Driving up I-25 through Colorado Springs last weekend, I couldn’t believe the billboard I saw. It said I wasn’t far away from a huge store that sells nothing but maps. Good, old-fashioned, paper maps.
My wife immediately recognized the look I got in my eyes. I have to admit I contemplated pulling off the Interstate, renting a hotel room, and waiting until the store opened. I’m quite sure it wasn’t open at 6 o’clock on a Sunday night, but I wouldn’t have had any trouble waiting 14 hours for the doors to open the next morning.
It was a store selling maps, for crying out loud. Amy pessimistically mentioned a store like that was probably closed permanently, and not just for the night. In this day and age, as she said, can’t people just Google where they want to go, and let the Internet take them there for free?
But that’s not the point. Yes, you can get digital maps on your phone now, but true map nerds like me will never be satisfied with that. We will always prefer to hold a real, paper map in our hands; one we can write on, set our compasses on, and then fold up and stuff back in our pockets.
I plan to return to Colorado Springs at some point in the near future to browse the offerings in that store. I don’t know what I’ll find, but I’m sure it will be good.
I realize you can still get real maps at just about any sporting goods store, but this is an entire store that sells nothing but maps. How cool is that? I’m not sure how many maps they carry in their inventory for Wyoming, but with as many Coloradans as there are who come up here to go fishing every year, I would guess they have quite a few.
Until I can get back down there, I’ll go paw through my own map collection and see what gaps it has that need to be filled.
