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There are five map providers described here. Please click on a link, or just scroll through...
Note: To make comparisons as uniform as possible, each map sample (look beneath each picture for a link) shows how the map illustrates the area around Tucumcari, NM. (Tonite!)
1) Route 66 Guidebooks and Maps - web-based maps by Swa Frantzen
2) "Here It Is: The Route 66 Map Series" - by Jim Ross and Jerry McClanahan
3) "The Complete Route 66 Guidebook and Atlas" - by Bob Moore and Rich Cunningham
4) "The Best of the Mother Road" - by AAA of Southern California
5) "Quick Access Route 66" - by Global Graphics
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Historic66.com
Web Maps
- Type of publication: Website-based maps of Route 66.
- Cost: Free
- Features:
- It's free - hard to argue with that.
- The map is very extensive, and covers the entire length of Route
66. The author has hand-drawn dozens
of web pages to provide the detail. This is not just an overview
map. It has clear - though limited - driving directions.
- Limitations:
- The maps are very simple line drawings with no backgrounds, although they are done to scale.
- Because the maps are web-based, it is
quite a task to consider printing out the entire map. It has been
done, but the result was two 3-ring binders full of printed pages.
- Where to get it: Just click here:
Historic66.com/description
- Comments: This is one of the oldest websites - if not the
oldest - devoted to Route 66, and is brought to you by Swa Frantzen, who
like many fans of Route 66 is European, from Belgium.
The website has many interesting sections in addition to the map, including a very extensive list of books, recordings, videos, etc. about the Mother Road.
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"Here It Is: The Route 66 Map
Series" - by Jim Ross and Jerry McClanahan
- Type of publication: Eight folding paper maps, one for each state on Route 66, sold as a set.
- Cost: $11.95 per set
- Features:
- Each of the 17" x 21" maps combines a full-sized drawing with text describing different aspects of Route 66 in the state.
- The text contains concise driving directions as well as commentary, on both sides of the map sheet. This is not just an overview map.
- There are creative and entertaining graphics filling up every
open space on the sheet.
- Limitations:
- The maps are two-color, printed in brown ink on tan paper, without backgrounds, and are drawn free-hand style, not to scale.
- The driving directions included in the text are more specific than the map
portrays. In other words, the text makes reference to necessary
turns and stops that the traveler will need to sort out by watching
for signs, etc. that are too small to be shown on this sized map.
- Where to get the map set:
www.hhjm.com/maps/maps.htm
ISBN: 0-9677481-1-9
- Comments: There is an appealing ease for the traveler to be able to hold all the necessary Route 66 information about a state on one sheet. The artist, Jerry McClanahan, has a consistent style that is fun to look at, and the text author, Jim Ross, is a widely-respected Route 66 writer, having published the well-received state-specific guide to Route 66 in Oklahoma.
Click here for a full-sized version of above.
Click here for a full-sized map sample.
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"The Complete Route 66
Guidebook and Atlas" - by Bob Moore and Rich Cunningham
Type of publication: A map atlas containing 236 full-color maps covering the entire length of Route 66.
The atlas is one volume of a two volume book set.
The other volume is a narrative-based guidebook.
See the complete description on the "General Guidebooks" page.
Click here for a full-sized version of above.
Click here for a full-sized map sample.
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"The Best of the Mother Road"
- by AAA of Southern California
- Type of publication: Full-color 27" x 18" folding paper map, laminated in plastic.
- Cost: $7.95
- Features:
- The map is divided into six Route 66 "Road Trips" to famous places along the Mother Road. The trips are sequenced from west to east and cover the entire length of highway.
- Excellent combination of text, drawings, and photographs. The traditional high quality production values of the AAA map-making are evident in the "look and feel" of the work.
- This is the best single sheet travel guide of Route 66. It's
got a little of everything. Good teaching aid.
- Limitations:
- This is an overview map only and does not guide the traveler along Route 66 itself. In fact, many of the directions given refer to exits to be taken from nearby interstate freeways, which implies that your "trip on Route 66" is actually supposed to be driven on the dreaded "super-slab"! For shame!
- Some sections of the Mother Road are skipped entirely, such as Los Angeles County - the first road trip actually begins at El Cajon Pass in San Bernardino County. Go figure.
- There is very little history of the road in the text.
- Where to get the map: AAA members can get it
from their local AAA office or the AAA website:
http://www.aaa-calif.com/travel/library/hits.asp#rte66
The non-member source is from the bookstore at Route 66 Magazine.
ISBN: 1-56413-526-8
- Comments: It's hard to fault any of the AAA of Southern California's maps - they are so well produced. And the Route 66 map is no exception although some of the research - and the reliance on interstates - could have been different.
Click here for a full-sized version of above.
Click here for a full-sized map sample.
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"Quick Access Route 66"- by Global Graphics
- Type of publication: Full-color 25" x 12" folding paper map, laminated in plastic.
- Cost: $5.95
- Features:
- The map is complete for entire length of the highway and the scale of the map is correct, albeit there is not much room for detail.
- Like the AAA map, this is a good combination of text, drawings, and photographs.
- This is the best single sheet scaled map of Route 66. Good
teaching aid, especially the way it shows the entire highway.
- Limitations:
- This is an overview map only and there are no specific directions, even from the interstates. So you're on your own although the accuracy of the map is very reliable and Route 66 is clearly depicted.
- The text descriptions and recommendations are inexplicably all
printed in UPPER CASE LETTERS LIKE THIS so all the words are fully
capitalized. This is somewhat annoying when trying to read.
- Where to get the map set:
http://www.mapbiz.net/product_detail.asp?ISBN=0-918505-40-2
A somewhat more direct source is the bookstore at Route 66 Magazine.
ISBN: 0-918505-40-2
- Comments: The text does a good job threading the history of the highway into everything else, although it's a bit hard to follow in the layout.
