Another discussion on GPS usage caused me to remember how some friends use their GPS, they use it to creatively take wild routes home.   What they do is go someplace 25 to 50 miles from their campsite the normal way, maybe to go to a museum or some other attraction.  But when they decide to go home they program the GPS and then go through it and "exclude route" all the roads it wants to take.  The GPS recalculates and off they go, down back roads, way off the beaten path where they can see old farm houses, odd sights.   Sometimes it takes 100 miles to go 50 but they have a good time and know they are not lost.

I love it because this flips the normal GPS routes of taking the main roads on its head.  I know this is not for everyone, but if you like to see the off the beaten path you might try it sometime.

Terri and I love to just take off and get lost ( so to speak). We love to find those roads that are less traveled. Seems to me that the folks that you find on those back roads are always more friendly. We hope to do many back roads in the future.

We've been doing this very thing for many years.  My dad was notorius for saying, "Wonder what's down this road?", and off we'd go.  He didn't have a GPS to get us back home.  I must have gotten his "wandering gene"  because I'm usually the one who says, "Turn here, Let's see what's down this road."  

Fortunately, Dan is agreeable.  We've found some nice little restaurants and good pie just wondering the back roads.  Also fruit and vegetable stands, and beautiful scenery.  We program our GPS with the location of the campground we're staying in as "home". 

I like your idea. We also like to wander and see what's out there, but occasionally we do get lost. We don't have a GPS yet.

Last October on an extended trip that included the RV- Dreams Rally in Texas and a trip to Arizona and New Mexico then home to Colorado we used our Garmin and routed using 95 per cent State Highways and roads. Most pleasant trip we have ever taken by staying off the Interstates. The only down side I could see is that there were times I wondered what would happen if we broke down or had some problem being off the beaten path.Would I do it again ? You bet! The garmin some how made me feel like I was never far from help. Has been a God send for Linda also as she doesn't have to have her face buried in a map all the time and can enjoy the scenery.

I LOVE this idea.  My Dad was also the wonderer.  Every Sunday he took 3 of us 5 kids for a ride to give Mom a break....we never knew where we would end up, but it was always an adventure.

-- Edited by DorisandDave on Thursday 14th of January 2010 07:49:24 PM