Shoutout to the guy at a rest stop near Salina who showed me why paper maps still matter
Stopped at a rest stop off I-70 near Salina about 4 years back and got to talking with a fellow in his 60s who had a paper atlas spread across a picnic table. I had my phone out doing the usual thing, and he pointed at my screen and said the blue dot does not tell you why the road bends. He flipped his atlas around, showed me where the Flint Hills start, and explained that a paper map lets you see the whole trip at once instead of a little box that follows you around. I still keep a folded state map in the glove box, and sure enough on a trip to Missouri last spring the signal dropped for 30 miles and that map got us to a diner he had marked with a pen. It made me think about how many bad online maps I have seen that just plain leave out small roads, or put a town in the wrong spot. Has anyone else had a stranger convert them back to paper maps, and do you have a favorite one worth keeping in the car?