My original plan was not to take a GPS. Just my old simple cell phone to make calls. It’s not that I’m afraid of or against technology in general. But my experience in the past was that some of my most interesting encounters on the road occurred when asking people for directions.

Every one of my friends was telling me to take a GPS, though, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to see how much the cheapest smart phone costed.

How about free? The above phone was thrown in free when I bought a $25 airtime card. That card gives me 60 days of service, 500 minutes of talk time, 500 texts, and 500 MB of data. That should be way more than I need. And it’s a tracfone, so I own the phone outright, and there is no contract. But it gets better.

When I got the phone, I charged it up and turned it on, to find that everything works, except for the phone functions. Sure, it’s only Android 4.4, but it runs Chrome, Pocket Bible, and Skype just fine. I walked around the neighborhood with Google Maps, and watched the blue dot move, so I know the GPS works. I don’t even need to activate the phone, unless I want mobile data. If I want to talk or text, I’ll just do that from my existing phone.

p.s. The phone even has an AM/FM radio. You plug the earphones in, and it uses the wires as an antenna.