Road atlas printed on special paper so you can draw in it without ruining it

[bandit957]

Anyone remember this?

In the mid-'80s, I had a Rand McNally Road Atlas that was also a "travel guide." It had not only the maps but also a little explanation of each tourist site in each state.

But it also had a few pages at the beginning that encouraged people to use a marker to draw their route on the maps. I think it said to use yellow or orange because they didn't interfere with the symbols as much. It also had detailed instructions for removing the marker with a bleach solution and gently dabbing the page. I think it even said "don't rub" in parentheses.

Was this atlas printed on some sort of special paper? It didn't seem like the paper was really any different from any other road atlas. It might have been a tiny bit slicker than normal, but not really slick like a magazine. It was actually less slick than the AAA atlas I got not long after.

It's actually very rare that I ever marked up any map, and I never marked up the Rand McNally in question.

I think I still have all the pages and cover from this atlas in assorted boxes. I just need to put them back together someday.

[Rothman]

Yep.  Scribbled all over one back in the late 1980s or so.

[kphoger]

I think it even said "don't rub"

Also good advice for razor blades.

[Scott5114]

I seem to remember there was an atlas of some kind available in the 90s where every page was laminated and the whole thing was spiral bound. I think the intent was to make it more durable but you could absolutely have marked it up with dry/wet erase markers (or even permanent if you know about the trick that alcohol removes permanent marker from non-porous surfaces).

[kphoger]

the trick that alcohol removes permanent marker from non-porous surfaces

The easiest way to clean a whiteboard if the marker won't come off is to just find the nearest bottle of hand sanitizer.  (And, in today's work environment, there's probably a full two-gallon jug of it nearby, left over from 2020.)

[tdindy88]

I seem to remember there was an atlas of some kind available in the 90s where every page was laminated and the whole thing was spiral bound. I think the intent was to make it more durable but you could absolutely have marked it up with dry/wet erase markers (or even permanent if you know about the trick that alcohol removes permanent marker from non-porous surfaces).

There's a road atlas for truckers (I think from Rand McNally) that's just like that. I believe they still make them.

[Jim]

I've used highlighters on Rand McNally atlases for many years with no issues except for one year.  Around 2005, I had the spiral bound one, not laminated like mentioned in this thread, but the paper was just different enough that the highlighter took a long time to sink in and would end up on the opposite page when I closed it.  I ended up having sheets of paper that I kept between pages after marking it up.

[xonhulu]

the trick that alcohol removes permanent marker from non-porous surfaces

The easiest way to clean a whiteboard if the marker won't come off is to just find the nearest bottle of hand sanitizer.  (And, in today's work environment, there's probably a full two-gallon jug of it nearby, left over from 2020.)

Weirdly, you can also just write over the old marker stuff with a fresh marker, then the whole bunch erases off easily. Teacher trick I picked up.

[Scott5114]

the trick that alcohol removes permanent marker from non-porous surfaces

The easiest way to clean a whiteboard if the marker won't come off is to just find the nearest bottle of hand sanitizer.  (And, in today's work environment, there's probably a full two-gallon jug of it nearby, left over from 2020.)

Weirdly, you can also just write over the old marker stuff with a fresh marker, then the whole bunch erases off easily. Teacher trick I picked up.

This is because the solvent in permanent marker ink is alcohol, so it evaporates quickly and that's what makes it "permanent" (and also why water won't wash it away). If you write over it with the same kind of marker, you're applying alcohol to it, so the ink dissolves again and can be erased.

Hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol of course work on the same principle. Rubbing alcohol works best because it doesn't contain pigments (as marker ink does) or fragrances and skin softeners (as hand sanitizer usually does).