GPS said 20 minutes, the guy at the gas station in Cheyenne laughed at me

Drove through Wyoming last Thursday for a family thing. My phone said I'd hit the motel in 20 minutes, and this old fella filling up his truck next to me just shook his head when I mentioned it. He told me about the county road that's been washed out since 2019 and the detour that adds 45 miles. I ignored him, took the short cut, and ended up sleeping in my car near Laramie at 1am. Why do we trust the little blue line over someone who's actually been there?

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alex_taylor1010d ago

Funny thing is, the little blue line is just a prediction, not a promise... it has no idea a road got ripped out by a flood five years ago. The guy at the gas station has lived through the failure, so his math includes the repair crew and the gravel truck stuck in the mud. We trade real experience for a smooth animation on a screen, and that trade only costs us when we're sleeping in a front seat.