"In 400 feet, take Ferry................."

I'd read articles about what can happen when people develop an over-reliance on GPS devices. The extreme cases end badly, with someone dying in the middle of Death Valley on a road that shouldn't have been in the GPS database. While I wasn't afraid of a slow excruciating death as I followed the GPS's directions to Salem, it did seem that it was taking a rather strange route, at least from what I could recall from studying the map earlier in the day. The Death Valley article did come to mind.

“Turn left on Wheatland Ferry Road”. OK I think, that's a quaint old-school name for this narrow two lane road. We'll probably hook up with I-5 shortly. Then I see a sign: “Ferry Operating”. Apparently this is literally Wheatland Ferry Road. We're in a half ton pickup pulling a 30 foot trailer and I'm wondering what kind of ferry this is going to be. We're in the boonies and I'm picturing something like the ferry in True Grit.

As we approach the ramp for the ferry, the GPS says “in 400 feet, take Ferry”. The graphic in the upper left hand corner of the GPS screen, where it usually shows an arrow for a left or right turn has a little graphic of a boat. I shit you not.

We get to the ferry stop and see that the ferry is large enough to take several cars and in fact, a commercial dump truck is driving on. At this point one of the guys directing cars onto the ferry runs up and apologetically tells us we won't be able to use the ferry. The length of the truck and trailer combined with the angle between the paved ramp and ferry are a deal breaker due to low water. So, back we go the way we came.

“Recalculating............................”