National Geographic the American Road: Atlas & Travel Planner

Rating:
Summary: Best road atlas I've seen
Review: Are you planning some longer sight seeing road trips. This road atlas not only shows you road maps like you expect from National Geographic but it also has sections for regional points of interest, national forest maps, scenic routes and distances and more. Everything is cross referenced to everything else. If you take a little time to become familiar with the layout you will really appreciate the benefits put into this book. It costs more than many but worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Buy it used -- it's a great atlas
Review: I like roadtrips, and since 1999 The American Road has been an indispensable inhabitant of my car. I can't understand why NG quit producing this atlas...That's a bargain for sure.

It's a very study volume. Mine has started to pull away from the binding a bit, but that's to be expected when I throw it around the car all the time. The plastic-like cover is spill-resistant and extremely durable. No pages have ripped or become unbound. I am very rough on it, and I'm impressed that it's survived as well as it has.

The maps are readable and accurate. There's not much more exciting than that to say about a road map. They cover all of North America, though Mexico receives no detailed coverage, nor does northern Canada (where there are few roads anyway).

Aside from the maps, the atlas includes descriptions of every region of North America (Mexico is treated as one region, and Canada as two). These are really interesting, and they get the wanderlust flowing. There are also descriptions and pictures of all the major US national parks, a handy mileage chart that includes lots of cities, city/population indexes organized by state, and a comprehensive and balanced list of scenic drives around the country.

Rating:
Summary: Buy it used -- it's a great atlas
Review: I like roadtrips, and since 1999 The American Road has been an indispensable inhabitant of my car. I can't understand why NG quit producing this atlas...That's a bargain for sure.

It's a very study volume. Mine has started to pull away from the binding a bit, but that's to be expected when I throw it around the car all the time. The plastic-like cover is spill-resistant and extremely durable. No pages have ripped or become unbound. I am very rough on it, and I'm impressed that it's survived as well as it has.

The maps are readable and accurate. There's not much more exciting than that to say about a road map. They cover all of North America, though Mexico receives no detailed coverage, nor does northern Canada (where there are few roads anyway).

Aside from the maps, the atlas includes descriptions of every region of North America (Mexico is treated as one region, and Canada as two). These are really interesting, and they get the wanderlust flowing. There are also descriptions and pictures of all the major US national parks, a handy mileage chart that includes lots of cities, city/population indexes organized by state, and a comprehensive and balanced list of scenic drives around the country.