Rolling Rhythms

Paper Maps or Google Maps?
I prefer Google, but Rich likes paper maps. For the last two days, he has been checking his Atlas like a child checking the refrigerator for food. When I asked him why, he said he needed to see where we were going, but he still used his phone’s Google Maps when driving. I remember a time when I was a child; my father would always have a paper map spread out on the dashboard during our road trips. It was like a treasure map guiding us to our destination.
We stopped at a Rest area today for lunch, and there was a little boy, maybe ten years old, looking over the maps. As I was walking into the bathroom, I heard the little boy ask his mom what a map was. She said that is what people used before the cell phone. She told him to grab one, and she would show him how people used to travel. I couldn’t help but think about the tactile experience of using a paper map, the way you can trace your finger along the roads, feeling the contours of the land beneath your touch.
That encounter at the rest area got me thinking-do my kids know how to read a map? I posed the question to them via text, and Jerie replied, ” I am sure it is easy, and are you lost? I’m still waiting for a response from Jacob.
It seems to be a skill that is fading away, and it makes me wonder what other skills might be slipping through the cracks of technological advancement.
My family always used maps, and I wouldn’t say I liked them because, for some reason, my sister and I always had to refold them, and I could never fold them the right way.
Then came the Triple-A trip ticket books—those were a game-changer. The thrill of turning the page, knowing you were one step closer to your final destination, was unmatched. It was a tangible, exciting way to navigate, and I cherished every page-turn.