Here's a typical 1962 GPS System for cars in that day.
Most of the Interstate Highway system still wasn't built, so the old highway numbers are still on the maps in this old road atlas. I found it on eBay, and bought it so I could trace some trips from that time and stimulate my memory. One of those trips was a family vacation from Southern California to the World's Fair in Seattle. No Interstate 5, back then, so we drove up Hwy 101 for the entire trip. I was 15 years old that Summer, and it was a long, two-week vacation in a 1959 Plymouth Savoy.
Sometimes, it's worth taking some time to look back on life in this country before everything started accelerating. We barely had a color TV in 1962. Gasoline was about 29 cents a gallon. There was much to see on that drive, mostly on two-lane highways that went through every town along the route. AM radio blaring in the car and not so much traffic on the road.
Looking back is a good thing. It helps with looking forward.
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covering most of my state and surrounding environs, and I’m glad I know how to read a map and navigate accordingly, but damn — GPS is awesome. My job involves driving from store to store in towns out in the boondocks that I’m usually entirely unfamiliar with, and what a timesaver it is to just tap the location and let the iPad do the work.
Could I get there on my own? Absolutely. Do I want to be bothered? Nope! 
I can't get to my mailbox and back without my phone gps. And refuse to do so. 
If I drive to an area that is "out of service range" I am lost. Figuratively and literally. 
taking different routes but "she" never gets mad. 
I go to different addresses every day that I have never visited before (Real Estate Photographer) so it is an indispensable tool for me to make my day easier.
...the map makers stopped getting their "dimes" so they said "eff it". 
All kidding aside, I collected maps we used in our travels as a child. After getting my pilot's license, I, inexplicably, started saving Sectional Charts and Approach procedures, even after expiration. Not that I would use them, but the fuse that tells me, "this is official - you might need this" never blew. 
...probably a broken GPS antenna in my phone, but it kept telling me to get off at the next exit and make two lefts.
comes to directions. But in 1979 took off from East Coast to California. Would never have made it without the Triptiks. You had to order them, and it took days to get your custom prepared directions. Very handy. GPS is a modern wonder, though.
I'm guessing you made a left hand turn on I40 in Oklahoma, on I20 in Dallas-Ft Worth, or I10 around San Antonio.
I've driven significant segments off all those interstates, some pretty much coast to coast although never in one trip.
I know, picky, picky, picky.
Those county level maps with all the back roads, the really twisty ones that bikers love, were the bomb.
I think address of my Cousin's place is in Grover City, but close enough 
I'll share some pics from Dec 24-26, 2018 ... all but the last 2 are within 1.5 miles of the 101, just north of Santa Maria ...
At Best Western in AG, looking back towards the 101 ...
Downtown AG
Looking out over Pismo, Dunes in the Background
Pirates Cove, Looking South towards Pismo
Avila Beach Pier
Port San Luis Beach
Morro Rock
Robin's restaurant, Cambria (where my cousin once-removed is a chef, had xmas eve dinner there)
The Shell Answer Man was a series of television advertisements from the 1960s through the 1990s sponsored by Shell Oil in which answers were provided to common questions from the public about driving, with advice on vehicle maintenance, repair and safety, as well as guidance to users of home heating oil. Companion booklets, a series titled the Shell Answer Books, were inserted into major magazines and distributed as free giveaways at Shell gas stations. The ads were aimed at typical drivers, helping inform them how to avoid wasting gasoline through such tips as not making jackrabbit starts, ensuring proper tire inflation, regular oil changes and proper basic maintenance of their vehicle, as well as guidance on how to get the most out of heating one's home.
The campaign was developed in the late 1960s for Shell by the advertising firm of Ogilvy & Mather, a relationship that would continue for nearly four decades. Print ads addressed other oil uses, such as touting the benefits of switching to an oil-powered hot water heater and encouraging those using oil to heat their homes to ensure they have enough oil in their tank before the cold weather arrives. By the time Shell ended the relationship in 1999, Ogilvy & Mather had 60 employees based in Houston, Texas largely dedicated to the Shell account, and when O&M closed the office in Houston it dropped other local accounts that it could no longer justify supporting.
Actor and announcer Don Morrow appeared in the campaign in the 1960s, offering tips to drivers. Actor Vince O'Brien landed the role of the Shell Answer Man in the late 1960s and 1970s, an opportunity he described in a newspaper interview as being "like hitting the state lottery." O'Brien's balding, mature appearance made him an effective authority figure in the campaign. Actor Richard Anderson played the role of the Shell Answer Man in the 1970s and 1980s.
I read every one of them by the mid-70's, and remembered them throughout my driving experiences.
I thought, at 10, reading the Shell books was also patriotic.
LOVE the Cordoba at the end!
23 inch color in 1963 ! 
the cabinet took up one whole wall, record player.
It's easy to forget how much. Sometimes, I like to look back and remember how we did things in earlier times.
I remember my first cell phone in 1992. Big old Brick phone that cost $100, with a service contract. I could have gotten a bag phone for free, but I wanted a smaller phone.
Problem was that it didn't work for what I bought it for. It was for emergency calls on the road. Most often, though, there was no signal except in more urban areas. So much for that plan. I don't think we ever used it all that much. A couple of years later, we tossed that big brick for a Motorola Flip Phone. We "went Moto!"
Now, my smart phone is a better computer than the desktop machine I was using then. Amazing progress in just a few years.
Thanks for the nostalgia, MineralMan. Still have all my state maps, atlas and city map book.
I've had a habit most of my life to have my route memorized before I leave, or at least review it thoroughly ahead of time. Still do that today, although I use Google Maps on my desktop to see my routes.
...........
I said,” See the sun going down? We are going north.” Next question,” what if the sun isn’t shining?” My answer? “ Guess!”
But you would be surprised at the people who have no sense of direction.
I remember heading to Iowa once. My Son went on the freeway, I was not paying attention, but when I looked I told them they were going east, not west. That caused a big discussion that I was wrong,the other 3 were right. After a couple more signs we got off, headed west.
Never questioned again.
But put me in a building! Different story.
(despite my car having a built-in navigation system - just updated the maps on that this past summer)
It's a huge spiral book thing but it can slide in a pocket on the back of the front row seats (I actually store it in a pocket behind the 2nd row seats). 
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