Your first road atlas

[Zeffy]

No offense, but if you want one, why don't you go to a bookstore or somewhere and buy one? I was at Barnes & Noble a month or so ago and they had a number of road atlases available in the section where the travel books (Moon Handbooks, Fodor's, etc.) are shelved.

Money. I doth not have it. Well, I do, but I'm not spending any of it until I acquire a car for myself, and since I have <$1000 I probably won't have any left.

[MillTheRoadgeek]

I know I'm young, but let me just say it was a 2000s-era ADC map of PWC, I guess.

[signalman]

I had a Rand McNally kids atlas, and it was seriously my favorite book. I didn't mention it because it wasn't my first atlas, but a present In addition to maps (which were less detailed - I guess to make them easier to read), they had "state facts" for each state and DC (state motto, state flower, etc.) as well as activities (like coloring, connect the dots, etc.). I'm pretty sure I still have it somewhere.
iPhone

I had one of these as a kid also, it's still around somewhere in stuff that I saved from my childhood.  I know it wasn't my first, I honestly don't remember which one in my collection was my first.  Probably either a Rand McNally 50 state atlas (adult version) or a local atlas of my home county of Morris Co. NJ

[vdeane]

I also had one of those.  One of the first things I noticed is that they didn't include NY 12 north of Watertown.

[elsmere241]

I was five years old, and it was a pocket-sized Rand McNally.  I don't remember much more about it.

[adventurernumber1]

I do not remember much about it, but my first atlas was a Rand McNally from the early 2000s (maybe even late 90s). My parents must've gotten it about the time I was a baby or before I was born for directions on trips (now I am their atlas ). Then at an early age I found the atlas and learned about where all the roads were and where they went. Had it for a long time, until about '08 or '09, but somehow it disappeared, and I got a new atlas (2009 Rand McNally), and I've had that since, though it's a little torn up today. I use Google Maps a lot now, since you can see a lot more, having the option to zoom out and zoom in, and it can be portable on my phone. It's one of the most used apps on my phone, and it's on the desktop of my laptop. But I'll always love my beloved atlases. 

[Duke87]

I had a Rand McNally kids atlas, and it was seriously my favorite book. I didn't mention it because it wasn't my first atlas, but a present In addition to maps (which were less detailed - I guess to make them easier to read), they had "state facts" for each state and DC (state motto, state flower, etc.) as well as activities (like coloring, connect the dots, etc.). I'm pretty sure I still have it somewhere.
iPhone

I had one of these as a kid also, it's still around somewhere in stuff that I saved from my childhood.  I know it wasn't my first, I honestly don't remember which one in my collection was my first.  Probably either a Rand McNally 50 state atlas (adult version) or a local atlas of my home county of Morris Co. NJ

I had one as well. It was basically an Americana/road trip themed coloring and activity book with smaller and not-very detailed maps of each state included. Repeatedly appearing as the tour guide/mascot was this kid named "Randy McNally" (har har).
Sure as hell wasn't my favorite book, though. I already had other real maps by the time someone gave me this as a Christmas present and I thought it was lame in comparison. Not because of the activities and such but because the maps were small and lacked detail.

A lot of the maps of my childhood were Street Atlases by Hagstrom and its sister companies elsewhere in the Northeast. Hagstrom used to have a store in Manhattan where they sold nothing but maps. My father took me to it one time. That might have been the happiest day of my childhood. 

I do also have from those days a bunch of US road atlases, world atlases, and some maps of Europe provided by family that went on trips.

The biggest oddity of my collection, though, is that I have a boatload of old USGS topo quadrangle maps from the 1970s and 80s. I ended up with them because one of my teachers in high school had a boyfriend who worked for an aerial mapping company, which he attended the school career fair on behalf of. At said career fair he met this crazy kid who was obsessed with maps (*ahem*). His company had a room full of old stuff they were looking to clear out because they no longer had any use for it. And he figured hey, one man's trash...

[Henry]

My father would buy a new Rand McNally atlas every few years or so, and the very first one I had was the 1971 version (which came out one year after I had been born), which I would mark up with new highways of my own. And a tradition was born, that whenever he bought a new atlas, I could then have the old one to do whatever I wanted with.

[bandit957]

My father would buy a new Rand McNally atlas every few years or so, and the very first one I had was the 1971 version (which came out one year after I had been born), which I would mark up with new highways of my own. And a tradition was born, that whenever he bought a new atlas, I could then have the old one to do whatever I wanted with.

Public libraries usually don't let folks borrow reference books, but ours used to let people borrow the previous year's road atlas. I remember once around 1978, my folks borrowed the library's year-old Rand McNally for a trip. It was the edition where the background for the maps was gray instead of white. I remember getting in my parents' car on the last day of school and seeing the library's road atlas sitting there on the seat.

[PHLBOS]

In terms of road atlas, the first one I actually purchased new was the 1979 edition of Rand McNally's Interstate Road Atlas; the mid-size version not the large version.  A year or two earlier, I found an old 1969 version of the same atlas (from either my parents or my grandfather) laying around somewhere.

OTOH, in terms of road maps: There's an old '67-'68 pic of me looking over a Phillips 66 road map that my grandmother was holding.  If I ever find it, I'll scan it (the photo, sadly not the map) and possibly post it.  One new map I picked up at a gas station for free (but later lost) was a 1972 or 1973 edition Phillips 66/Rand McNally map of Boston & Vicinity.  That's when I first learned about the proposed I-95 alignment through Lynn (that never got built).

[dave19]

My dad gave me a Texaco Touring Atlas when I was 10 or 11. I had already accumulated a small collection of road maps by then. I think the atlas was the 1968 one; I remember it having a few Stuckey's ads in it. I don't remember the cover, though - that thing fell off thanks to rough handling. I had it for many years, and decided to pitch it one time when I had to move (wish I hadn't). Not long ago, I found a '65 Texaco Touring Atlas in near-mint condition. I'm still looking out for a replacement '68 TTA with its cover still intact.

[jfs1988]

Mine was a 1990 Los Angeles County & Orange County Thomas Bros highway street guide.

[bandit957]

Anyone remember the Graphic Street Guides put out by Metro Graphic Arts? They were black-and-white street maps of urban areas (mostly in the Midwest) "in convenient book form." I remember having the Graphic Street Guide of Northern Kentucky back in my day.

[hm insulators]

Mine was a 1990 Los Angeles County & Orange County Thomas Bros highway street guide.

Mine was also a Los Angeles/Orange County map book from about 1963 which my parents gave me sometime in the early '70s when they got a new one. Shows you how far back I go.

[theline]

My dad gave me a Texaco Touring Atlas when I was 10 or 11. I had already accumulated a small collection of road maps by then. I think the atlas was the 1968 one; I remember it having a few Stuckey's ads in it. I don't remember the cover, though - that thing fell off thanks to rough handling. I had it for many years, and decided to pitch it one time when I had to move (wish I hadn't). Not long ago, I found a '65 Texaco Touring Atlas in near-mint condition. I'm still looking out for a replacement '68 TTA with its cover still intact.

Thanks for the reminder about the Texaco Touring Atlas. I had forgotten all about it. My first atlas was just a regular Rand McNally that I found a bookshelf at home when I was probably 5 or so. I wore it out, so my parents had no choice but to replace it. I eventually persuaded them to upgrade to the Texaco atlas. It had great tourist information for the pre-internet era. They supported my habit, since it paid dividends with my free tour guide advice on our summer vacations.

[huskeroadgeek]

The first atlas I owned was a 1981 HM Gousha Atlas I got for Christmas when I was 10. I kept it for years(with about the first and last 10 pages or so off, plus several loose in the middle)-but it eventually got thrown away I think. I liked their cartography the best(still do-wish they still were around).

[GCrites]

I always liked maps better when I was little. Atlases seemed like they were for other people. I swiped one of those really stripped down pocket atlases Reader's Digest put out in '87 or '88 from my folks which of course didn't improve my opinion of atlases. I probably got a full size RMcN in 1992, but I don't even know if I keep it with my boxes of maps. The Huntington WV library was giving away a bunch of maps from other states and provinces in the mid-2000s which also decreased my motivation to guard my one full-size national atlas.

[capt.ron]

1984 Rand McNally road atlas. I remember I-40 having bits of the yellow-orange (4 lane divided highway - no controlled access) on areas east of Albuquerque, and also through McClean TX, and of course, the under construction area east of Kingman and west of Seligman). Sadly, the atlas got damaged and then sent to the trash.

[OracleUsr]

I don't remember who made it or what year it was (probably 1977), but my grandparents had one that had a back cover with the symbol and all-text diamond warning signs.  I used to quiz relatives all the time on what went with what.

Next was a 1984 Rand McNally that I got by saving boxtops from NutriGrain cereal, a fave of mine back then.

[renegade]

Anyone remember the Graphic Street Guides put out by Metro Graphic Arts? They were black-and-white street maps of urban areas (mostly in the Midwest) "in convenient book form." I remember having the Graphic Street Guide of Northern Kentucky back in my day.

I had one of those, too ... it was the only map available anywhere that showed the street I grew up on.

[BloonsTDFan360]

My first was a 1993 Rand McNally road atlas (I was not alive back then). I forgot the story on how I got it, but I think I may have found it from my parents putting the atlas on a table in my new house after moving from Portland, Oregon. It is still with me today.

[bandit957]

1984 Rand McNally road atlas. I remember I-40 having bits of the yellow-orange (4 lane divided highway - no controlled access) on areas east of Albuquerque, and also through McClean TX, and of course, the under construction area east of Kingman and west of Seligman). Sadly, the atlas got damaged and then sent to the trash.

It always bugged the hell out of me when road atlases got ruined.

[bandit957]

I think what some people here are referring to is the smaller version of the Rand McNally Road Atlas that was sometimes seen in the '70s and '80s, especially as part of a promotion for some other product. This smaller version had less detail and omitted the county lines and smaller roads.

I had one that was from a promotion for Freshen-Up gum. It had the Freshen-Up logo on the cover. I don't know where we got it, because we seldom chewed this brand o' BG. One of few times I remember seeing Freshen-Up in our house was around 1980 when a dentist recommended it to a family member. I burst out laughing when I saw it. If it was just labeled as "chewing gum", it wouldn't have been so funny, but this was labeled as "bubble gum", which was downright uproarious.

[mjb2002]

1997 Greenville County, S.C. atlas from the Irmo-based Accurate Maps and Atlases, which is no longer in existence. It would have been the company's 30th anniversary this year.



The inside of one of the pages:

[FLRoads]

1980 Rand McNally. I can even remember sitting and laying on the couch on several occasions looking through it.