Back Seat Driving

It's my own fault. Let me confess that first.

Today we drove to Jacob Lake Inn. We invited my parents to ride along with us. A six hour trip when you include a lunch break.

My dad is fascinated with the GPS. Every time he gets in the car, he asks if we have it with us. So today, I was certain to take it. What great entertainment....if you were in the backseat!

Because of his health, dad rides in the front seat. I ride in the back with mom. Dad held the GPS in his hands like a cell phone or video game. Never letting go of it.


"How do you know where you're going?"
"Honey, I hit something. Can you fix it?"
"What does this mean?"
"Hey, I must have hit something. Can you fix it?"
"Is that the direction we're going?"
"The screen changed. Did I do something to it?"

Easily, the GPS passed from front seat to back seat at least 20 times on the way to Jacob Lake.He hardly took his eyes off of it during the entire drive to our destination. Once there, I gave him a little GPS tutorial.


"This means how far it is to the next turn. This will tell you how long until we reach our destination. And this is the speed limit, but this box will tell you how fast you're going."

"Really?" he said, "I can tell all of that?"

So on we traveled. Down the mountain road from 8000 ft elevation. "Look, there's a turn coming up." "Hey, Rich, what do you think this green spot is?" "Look at that. It shows that whole campground." "You better watch for this turn coming up. Look at that."

Then I hear, "65. (pause) You're going 68" "45. Will you get pulled over for 47?" "Look at that, Rich, 55 and you're going 55."

"Just lucky," says my grimmacing husband.

"I really like this thing. With this, you don't have to depend on the back seat drivers!"