My laptop has a free-standing U.S. map program. (No need for an Internet connection.) I've used it from time to time to figure out where I am. Given a general idea of a route, it's not that hard to identify cities on large-ish bodies of water. From there, the highway system is your friend.

(One afternoon I was confused by a building that was partly surrounded by a bright yellow line several feet wide. I knew where we were, but couldn't figure out what that could possibly be. It finally hit me: a school with a line of buses waiting to take children home.)