With all the “decade in review” commentaries floating around, particularly with looks back on technological advancements, my thoughts floated all the way back to 1999 when my Dad escorted me to Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota. I had it stuck in my mind that I would canoe the length of the Mississippi River and he rode along with me so he could see that part of the country and return my truck to North Carolina. While my misguided adventure was short-lived (one night, to be exact), the road trip ranks among my most memorable.
By 1999 I had driven solo cross-country more times than I had toes, and always with a copy of “Roadside America” on hand. I just moved back from Colorado and thought I’d take the spring and summer to go on this grand adventure inspired by thoughts of Huckleberry Finn and encouraged by Eddy Harris’ book, “Mississippi Solo“. I bought a 16′ Old Town canoe, christened it “Due South”, loaded up my brittany spaniel, Durango, and we were set. Dad, Durango and I lit for the north country in April.
With a spiral-bound map the size of a dinner table, I had kept a list of useful distances in the inside cover, along with driving times. Before we hit the outskirts of Gastonia, Dad pulled out this wonderful little black device with a monochrome screen sporting the magical name, “Garmin”. Why magical? At the time it sounded like “Merlin” and, well, it stuck. We had gps on the fishing boat but a handheld? Sweet!
With each passing state – through Asheville, NC, Knoxville, TN, up to Louisville, Indianapolis and onward to Davenport, IA – I increasingly became less interested in the Garmin than in Dad’s admiration of it. I was no technological neophyte and knew exactly what the tiny handheld machine was capable of, but I guess I took such tech advances for granted.
This would have blown Grandpappy’s mind, he kept saying, speaking of his dad and my grandfather, “A moving map in your hand!”
Since it was my truck and my trip, I did most of the driving. This was just fine for Dad, as he spent most of the 23 hours with my table map in one hand and the Garmin in the other. At the time, the GPS III Plus was a marvel, due the sheer size. ”More than 10,000 towns….an extensive and detailed database of exit information for the federal interstate highway system….with a touch of a button, find a host of information on everything from food and lodging to service stations!” At the bargain MSRP of $571.80, incredible indeed. Of the 500 waypoints it could store, I swear Dad used a full fifth of them on this one trip.
As I mentioned, this story did not last to long. Around Davenport, we began following the Great River Road up through Minneapolis and on to Bemedji. Along the way we would stop at various river locks and dams, to see how I should navigate them. Simply put, they scared the shit outta me. Few of the dams had anything more than a couple buoys to prevent a boater from going over (more accurately, sucked in with the current) and the downriver side featured hydraulics pushing 20′ in height. Visions of Durango disappearing and not popping up for a mile downstream, along with me, stayed in my head the rest of the drive. The day I was to depart we got up early, headed south towards Lake Itasca and visited the headwaters of the Mississippi River. A beautiful day but I opted to skip the lake portion reading about some inclement weather moving in and the recent drownings of others on the lake.
After putting in that afternoon, the plan was to get a few miles in and Dad would stick around for a night before I gave the thumbs up for him to head back to North Carolina. Winding down the river, I took some great photos of a bald eagle (later discovering no film was in the camera) and worked on navigating the river. I couldn’t do it. I was pushed around like just another twig. I covered 40 miles that day, eventually making camp on a riverbank that looked like a city park. I called my Dad to pick me up in the morning. I was going to die on that river if I stayed.
With Dad behind the wheel, the big map in the back and the Garmin leading the way, he drove us home on a different route that I may never have considered. We discovered some unique areas of the country and his little “moving map” continued to fascinate us the entire way. I bought one a few months later and still have it. I don’t use it much since the reception is poor compared with current models, especially in the woods. The screen is crisp, albeit antiquated. Nowadays when I pull out my iPhone to look up a location on Google Maps, I can’t help but wonder how amazed he would be with it. And that’s really why I’ve hung on to that ten-year old gps, to remind me of the trips, not the technology.
And for Mr. Mississippi, I haven’t forgotten about you. Before leaving Minnesota, Dad offered to loan me money to buy a jetski so I could finish the trip. I should have taken him up on it. It’s still on my “to-do” list.
