some fairly inaccessible roads.

I was grateful for the Garmin Nuvi on that trip, but I wasn’t ready to admit that Dave was right. After all, how often would I be needing a GPS navigator on an island?

A couple of months later, my family gathered for a wedding in California. We had relatives, who had flown in from distant parts of the US and Caribbean, attempting to meet for various festive occasions. Some of us also had to run many errands getting ready for the big day. It was a logistical nightmare. Fortunately, several forward thinkers brought their Garmin Nuvis with them when they rented cars. They were the ones who were able to lead the rest on the road trips. They were also the ones who used the Garmin Nuvi’s travel assistant features to find the nearest gas station when we were low on fuel or a restaurant that appealed to the entire group when we were low on energy.

It turns out that now you can get car navigators with amazing features, if you’re willing to pay the price. One of the best rated GPS navigators, the Garmin Nuvi 660 ($500-$800), has integrated Bluetooth so that you can use it for hands-free phone calls. It also has an FM traffic receiver to help you avoid those time-wasting traffic jams.

What makes this a real cool home educator’s tool is the onboard Travel Kit that includes an MP3 player, an Audible book player, a JPEG picture viewer with slide show function, a world clock, currency and measurment converters, and a calculator. It’s a great way to listen to classical literature on the road.

Download an MP3 from these sources recently featured on Teen Literacy Tips:

• Mercury Theatre on the Air has a collection of classic radio drama from the 1930’s that includes Rebecca, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Pickwick Papers, Around the World in 80 Days, Treasure Island, and Dracula.
• Lit2Go offers a collection of children’s literature that allows you to search the collection by title, author, or reading level. Educators will love the reading activities that accompany most titles. For example, for “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” from Aesop’s Fables, the reading activity suggests making a concept map showing cause and effect.
• LibriVox allows you to download free audiobooks from the public domain. Budding actors may also volunteer to record and upload audiobooks. This ecclectic collection includes stories and poems by Walt Whitman, Rudyard Kipling, and Jules Verne.
• Ejunto provides a collection of free historical and philosophical audio books. This where you can download Machiavelli’s The Prince, William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, or James Madison’s The Federalist #10.

Wow! I’ve almost convinced myself that we need the upgraded gadget, but it’s not on our budget. Sorry, Dave, it’s OnStar and MapQuest for us. We can still listen to the audio books using the Ipod’s car adaptor. Visit CNet Reviews for many ways you can “ipod your car.”

For more Wired Learning suggestions, take a look at previous posts:

Living By Learning In The Wired World

10 Ways To Bond With Your Children

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