MarkB_MI

Well-known Member
Location
Motown USA
I bought my first Rand McNally road atlas in 1979 when I graduated from college and made my first cross-country trip to my new job. Since then, I've gone through a half-dozen of them, using them until they fall apart. My last one was getting out of date, so I started looking around for a replacement. You used to be able to find them everywhere, at book stores (which don't exist any more), K-mart (which is disappearing fast), Walmart and most grocery stores. Not anymore. The local stores that do have road atlases carry a brand-X publication which appears to be useless.

So the other day I stopped at a Pilot truck stop, and sure enough they have the old reliable Rand-McNally atlas. For the ridiculously cheap price of seven bucks! I paid nearly that for my first one back in '79.

Honestly, I don't understand how one navigates cross-country with just a GPS and no atlas. My BIL drives between Michigan and Florida several times a year, but he never deviates from I-75 because he "just follows the GPS". How boring!
 
I bought a road atlas at Walmart in Florida two years ago to update. People who trust their GPS are the ones who end up stuck in the mud on a logging road or end up driving into a boat ramp. GPS has been know to take people on some hellish paths! I always look in my road atlas as to where I'm going, have the ideal in my head and so when the GPS tells me where to go I at least have the idea its the correct route.
 
I also like the "large print" style. Do they still have that? Easier to read when you're under pressure to find the exit back when there was two saying they had to pee and one needed a diaper change!
 
Google Maps, MapQuest, etc. make it easy to plan out your route ahead of time and then plug that route into a GPS. I carry an atlas when traveling, the extra $5 for a large print version is worth it.
 
Took a trip mid-Michigan to mid-Indiana. Printed maps from computer did me fine in Michigan. When we got into Indiana all heck broke loose. We were so lost the computer maps had us going down two tracks. Never going to make a trip like that again with out a competent set of maps AND a navigation aide like Garmin or TomTom. Even the people who live there are lost!
 
It's getting hard to find a good one. We've got a few from State Farm Insurance,but they aren't very detailed. The Rand McNally that we use is pretty rough. There's a few states that we couldn't get through with it. Those pages are non existent for the most part. Even that good one had gotten us in what could have been some big trouble before by not showing topography or all the switchbacks in the mountains. Yea,we can laugh about that one now.
 
LOL. I was gonna say this in reply to RayP,but you've hit the nail more square on the head. My son in law is always an early adapter to new technology,so his GPS is holy. They were out for a color tour last fall in west Michigan. They stopped in here on the way home. They ended up on some dirt road that turned two track,then my daughter said she's pretty sure they were driving across somebody's pasture before they found a real road again. They had pictures to prove it.
 


I can't understand for the life of me why someone would drive onto trails, tracks, mud holes or whatever just because GPS said so. If they would, well I got a bridge for sale. It called Brooklyn Bridge and for sale cheap.
 
I do not use GPS at all on highways. In the woods, yes. I have a Delorme atlas for every contiguous state and love them.
 
Wife picks one up from the local AAA auto club office every couple years. Have and use a GPS but still depend on the ole road atlas to make sure the GPS isn't lying to me.
 
When I was in field service I used the county map book. Had good clear maps of every county in Texas. Then they put GPS units in our trucks. I told the guys to keep the map book. Company said no GPS is the new way to go. We had guys getting lost more than ever. I tried the GPS system one time. It put me on the runway at Sheppard Air Force base. When I should have been 20 miles south at the job site.
 
I go to this site when planning a tip. Most states get their maps out rather quick but some take a long time it seems. They are free for the asking.
Free maps
 
Although JDEM already mentioned, the Delorme Atlas & Gazetteer, published on a state-by-state basis, is excellent. Shows all the backroads. Over the years I've used mine a lot.
 
Wife is really researching her family genealogy, is back 7-8 generations and in eastern Tennessee, and the Carolina's. We've used maps, books, magazine articles, etc. To find cemeteries, marker stones, etc., and GPS has gotten us home.

We wanted to see historic US Rt. 66 from one end to the other. Winter storm Virgil changed our plans, started down Rt 66 south of Bolingbrook, Illinois instead of by Buckingham Fountain on the lakefront in Chicago. But seven days later and using 6-7 books & magazines for directions plus the internet AND GPS we arrived in Los Angeles on Easter Sunday morning. We never drove on Interstates except in metropolitan areas, drove 70-80% of the way on roads labeled Historic Rt. 66, saw 4-5 national parks, saw a couple more parks after leaving LA, and Grand Canyon & Hoover Dam, and GPS got us home!

Our Garmin has never steered us onto a military air field, or other forbidden places, but it knows where the closest public restrooms are, restaurants, motels, etc. Are along the way. The factory GPS in wife's new car works good too, but if I had my choice I'd stay with my Garmin. If your having problems with your GPS your not programming it right or you bought a cheap piece of junk. If you are taking a big trip, like 12 days and 5500 miles, get the latest updates or a complete new gps. And FWIW, I still have maps and atlases in all my vehicles.
 
Well worth the 20 bucks. It has the designated truck routes highlighted in orange. Not much chance of being sent down a cow trail.
While still on the road,bought a new one every year to keep up with changes. Still buy a new one every year, keep it here by the desk, move the last to car, that one to p-up, toss the oldest.
I use the atlas to plot main route, Google maps or GPS for final neighborhood locations.

Willie
 
I should clear that up. I was at the fence of Sheppard. But GPS said I should be inside the base on the runway. This was in the early days of GPS.
 
I don't up date my maps every year. And the Motor carriers version of a map is harder to read with all that bold print. I use a regular Rand Mc'Nally and it is easier to read and is cheaper to update versus the motor carrier version.
I get directions from the phone the old fashioned way then drive there. Apparently nobody out west in remote areas uses a GPS since they always tell me not to pay attention to it or I will be on the opposite side of town or the county.
From what I have seen from GPS it is not that reliable that I would trust it.
 
I have several for states I will never be in and use them all the time for where I do go. No smart (Dunb) phone and no GPS. Have books by both grid and county.
 
Several years ago a truck pulled into my barnyard looking for a neighbor That lived on an east west road a mile from me And I live on a north south road with no connections between the roads. Now the weather service radar maps do have my drive way showing and also part of the driveway that has not existed for over 15 years as I no longer own the other part of the farm. But if the radar maps have all the driveways showing that they do then I am sure the GPS uses the same information to send you the wrong place. That is probably why that truck was sent into my drive because it used to connect the two roads together as is now yet shown on the radar maps and it has not existed that way for years and never was open to the public. Next door neighbor the drive used to go between the two roads but now one end id gotten rid of but still shown on that map.
 
Lots of good comments.

I'm a fan of the DeLorme state atlases, having used them in both California and Michigan. But they aren't 100 percent reliable. In California, DeLorme shows plenty of roads that haven't been used since Death Valley Scotty was prospecting for gold. I suppose these are the same roads folks use to commit Garmin-assisted suicide by driving around the barricades. The Michigan version of the atlas had misspelled road names and at least one non-existent bridge.
 
I still have my 1959 Simon and Shuster American Highways Atlas,$1.95.
It has been replaced by 19 newer ones, Rand McNally mostly. Several of them are Delorme
for individual states.
 
I use a GPS almost daily in my work. Next to me, I have 3 map books. Sometimes I have to pull out the maps to find direction.

I use to use maps all the time. I like maps for the "Birds eye" view. The GPS is just another tool.
 
The best Atlas I have even though it's at least 20 years old.
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Mark,
I haven't used a map in a Long time. I use Google Maps on smart phone. I go from Terre Haute to Florida using google maps and if I want to go back roads you have to be smarter than google maps. You can trick it by programming in you want to go from point A to point B that are about 100 miles apart. That keeps you off interstates. I went from Birmingham, Al to Leesburg, Florida and only used a few miles on I-10.
Google maps also gives you alternate routes.
My navigator is proficient at using her phone. Bring a phone charger, you may need it. I use my phone too, especially if I want to see what's the next town to program in google maps,

Also have to be careful, google maps wants to put you on the interstate. You just have to be smarter that it is.

Going back roads is slower, but I enjoyed seeing beautiful well maintained horse and cattle ranches. Most all horse ranches had expensive looking wood fences to protect horses form wire fences.
geo.
 

I have a "Tom Tom" GPS unit. I also have Google maps on my phone. Both are very handy but when planning a trip, I prefer to consult with Rand-McNally first.

The Tom Tom has tried many times to take me down a road that I know for a fact is barely passable in GOOD weather, and totally impassable after a rain.
 

Kim,
Please remove this guy from this forum. When you read his descriptions of states you will find very dirty 4-letter words that do not belong here. All he is seeking is attention.
Thank you,
LA in WI
 
I like a map, with a big overview of where I am going.

We live 7 miles from town on a state road. When I try to give out of town visitors directions
most will say "just your address, I have GPS" Ok I say, after you have driven around me for an hour,
call and I'll tell you how to get here. The record was a Californian, that drove over 60 miles to make a
simple 7 mile trip. If he had used a map, he would have known the GPS directions were silly.
 
Sadly: it never ceases to amaze me how many folks cannot read a road map. Even numerous truck drivers I have been around must rely completely on a navigation box. Give them a map and they will never reach their destination. I have 3 navigation systems in the truck.(company furnished, mine, and Google maps in my phone. After checking those: I go to Rand McNally to see if any of them are right.
 
> Please remove this guy from this forum. When you read his descriptions of states you will find very dirty 4-letter words that do not belong here. All he is seeking is attention.

To whom or what are you referring? If you have a problem with a post, you'll get a quicker response simply by clicking "Report to Moderator", rather than posting nonsense that neither Kim nor Chris will ever read.
 
I used MapQuest for my trip North of Detroit last week. Set the night before and used it to trace the route from Toledo on. Not as good as Google Earth but it has the exit numbers on the larges setting. In the subdivisions it had the house numbers on the streets. Didn't take a map. After Christmas I used Google earth to plan my trip after a disc South of Dayton Ohio. I traced the roads from 77 to my destination with the satellite then used the street view to see the buildings. It took a while but when I got into the area it was like I had lived there. When I was younger and dragging tractors home I carried a road atlas all the time with one beside my chair in the house.
 
I agree with Hay Hay Hay.... I live 8 miles from a small town. Straight road goes form town & right past my house.
GPS will not direct people straight down that road. It goes around a square and thens finds me.
 
I saw a stack of Rand McNally atlases at my Walmart just last night. They were in the books/magazines section, but you'd kinda have to be looking.
 
My trusty Rand McNally, now missing half of Illinois and Indiana from too much use. Guess it's time for a new one. I use GPS a lot now too, but it's wrong enough that I can't trust it so I use old faithful to check on the GPS. I also use Google maps on my tablet as a second opinion.
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