My father had a few established customs for all his vehicles (including Mom's):

1. A mileage log that must be filled out every time we refilled the tank. It included date, time, odometer readings, amount of gasoline, etc.

2. A complement of Thomas Brothers map books. These were indispensable to navigating around San Diego. Even in my early youth I was presented with a number of treks, dozens of miles away. Every neighborhood in San Diego county has a unique set of streets and navigation challenge. I daresay I put way more miles on those cars than either of my parents did. And I was not freeway-averse. So it was fantastic just to break open a Thomas Bros. map and figure out where I was going.

It was funny though; back in 2014 I visited for a high school reunion, and a few guys planned an informal meetup at a brew pub in Coronado. No problem; I'd driven to Coronado countless times and it's a small gridlike layout. So I went to Mapquest, dropped a pin, made a printout, and I was good to go. I borrowed their feature phone and Mom's car. I drove out there and parked in some dark residential area, going "where am I?" and there was no brew pub to be found.

I drove around for a while and eventually found it. What had happened at the computer was, after I had dropped the pin on Mapquest, I had fat-fingered it and dropped the pin somewhere else entirely, which had misdirected me on the map printout. So I was sort of "left to my own devices" at the destination. I decided I wouldn't get any good information out of a gas station, nor calling my parents, so thankfully after winging it awhile, I was able to stumble upon the destination by sheer luck!