The other day, my son and I were preparing for him to go on a backpacking weekend with his Boy Scout Troop. My job was to drive up to the trail head on Sunday and retrieve a truckload of Scouts and their gear. This was going to be one of those occasions where the GPS in the truck was not going to cut it as the place where we were meeting did not have a particular name or address. We needed an actual (don't faint) map. You may remember them. They used to print them on paper and the user had to determine where he or she was on the map, and which way is North. No turn-by-turn, no traffic alerts - nada. I know. What's next? Cave paintings? Anyway, a regular, muggle map would not do, because they don't show trails. I needed a contour map that shows elevations, water, trails, etc. No problem. I used to be a Scout myself, so I try to always Be Prepared. I have a whole books of contour maps for the entire state!
I easily located my book of maps, despite how long it had been since I had needed to use it (that should have been a warning sign). When we tried to locate the trail, I was unhappy with the resolution of the details. I have USGS maps and satellite photos on my iPad, but still it was difficult to tell where I needed to go, exactly. Finally, it occurred to me to check how old my book of maps was. Printed on the front cover of the book, in red, in a large, friendly font, is the word, "New!" I honestly cannot remember when I bought that book. It must have been a long time ago, but it still says, "New!" so it must be good, right? I flipped open the cover and found the Copyright page. The book is the 4th edition from 1998. Oh. We popped down to the book store and there was the new one - the tenth edition. There is only one problem. The "new" one doesn't say "New!" on it, so I had the weird sensation of throwing away my "New!" map that was much older than my new map. My son is still making fun of me, but I did locate the trail head with my so-called new map and bring the Scouts home. I still think that it should say, "New!" on it.
I easily located my book of maps, despite how long it had been since I had needed to use it (that should have been a warning sign). When we tried to locate the trail, I was unhappy with the resolution of the details. I have USGS maps and satellite photos on my iPad, but still it was difficult to tell where I needed to go, exactly. Finally, it occurred to me to check how old my book of maps was. Printed on the front cover of the book, in red, in a large, friendly font, is the word, "New!" I honestly cannot remember when I bought that book. It must have been a long time ago, but it still says, "New!" so it must be good, right? I flipped open the cover and found the Copyright page. The book is the 4th edition from 1998. Oh. We popped down to the book store and there was the new one - the tenth edition. There is only one problem. The "new" one doesn't say "New!" on it, so I had the weird sensation of throwing away my "New!" map that was much older than my new map. My son is still making fun of me, but I did locate the trail head with my so-called new map and bring the Scouts home. I still think that it should say, "New!" on it.
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