𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐌𝐚𝐩

Magnetic USA track map

As we try to move closer to a post Covid world the need or want to travel is on the rise. 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. One of the tried and true ways to get out and experience life has always been to hit the open road. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐩.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐩 It’s like a warm hug from an old friend. Even the thought of holding that piece of Americana conjures up memories of a not so distant time when things were a little simpler. A nostalgic glimps into the past when anything seemed possible. So In honor of the great American road trip 𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐬.

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟎𝟏 - “The Official Automobile Blue Book,” was printed. Less than a map book it more contained generalized directions and distances between towns and landmarks.

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟎𝟑 - 2 friends and a dog named Bud took off from San Francisco and in a mere 63 days ended up in New York. And just like that the great American Road trip was invented.

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟎𝟒 - Rand McNally came out with their first road map “New Automobile Road Map of New York City & Vicinity.”

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟏𝟎 - Michelin seeing the need for a better bigger map, produced its first USA road map

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟏𝟑 - Gulf oil opened the first drive-in gas station in Pittsburgh and gave all its customers the first free road map.

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟏 - with more cars on the road Congress passed The Federal Highway Act. Laying out state highways, federal funding and a country wide number system.

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟔 - the first map depicting Route 66 was printed by the Bureau of Public Roads.

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟑𝟒 - an estimated 70 million free maps were handed out annually

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟓 - The end of WWII marked a change in road map style. The beautiful artistic maps of the 20’s and 30’s gave way to the tourist centered maps of the post war era.

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟔𝟒 an estimated 200 million maps were being annually given out . Over doubling in 30 years

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟑 - map production fell to a little over 7 million. A huge decrease since the 10 years prior. With less people driving, an oil crises and rising gas costs all but 1 service station stopped giving free paper maps.

🗺 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟏 - Exxon mobile hands out the very last free gas station road map. Officially ending an era.

Lucky for us the chamber of commerce and visitor centers still produce and handout free road maps. 𝐒𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐩.

As always #mapon everyone.

Shown: