Driving in circles with a GPS unit

Although I’m not a big fan of the sophisticated English voice barking out directions, I have been using our GPS unit a lot these days. Dear husband loves it. I’m a little wary of it. Me and the GPS lady don’t see eye to eye. In fact, sometimes I don’t think she even knows the difference between a right from a left. Last week it didn’t know where the apple orchard was located. The other day it gave me wonky directions out of a subdivision. And the latest incident involved the unit wanting to direct me west instead of east.

I had to go to Orleans, which is located in Ottawa’s east end. The east end is a mystery to me. I don’t know any of the major roads. So I need all the help I can get when I’m trekking out to Ottawa’s eastern edge.

So I punch the address into the GPS. I wait, which isn’t a good sign. A message saying “no matches found” flashes onto the computer screen. Great, I grumble to myself. What good is a GPS unit when it doesn’t know an address? I turn to good old and dependable Mapquest for help. Luckily Mapquest knows how to get to my destination. I’m feeling so spiteful at the moment that I want to stick my tongue at the GPS unit.

I thought I’d be smart and punch in the street name located nearby to my destination. I reasoned that at least that way I could use the GPS to take me to a nearby street and I could use the Mapquest directions to get me the rest of the way. Allegedly, the GPS found that street. After getting into the car and approaching a main artery, the GPS tells me to turn left, which makes absolutely no sense as that takes me away from the exit to the Queensway, where I need to be.

Me: Left? What the heck are you talking about?

GPS: Turn left.

Me: No way. I'm going straight.

I proceed straight through the intersection

GPS: Recalculating. In 250 metres, turn left.

Me: What the hell are you talking about? To get onto the highway I’ve got to turn right. R-I-G-H-T.

By this time I’m yelling at the GPS unit. And in defiance, I turn right onto the on ramp

GPS: In 800 meters, take ramp right.

Me: Ramp right? Are you freaking nuts? I need to go east, not west.

It is at this point I turn off the GPS unit in a huff.

I arrive to my destination, no thanks to the GPS unit. Before heading home, I turn the unit back on to see if it could tell me how to get home. After pressing the home button, lo and behold, the darn thing loaded a map of my present location and was able to direct me home.

So I don’t get it. Why was the GPS unit unable to find my destination’s address, but could direct me home from my destination? Oh technology, sometimes you amaze me. And it is not always in a good way.