Best New Road Atlas?

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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In preparation for my upcoming move, I’m wanting to get a road atlas so my kids can help me plan our route. It’s been like 20 years since I’ve used a paper road map (like 5 since I’ve used a paper sectional).

What the best out there? Still Rand McNally?
 
Are you moving to another state?

If only a few states are involved, you can get state maps from the state DOTs or AAA. Otherwise, yeah, Rand McNally still exists.
 
At an old job, we would be given an address and a Thomas Guide map page and grid numbers Over the radio. Now you can just ask Siri how to get there!
 
SkyHog said:
In preparation for my upcoming move, I’m wanting to get a road atlas so my kids can help me plan our route. It’s been like 20 years since I’ve used a paper road map (like 5 since I’ve used a paper sectional).

What the best out there? Still Rand McNally?
Click to expand...

Go to your local Barnes & Nobel. They typically have a large print map section. That’s where I get my atlas’s for camping.
 
When I was driving all over the country a few years ago I liked the Rand McNally. Barnes & Noble or Walmart.
 
I heartily recommend the Rand McNally Motor Carrier's Road Atlas. Because they (rightfully) expect truckers to be using it a lot, it's fully laminated and spiral bound. You won't need it for the durability (well, unless your kids beat the crap out of stuff ;) ) but you can use dry erase markers to draw on it, talk through possibilities, etc and then wipe it off.

You can also easily open it up to the page for whichever state you're driving through so it's easy to follow along.
 
NoHeat said:
Are you moving to another state?

If only a few states are involved, you can get state maps from the state DOTs or AAA. Otherwise, yeah, Rand McNally still exists.
Click to expand...
I like this idea. I went to the state tourism websites for New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas and got the free tourism guides, all of which claim to include an official state highway map too.

If that doesn’t work, off to the bookstore I go. Maybe even the grocery store - I seem to remember them having magazine sections that also included road atlases.

Thanks all
 
AAA works for me,big maps and travel books.
 
Yes, Rand McNally is good. Be prepared for your kids to question why paper maps are needed. They don’t get the idea of wandering to see thing, for them it is about turning on the gps and following whatever it says.
 
bflynn said:
Yes, Rand McNally is good. Be prepared for your kids to question why paper maps are needed. They don’t get the idea of wandering to see thing, for them it is about turning on the gps and following whatever it says.
Click to expand...

Don’t make Garmin Girl recalculate. She hates that.
 
Back in '91 I was planning a trip from Texas to North Carolina. I asked my dad if he had a map, so he dug around in his desk and found one. I studied it for the best route but something didn't look right.

I finally found the problem. The map did not have any interstates on it. It was printed in 1947.....
 
Unit74 said:
At an old job, we would be given an address and a Thomas Guide map page and grid numbers Over the radio. Now you can just ask Siri how to get there!
Click to expand...

I use to have that same info on my customer's Rolodex Card, page and grid..... not to mention the five Thomas Guides in my car for each Southern CA county.. along with pay phones and triplicate forms with carbon paper..
 
tonycondon said:
When I was driving all over the country a few years ago I liked the Rand McNally. Barnes & Noble or Walmart.
Click to expand...
Same here. I traveled to about 30 states in the '90s for my job. Never left home without my Rand McNally.
 
Back in the 80's, I was newly relocated, and working around Houston required the two volume Key Map. Each page covered about 4 square miles. It was easy to get lost, the land is completely flat and it's usually overcast.

I checked online, they still publish the maps, now on their 53rd edition.
 
I haven't stopped at a Rest Stop for year but it seems that there wee state maps at Rest Stops the last time I did.

This is more like a day late and dollar short strategy but it might be a good source.
 
State a Highway maps are far superior to atlases if you like taking side roads and really seeing/experiencing Americana instead of just blowing thru it. Atlases don't show many of the smaller, secondary or tertiary, highways since they are a greatly reduced scale. At least the Rand McNallys I would buy when traveling for work didn't.
 
timwinters said:
State a Highway maps are far superior to atlases if you like taking side roads and really seeing/experiencing Americana instead of just blowing thru it. Atlases don't show many of the smaller, secondary or tertiary, highways since they are a greatly reduced scale. At least the Rand McNallys I would buy when traveling for work didn't.
Click to expand...

For this I recommend the DeLorme Gazetteer series:
Screen Shot 2019-01-29 at 7.37.01 AM.png
 
I’ve been looking to replace a battered Rand McNally for several years but have been disappointed to note that they have not updated my state’s map with some major highway changes in my local area that have been in place for almost 30 years. For general travel that’s not too critical, but I do expect some updating. If outdated info is the case with my state, it’s probably the case with the whole atlas.
 
I have Delormes for all the surrounding states. They are super nice when I've landed out by some country road. They have every gravel road on them
 
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