We used a combination of the latest electronic gizmos and the tried and true methods to find our way around this rather complicated itinerary. We never got lost even though many times we were not on our planned route. Lost means that you don't know where you are, but thanks to our GPS receiver we could almost always find out exactly where we were. Getting back on course was sometimes an adventure, but it was never stressful.

Planning the Trip

Before we left we spent quite a bit of time choosing destinations: things we really wanted to see. We plugged them in to Microsoft's AutoRoute Express 1998 program. I had purchased a copy of this in 1998 on a previous trip, but was unable to update it for this trip. Their policy was to only sell it in Europe, and that made it very difficult to use a current version for trip planning. Instead, I purchased Route 66 Europe 2002, a program which would interface to my GPS receiver even though its trip planning facilities were not as good as the Microsoft product.

The computer would pick a road between our destinations and estimate the time that it would take to drive it. Sometimes I had to put in via points in order to force the route to take a particular scenic road that interested us. At each destination we entered the amount of time we expected to spend there, and the computer would divide the trip up into days. It amused us to see that at 3:14 on Thursday we would be entering the Autoroute de l'Acquitaine.

The planning exercise helped us to make realistic expectations and to decide upon tradeoffs: what was a must see on this trip, and what would be too far out of the way for this time. Obviously the actual decision as to where we would be going was made each morning, but it was an informed decision due to the recommendations of the software.

Electronic Assistance

On the longer legs we used a power inverter plugged into the cigarette lighter in the rental car to produce enough 110 volt electricity to power the Sony laptop that contained the mapping programs. We also use a Garmin e-Map GPS receiver that connected to the serial port and fed location information to the software.

The main problem with using GPS for automobile navigation is that it needs to be able to receive signals from at least four satellites in order to get an accurate fix on your location. This is fine on the open highway, but once you get into a forest or a city the view of the sky is partially obscured and it stops tracking your position. Despite this drawback we always knew where we were to within a kilometer. On a number of occasions I would take the wrong exit from a traffic circle and we would soon see that we were headed in the wrong direction. Instead of turning back, we would then take the small roads between the fields, through hamlets and villages, until we rejoined the main road. These excursions were much more enjoyable than following some large van down the main road waiting for an opportunity to pass. Pretty soon we started taking the side roads on purpose.

Michelin Maps

Backup systems are good. That's why we had two cameras; that's why we copied the day's pictures to a CD every evening. Our backup navigation system was the superb set of maps published by the Michelin tire company. As we entered each region we would purchase the regional map at the next bookstore we spotted. Not only are these maps detailed and easy to read, but they also work together with the Michelin Red Book which lists and rates hotels and restaurants. All the towns listed in the Red Book are underlined in red on the map. The cities with maps in the guide book have numbered connectors to the map. All in all it's a very usable system.

Driving in France

A number of years ago I went to traffic school as an alternative to having a ticket show up on my record and affect my insurance rates. The instructor, a former California Highway Patrol officer asked "How many of you consider your selves to be better than average drivers?" About 80% of the attendees raised their hands. "You're here because you are below average drivers," he said, "so what happened to those driving skills?" He had a point.

In the US drivers are trained to assume that the other driver is going to make a mistake. This is often called "defensive driving." It is a very good assumption. In France it is much harder to get a drivers license. You must go to a professional instructor and take an intensive training course. The principal rule of European driving is "The driver on the right has the right of way." A central part of the training is the ability to quickly analyze a situation and make rapid decisions as to who has the right of way. French drivers assume that everybody has had this training and simply take the right of way when it is theirs. I think this could be called "offensive driving."

The two styles don't mix very well. The American needs more time to figure out where he is going and when, and this exasperates the Frenchman who assumes that since the American has a drivers license, he knows what to do. This is one more reason to drive the little country roads. There is very little traffic and they are usually well marked.

The best rule for driving in a French city? "Don't" Park your car wherever you can do so legally, and walk or take public transportation. We stayed at a hotel out by the airport so that we could get rid of the car. We took the train into Paris and had a wonderful time.

For more information here are a couple of sites to go to:

http://www.travlang.com/signs/

http://www.ideamerge.com/motoeuropa/