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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Steve to the Rescue

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: MadTV

Last night at 9:00pm:

"Honey I need your help!"
"What's wrong?"
"I'm in the middle of downtown Chicago and I can't get a signal on my GPS!"
"Well where are you exactly?"
"{sobs} I don't KNOW...!"

I flew into Chicago for the weekend for a friend's wedding. Steve couldn't come with me since he's already taken time off for next week's Manila trip, so I took our GPS unit with me and hoped for the best. I was actually fine going from the rental car place to the hotel, the hotel to the church (the church and ceremony were beautiful), and the church to the reception, which is at a downtown hotel (gorgeous hotel).

I parked in a public parking facility right next to the hotel ($14 for parking!). Little did I know $14 was for the first 2 hours. By the time I left, parking was $30. And the scary part about it is that I heard that was normal in Chicago. In Memphis we complain when public parking's $5 :-).

Anyway, I lost satellite reception when I parked, which is normal when you take the GPS unit indoors. I figured I'd pick the reception back up easily when I got out of the building later.

At 8:50pm I pull out of the parking building. I figure, drive down the street a while, let the GPS unit pick up a signal. Nothing.

Don't panic, it takes time. Stop light, good.

Nothing.

Turn the GPS off, turn it back on. Maybe it needs to reset. Drive down a few more blocks.

Nothing.

I'm running out of road and will have to make a turn soon, and I don't want to get any more lost than I already am. I park on the side of the street and call Steve. That's when the conversation above takes place.

I was freaking out because not only was I in a strange city, I was downtown (where every street is a one way street), it's night, and I'm the kind of person that has absolutely no sense of direction. If you told me straight ahead was North, then turned me to my right and told me that was North too, I'd believe you.

I looked at the building next to where I was parked. It was an apartment building, with the address on the canopy. "I'm at 445 E. Ohio Street."

"Okay, hold on, I'm pulling up Google Maps. Where are you headed?"

"855 79th Street, Willowbrook, Illinois."

A few minutes pass.

"Okay I see where you are. No wonder you're having trouble getting a signal with all those tall buildings around you. Okay, at the end of the road, you're turning left on N Lake Shore Drive. Then you're taking the first left after that on E Ontario Street."

"Stop stop one at a time...!"

"Calm down, honey. I'll be your GPS until you get a signal. It's a piece of cake. Go ahead, start driving. Just tell me which streets you pass so I can keep track of where you are."

After the first two turns it was a straight shot for 12 blocks (thank goodness) and right at the point where I had to get on the highway, I heard the familiar pinging of the GPS which meant it acquired a satellite signal and it was plotting a way to get me home. When the GPS said, "In point 3 miles, turn left on ramp," I was never more relieved to hear a robotic voice in my life :-).

Steve stayed with me on the phone until I got to the hotel, which was about 20 minutes later. When I finally parked the car at the hotel it was like a huge weight was taken off my shoulders. I never would have found my way back without his help :-).

Oh, and just to prove my point about having a terrible sense of direction--even with the GPS working I ended up taking a wrong turn at one point and it had to turn me around to get me back on the highway :-).

Labels: Travel

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