AAA TripTik (1937-2015)

[briantroutman]

This morning, I walked into my local AAA office and asked about getting a TripTik. I was almost certain that they wouldn't have the strip maps on site, yet I was fairly confident that they'd be able to order a TripTik from a regional production center. The guy behind the counter told me that they didn't have and couldn't order TripTiks any longer. My only option was to get a printout of their online turn-by-turn directions–useless.

Undaunted, I called the AAA North Penn office in my hometown–where I spent summers making TripTiks between high school and college and where the paper tradition was still going strong–at least as of a couple of years ago. The counselor I spoke with told me that earlier this year, the national office had halted all strip map production and that all of the office's TripTik infrastructure had been dismantled.

For all of the "in this age of GPS..."  platitudes I've heard and read from various AAA employees and representatives, no one seems to grasp that the TripTik was never about "turn left, turn right"  -style navigation. It was a convenient traveling companion that you could glance at occasionally and see where the continental divide is, how many miles to the next exit, where the next fuel service is, and so on.

It's a shame that it's gone.

[FLRoads]

Though I'm not surprised that the TripTiks have finally succumbed, I am a little saddened by this news as I used to work at the AAA National office performing QA/QC checks on them (as well as atlases, fold maps and the Tour Guide books (maps only)). I also would assist from time to time on the production side (back when they were still using MicroStation to create them). Out of all my QA/QC job duties, I enjoyed working on them the best, as they were quick to scan for errors, and as you mentioned always had some interesting tidbits of information. Heh, writing this is bringing back some great memories of working there.

I always thought they were great companions for traveling, and even as a kid would have my grandmother get me some just so I had some maps to look at when I was tired of looking at my small collection of road atlases and fold maps.

Yet another part of the paper map industry that is now a piece of history.

[Duke87]

For all of the "in this age of GPS..."  platitudes I've heard and read from various AAA employees and representatives, no one seems to grasp that the TripTik was never about "turn left, turn right"  -style navigation. It was a convenient traveling companion that you could glance at occasionally and see where the continental divide is, how many miles to the next exit, where the next fuel service is, and so on.

Alas, this requires too much brainpower for the GPS followers. (and some GPS devices can locate services)

[mariethefoxy]

the AAA website has a spot you can order them, its kinda obscure and I don't remember where the link is, its somewhere around the area you can order paper maps. Unless they removed it, I remember the last time I ordered one was earlier in the year and it took a bit to find the link for it.

[AlexandriaVA]

This seems to be a vestige of the era of "pleasure driving".

[TravelingBethelite]

Through some Google sleuthing, it seems to me that one can still order a TripTik. However, the process may be less streamlined than it once was.

[jwolfer]

I used to love reading my grandparents triptiks.. My grandma was a legal secretary so she held on to records.. I still remember reading about I95 "traversing gently rolling terrain".  I knew every inch of the trip from NJ to Jacksonville we used to make the trip 2-3 x/ year.. But I still read every page of the trip tik

[hbelkins]

Most recent TripTik I got was a computer printout, not the marked-up strip maps.

[1995hoo]

I remember the TripTik had an arrow pointing at the Springfield Interchange with the admonition "Heed signing for proper lanes to make change of direction at this interchange."

The admonition still applies after the rebuild. Many drivers still consider themselves exempt from it.

[Sam]

I was always impressed that the AAA staff seemed to know every mile of your trip, and would mark up the Triptik, highlighting the route, marking construction zones, guiding you through the route, upside down.

[empirestate]

This thread begs the question: does anybody want to share some of their old TripTiks?

[Alex]

I never had one created for me personally,  but do have a few in my map collection from bulk map buys. I could dig one out and scan it.

[Buffaboy]

My dad has gotten them on the last few trips we've taken over the past few years. It would be a shame if they really did stop making them. I liked the personalization that they have.

[Pete from Boston]

It was exciting when you got to the end of the page. 

I considered working at AAA one summer in college but was too lazy to make it happen.  In hindsight I can't believe I missed the opportunity to make these.

[kennyshark]

"Gently rolling terrain" to me is AAA TripTik code for "boring" (i.e. most of Ohio, much of Indiana). 

I don't know how they referred to I-70 through Illinois and I-55 between St. Louis and Joliet.  My mind reels with sarcastic descriptions.

[cpzilliacus]

Loved Triptiks.  Have not seen one in a long time, and I do not really need them, but thought they were neat anyway.

[oldparoadgeek]

Like almost everything else under the sun; Old trip-tiks may be purchased on Ebay along with old an new AAA Roadmaps

[thenetwork]

Count me as a former AAA "Triptik and Map Marker" for several summers during my college years (one of my favorite jobs ever -- except in the winter when EVERYONE was going to Florida and there was no variety or challenge in making Triptiks).  Somewhere I have a unmarked AAA map of the US with all the routes covered by Triptiks, and the page numbers which corresponded to the Triptik sections.  If I ever dig it up, I'll have to scan the map and post it.

Being on the AAA side of the Triptiks, I used to love "pulling" the pages in the back office to create the requested route.  The most common routes from said AAA office to popular destinations would be arranged in such an order on a wall so that you start at the top of a column of strips, and pull one Triptik strip page from each cubby-hole until you get to their destination.

For the Northern Ohio AAA Offices (I worked at both a Cleveland and Toledo office), there must have been close to two-dozen routes that could be seamlessly pulled and assembled in under a minute before marking them up.  Each major route or direction was color coded by those old Dymo plastic label-maker labels.

Another behind-the-curtain AAA mystery revealed:  The map "markers" we used into the late 80s were refillable markers with replaceable felt tips.  The "ink" was from a jug of green colored stuff. Around 1990, they switched to standard highlighter markers you would buy at Office Max/Depot.  If you made a mistake, you brought out the bottle of "eradicator fluid", which was more or less bleach and would "erase" the magic marker color.

Also, the individual Triptik strips came in packaged multiples of 50.  It was amazing how many strips you would go through each week when a new shipment came in.  I'm still kicking myself for not taking one page of each Triptik strip back then.

[RG407]

When I was a kid, I used to love to study TripTiks when we would go on long car trips, which would happen once or twice a year.  When I grew up, and would go to TripTiks made for my trips I was amazed at how fast the AAA employees could gather the strip maps and assemble them into the booklet and then mark up the maps with their highlighters and stamps.  I always thought it looked like a fun job.

[noelbotevera]

Hmm...those seems interesting than what I have. I only have a PA atlas that just shows well, PA. Those TripTiks sounded neat prior to 2010 when we navigated by turn-by-turn directions on Mapquest. I'd rather have some TripTiks than turn-by-turn directions (because what's the difference between a sharp right and turn right?).