I don't ever post here but figured I'd add my two cents to this. I got a Nokia Lumia 928 about 40 days ago (just passed time for insurance). This past weekend I went on a trip from Seattle to Yellowstone. We had four people in the car and in most of Idaho and most of Montana there was very sparse 3G or LTE connection. My phone was the only one capable of doing offline GPS navigation. I've been quite surprised with how much I've enjoyed my Windows 8 phone and only become angry with the lack of games when I'm on the toilet.

I recently returned back to the UK from a 2 week long US road trip, covering 2000 miles. We downloaded the Nokia Drive data for the states we were visiting in advance onto my girlfriend's cheap Lumia 710, as we wouldn't have any data connection (not wanting to incur roaming charges). We were utterly dependent on the Nokia Drive app, and it performed exceptionally. Definitely recommended in place of a dedicated satnav.

Not to be glib, but it sounds like your Nokia saved you from adventure :)

adventure that I didn't anticipate. Yes. and I am thankful for that :)

Hard to imagine how anyone ever got anywhere before smartphones.