My own experience, returning from western Kentucky to the Chicago area, was interesting in the "may you live in interesting times" sense. From the outset I deci

My own experience, returning from western Kentucky to the Chicago area, was interesting in the "may you live in interesting times" sense. From the outset I decided to take back roads where feasible. Traveling through rural southern Illinois, I noticed small parades of cars forming, and Google Maps wanted to put me on Route 1, which turned into a massive parade of cars. Meanwhile, T-Mobile in southern Illinois leaves a lot to be desired, and so dynamic routing was iffy at best unless I was near an interstate. I decided to head off on county blacktops and secondary state routes, sans data coverage, and made good time in spite of storms. I got on I-57 near Effingham, and traffic went smoothly until I approached Champaign-Urbana, where my ETA steadily racked upward as I got closer. A quick peek showed lots of trouble ahead around Rantoul. So, I stopped for dinner in Champaign, then Google Maps sent me out on back roads until I got around the bad construction backup near Rantoul, after I "primed the pump" by heading north out of town on Mattis Avenue. From then on it was trouble-free. On the other hand, one of my best experiences with Google Maps occurred one Thanksgiving Eve, on my way to Midland, Michigan. Near Kalamazoo, it informed me of a faster route, and when I took it, it quickly put me on surface streets. I was thinking "WTF?" until I passed another I-94 on-ramp, where the tag said "58 minutes slower." Apparently, there was a wreck near Battle Creek. The new route put me on the designated I-94 emergency bypass once I left Kalamazoo, and past the wreck it returned me to the interstate.