Best road atlas for RV'ers

[Blanco1]

I use to have a great road atlas for commercial truck drivers ( being I am I ) that listed all the truck scales & bridge heights & etc....

Might there be a version for us?

Maybe listing camp grounds?
Dump stations?
Points of interest?
Etc?

[jbman]

Once on the Mother ROAD of OLD 66 was very hard to get lost. great days long time ago.

[Blanco1]

To be honest while out on a camping trip, I dont mind getting lost & enjoy seeing things I didn't plan. 🙂

[john_bet]

Blanco1 wrote:
All this talk about GPS has me wondering if I should get one?

Considering what hey cost, I don't really see a need for them as long as I can read a map & ask for directions.

Maybe that is a topic for another thread, are there any links to current threads on RV GPS programs or systems ?

Or do I need to start a new one?

I agree with you. Back before they were invented9'67) I managed to get from southern Indiana to Los Angeles with just a map. No getting lost either. I have one now ,but only use it for very localized tourist places not long range planing or routing.

[Blanco1]

Roy&Lynne wrote:
I love Benchmark Atlas' I use my GPS but I plan with my Benchmarks. Unfortunately the only come for the West, OR, WA, ID, CA, AZ, NV, CO, WY, UT, and MT. I think
Utah

Benchmark is the name of my closeted RV place, Is this the same company?
I can almost walk to their store.

[Roy_Lynne]

Blanco1 wrote:
All this talk about GPS has me wondering if I should get one?

Considering what hey cost, I don't really see a need for them as long as I can read a map & ask for directions.

Maybe that is a topic for another thread, are there any links to current threads on RV GPS programs or systems ?

Or do I need to start a new one?

Yeah, lots.

[Roy_Lynne]

I love Benchmark Atlas' I use my GPS but I plan with my Benchmarks. Unfortunately the only come for the West, OR, WA, ID, CA, AZ, NV, CO, WY, UT, and MT. I think
Utah

[Blanco1]

All this talk about GPS has me wondering if I should get one?

Considering what hey cost, I don't really see a need for them as long as I can read a map & ask for directions.

Maybe that is a topic for another thread, are there any links to current threads on RV GPS programs or systems ?

Or do I need to start a new one?

[Floridafrances]

Before we head out my husband puts our route in the laptop using Street Atlas USA. Our destination is also entered into the GPS with whatever route restrictions or options he prefers. I pull out the AAA maps and the Good Sam RV Road Atlas and study the route. I usually also plan our trip using the Good Sam online program and save it to the laptop and also print some things.

When he drives, I use my paper maps, although the laptop is open and his program is running. I do look at it occasionally to see if it agrees with me and the GPS. I don't always agree with either of those. When that happens - the paper map wins unless we see a genuine reason to follow one of the others. I also have Exit Now and/or The Next Exit open to the proper page if we're on Interstates. That way I can have options for gas planned out ahead of the time we need it. I also have that info from the Good Sam planner.

When I drive, he uses ONLY the lap top and the GPS. Drives me crazy. When we stop for any reason, if I'm going to be driving and think we may need to stop for fuel during my "shift" I check ahead in the books for RV friendly gas stations. He has yet to master either of the 2 books mostly because he would rather use the GPS to look things up but our GPS has no idea if we'll fit in that place or not.

My biggest complaint about EN and TNE are that not all of the RV friendly stations they list are gasser friendly. On more than one occasion we've had to do a drive-by because, while they had diesel pumps to one side or around back that worked, the gas pumps were oriented such that getting in and out with our rig would be, at best, difficult.

I admit, I love my paper maps. I like to follow along as we go and look ahead. I highlight things, look for something nearby that might be of interest, whatever. He's more technology oriented.

Since I'll be 65 in June and he'll be 69 in January I don't think we can say that - in our case - it's an age thing. Heck, I still prefer to read a printed book rather than one downloaded to a tablet. He's just the opposite. Maybe for us it's a gender thing. 🙂

[Blanco1]

gatorcq wrote:
I am sorry, there is nothing like looking over a good RM map, especially the large version. You don't have to zoom in/out, to see the smaller roads. Nor do you have to scroll around. Open the page and there it is. Susan & I use all the others including Micro Streets & Trips for the final route. But using the RM, you can take a lot of the smaller roads.

Completely agree & thank you for you posting.

That being said I must ask how old you are?
I'm thinking thats how us old folk see things.

But like I said what if there is no net access?

[gatorcq]

I am sorry, there is nothing like looking over a good RM map, especially the large version. You don't have to zoom in/out, to see the smaller roads. Nor do you have to scroll around. Open the page and there it is. Susan & I use all the others including Micro Streets & Trips for the final route. But using the RM, you can take a lot of the smaller roads.

[tatest]

There has been, may still be, a road atlas for RV folk. I last bought one in 2005 or 2006 (it is undated).

This is the "Road Atlas RV & Camping Edition" published by National Geographic, which lists, describes, and locates RV parks, campgrounds (not the same thing), national and state parks. The number of listings is quite small, compared to the commercial RV park and camping guides like Trailer Life. I got the atlas in a National Geographic Map Store, don't remember whether it was Chicago or Houston.

I also have the Rand McNally Motor Carrier's Road Atlas. With that, I've always carried either Trailer Life or Woodall's RV and camping guide. I now use it with the Good Sam's guide, which combines the two.

Of the two, I think the MCRA is the better road atlas for planning RV trips. The RV and Camping road atlas simple does not have enough listings, and detailed enough listings, to be useful. An atlas with enough listings would be three or four inches thick, to unwieldy to use as a road atlas. The National Geographic Road Atlas also lacks information about the designated highways, and clearance and weight limits, which can be important to those with larger RVs.

With a good wireless data connection, you can find your map information and RV park or camping information online, maybe more readily than paging through a guide. But the guide on paper was really useful, when DW was still alive to look things up while I was driving, and make calls to RV parks about space availability as we were approaching our evening stops.

[Blanco1]

N5LUI wrote:
Don't they have the atlas's in the truck stop's , just a thought !

Of course they do, Thats where I got my last one.

[klm]

I use the trucker atlas, GS routing (can use the "avoid" feature) - decide on best route - then plug in the gps. I do not trust the gps to keep me on rv friendly roads - I do not have the rv type gps. A little pre planning saves lots of potential travel trouble. I agree with the posters that recommend the spiral bound - I didn't get that version - a mistake on my part and why is it my destination/route always is near the center binding???

[sljkansas]

I like the truckers atlas for cross country trips, but I like the Official State paper mapes, which show more details of the local roads amd sites.