God Bless GPS

John Rhoads and Starry Bush-Rhoads got stuck on a mountain road, and wound up cold and hungry because of faith in a GPS enabled device. Three days later searchers, also using navigation units, tracked them down. The Rhoads were driving in their Toyota Sequoia four-wheel drive, heading home to Nevada after an Oregon vacation.

They had spent Christmas Eve in Redmond and set off to Bend and onto Oregon 31 then a straight shot to Reno, Nevada. They were both surprised when the unit's voice interrupted their drive near Silver Lake, Oregon. "We knew the route we wanted to take," said Bush-Rhoads, back home safely in Reno. "But after we were on 31 for about 25 miles, it said, 'Turn right on County Road 24.'" When they missed the turn, the GPS voice advised them to turn around. "We didn't know that it was a road that should have been closed. The only sign on the road, a little itty-bitty sign, said Not Winter Maintained." But the road appeared passable in both directions. The Rhoads took the road and wound up in a wildlife refuge wilderness area in Lake County. After the truck repeatedly got stuck in the snow, they spent first Friday night and then Saturday night in the truck. After rescuers pulled the 4x4 from the snow near Thompson Reservoir, Starry said it best "A GPS has its great pluses, but just like a dishwasher, it has its limitations."
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