I can understand getting turned around and not wanting to blithely drive Southward on a random Kentucky highway using one's compass. Using that method OP could have potentially drifted away from the interstate they were trying to get back on.

What I'm saying is that a) 90s-era OP would definitely have been using the interstate and b) if they drove more than 30 minutes off the interstate then they ignored so much data and common sense that it's unlikely tech would have helped them here. (E.g., if you want Iphone directions to L.A. but it gives you Louisiana, you still have to interpret the data the phone is giving you to notice you're not going to the correct destination.)