Appreciation post: found my grandpa's old 1950s road map of Route 66

I was cleaning out my dad's attic last weekend and found a 1954 Shell road map for Route 66, still folded up in the glovebox of grandpa's old Chevy. He used to drive from Chicago to Los Angeles every summer, and the map has all these tiny notes in pencil about gas stops costing 18 cents a gallon and diners that served pie for a nickel. Now I just punch an address into my phone and trust the algorithm, but grandpa had to plan every turn ahead of time or risk getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. Anyone else kept something like this from a relative and felt like you learned something about how they traveled?

2 comments

2 Comments

hunt.rowan4d ago

Oh come on, you're romanticizing the hell out of this. Your grandpa's map is just a piece of paper with some faded diner names and gas prices that mean nothing today. That 18 cent gas? Adjusted for inflation it's still more expensive than what I pay now. And those "carefully planned" trips? That's code for "no last minute detours, no fun surprises, stuck to the same boring route every single time." I've driven cross country three times using just my phone and I've discovered way more random cool spots than if I'd been locked into some pre-planned pencil scribble. You think grandpa ever found a hidden taco joint in New Mexico because a dude on Reddit recommended it? Nope. He ate at the same diner he ate at the year before because it was the only one listed on the map for fifty miles. Nostalgia is fine but let's not pretend handwritten notes are better than real time traffic, weather updates, and the ability to reroute when something better pops up. Your grandpa's map is a cool relic, but it's a relic for a reason.

margaretf404d ago

Ugh, you're missing the whole point. @hunt.rowan, your phone dies in the middle of nowhere New Mexico and then what? You're stuck guessing which dirt road leads to a town with a gas station. Grandpa's map might not update traffic, but it never needed a signal. And that "planned route" you hate? It meant he saw every single town between point A and B, not just the highway exit with a Starbucks. I've found way better cheap eats from old maps than from random reddit dudes who hype up whatever place has a neon sign. Your phone is just a guide that quits on you when you need it most.