Ninety-Year-Old Drives Cross-Country, Just For Fun
A 91-year-old Australian woman has become an unwitting celebrity and a national treasure, all because of her late-blooming talent for driving.
It is not how she drives that makes her interesting, but where she drives.
Mary Taylor, a slight woman with a wide, infectious smile, has been affectionately named the Galloping Granny. For more than 15 years, she has been driving alone, cross country, on the Outback, for no good reason other than she enjoys it.
She’s been known to leave on a whim and not return home until several days later, with new stories to tell and several thousand more miles added to her vehicle tracking history. Much of the countryside she sees is flat and nondescript and the road is long, straight and boring. Nevertheless, she hops behind the wheel again and again, with a sincere sense of adventure.
“It’s just me, by myself, in the car, zooming along, just that big open road ahead,” Taylor was once quoted as saying. Her unusual hobby was first documented by an Australian travel magazine in October, 2006.
The story was that, after her husband of more than 50 years died in the mid-1990s, the then-75-year-old wanted to do something to occupy her time. Taylor, who lives in the south part of the continent in Mornington, decided to visit her daughter in Armadale, on the west coast. She wondered about what adventures would await her if she just kept going.
She is still going, 16 years later. Taylor packs nonperishable foods to eat while on the road and sleeps in inexpensive hotels when she’s tired, in order to save money.
While she says she enjoys the solitude, Taylor does a good job of keeping in touch with the rest of the world. News agencies  catch up to her every once in awhile. She has a cell phone to talk with family, a CB radio to chat with truckers, and a camera mounted on the passenger side dashboard that sends occasional feeds to her online fans. Taylor has gained so much publicity, Honda of Australia gave her a new, bright yellow car. The model: a Jazz.
With all that new technology, there’s still one piece of electronic equipment missing that would enhance Taylor’s driving experience; and help those who are monitoring her progress: A GPS tracking system.
Here’s why the Galloping Granny needs a vehicle tracking system:
- No one knows exactly how many miles Taylor has logged since she started her odd hobby. She could be on her way to a world record! GPS tracking is a fuss-proof way to document mileage.
- Taylor is creating memories on her unusual road trips. But at some point the road looks the same and Taylor’s memory will fail her. Vehicle tracking systems have powerful memory. Trips can be re-illustrated and replayed months or years later, with as much detail as the day they were recorded. A GPS tracking system will keep a record of where she has been and how many times she has crossed the country.
- Taylor says she uses paper maps for trip planning. Why, when you have vehicle tracking? Trip history can be seen on updated and detailed animated or satellite maps. When you know where you went, you can plan where to go next. Overlapping trips can be avoided and there can always be something new to look at.
- Think you’re driving in circles? A GPS tracking system will confirm: “Yes. You’ve been here before,” or “Nope. New scenery. Just boring.”
- This particular driver isn’t in a hurry to get places, but no one likes to get lost. Taylor could also consider a GPS tracking system for the navigation aspect. She could see, from the driver’s seat, her real-time position on a map and get turn-by-turn directions to her destination.
- Taylor could allow family and friends to monitor her trip progress or locate her in an instant with real-time GPS tracking and reporting. A real-time tracking system will allow someone to remotely watch your travels, with updates every few seconds or minutes. A passive GPS tracking device records travel data so it can be analyzed later.
- Theft-prevention. Taylor could have her fancy yellow car stolen in just a few minutes, because she’s often alone on desolate roads. A real-time GPS tracking system will show the car’s present location, speed and heading and give police a good chance at recovery.
When interviewed, this spirited Australian is often asked silly questions like, “Where does the road end?” “What drives you to do this?” and “Aren’t you running out of gas?”
Taylor offers no tidy answers.
“Each year could be my last,” she is fond of saying. Until then she keeps going… and going.
Source: The Australian Traveller
Tags: 91-year-old, addicted to driving, Australian, Galloping Granny, GPS Tracking, Mary Taylor
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