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I was in a store the other day, waiting to pay for my goods, when I heard some middle-aged women discussing the merits of GPS."I never go anywhere without it," said one. Another one said, "I wish I could just get in my car and it would drive me where I wanted to go," said another.

I think the ability to get in a car, and drive by map, is also uniquely American. GPS is nice, especially around some cities, but I think it's ruining basic map-reading skills.

In other countries, people rely on mass-transit, and neatly laid-out railways. The state will take you where you need to go. Do not ask "what's at the end of that road?" If a train doesn't take you there, you don't need to be there!

I know a young woman who has no map reading skills and never remmbers the names or numbers of roads. There is a major highway nearby which needs to be frequently used. If her father says she should "Take 495", she ALWAYS responds "Which one is that?" and he ALWAYS responds "The one where your friend had the accident" and she ALWAYS says "OK. Got it."

When you operate at that level, you can end up being a bit limited.

I teach all my kids to read maps. My older boys and I hunt in the mountains every year and I will say I carry a GPS for backup but I have a USGS map at the ready and all our planning is on those.