Family Travel Must Haves: #4 "Appy" to See You!

Back in 2000 I took a long cross country trip. I thought at that time that I was on the edge of technology, I had a laptop with a GPS adaptor, a Palm VII with wireless Internet, my 12 CD changer in back of my car, and my Motorola flip phone. But having to use a laptop to get GPS is not exactly convenient or easy to use, Palm VII's only had coverage around larger cities, a 12 CD changer can only play 12 CD's and you have to carry your CD's with you and have to change them out in the cassette, and the Motorola flip phone was only a phone. 

8 years later I would get an iPod Touch, which absolutely blew me away with it capabilities. Hot on its heels I bought my first iPhone a year later. I wish I had an iPhone nine years earlier on that trip. GPS, Internet, telephone, 1000's of songs, and  hundreds of other benefits including apps. When I got my first iPhone four years ago the only Route 66 based apps out there where picture and game apps, now there are real Route 66 apps out there, and lots of others worth mentioning. 

Lets start with the Route 66 apps. Yes they do exist and there not bad.

 

Road Trip 66 is a great app for showing you what's along the way. It also gives you a pretty decent road map, which you can pinpoint yourself on. It doesn't exactly have a GPS feature to help you navigate the route, but it still is worth having

The Route 66 Mobile Guide can help you find features along the route. It's a great planning tool to find sites, restaurants, and lodging along the way on a state by state basis. 

Roadtrippers is not specifically a Route 66 app, but does have Route 66 sites on it. This app also connects into social websites like Facebook allowing you to share your travels with friends. 

Other Apps for Family Travel 

Sit or Squat is a great app for finding bathrooms in a hurry. Not only can you find bathrooms but some of them are rated for cleanliness, plus you can rate bathrooms as well for other families to know about.

Yelp is a must have for any traveler, or just to have around your own hometown. It can help you find just about anything near you. 

Other worthwhile apps:

Best Western and most other chain motels have apps including Holiday Inn, Choice Motels, Marriott and others. These can help you find motels and reserve them on the go.

Gas Buddy is a great app at home or on the road. Find gas stations or compare prices to get the best per gallon price.

Trapster is a great road trip app, it lets you know about speed traps, traffic accidents, and construction along your way. 

•One app I mentioned in a previous post was the Pet Friendly app. Check out my posting "Family Travel Must Haves: #3 Traveling with Families Best Friend", to find out about this app. 

Great Route 66 Books - EZ 66 by Jerry McClanahan

Trying to navigate Route 66 for the first time can be daunting. The maps show Route 66 but don't make clear the twist turns and detours the route has, and apps and GPS systems can at times be off or even make driving on the route very jumpy. 

So one of the questions I always get from first time travelers is; are there any good books out there that can help me navigate the route? Well there are two good one that I know of and have used the first is McClanahans EZ 66, and the second is The Complete Route 66 Guidebook and Atlas by the editors of Route 66 Magazine.

Traveling Route 66 as a family though my first suggestion would be for you to pick up Jerry McClanahans EZ 66. The book is geared both towards novice Route 66 travelers and families. 

Why I like the book;

First of all I love that its spiral bound and its small size. I know that seem like an odd first thing to love but if you spend enough time on the road working with maps you'll find out the value of spiral bound books quickly, especially small ones. Compare it to a regular road map in the compact space of a car and you'll get it all very quickly.

With this being a Route 66 blog about family travel here is something else I love about EZ 66, its very family/kid friendly. McClanahan adds unique scavenger hunts and fun stuff alerts to the book to help keep your kids engaged in the trip and on the lookout. 

On that note another great part of this book are the drawings and layout. It's like having a artistic friend give you his/or her sketchbook of Route 66 images, with notes made on the pages about taking the route. 

The directions are also very good as well and will guide you down Route 66 easily. But here is the best part about it, if you have an older child with they can help navigate you down the road with this book. It's laid out to be fun and inviting. And it is also laid out to put everything into easy to read sections, taking the route in bite size portions. 

The downsides;

This book is awesome but its not a singular solution. I would have to suggest bringing with additional guidebooks, no reflection on this book at all but Route 66 had so much going on that sometimes one book/author can't get it all. McClanahans version is great, but it keeps to the most traveled route. I would say use EZ 66 as your guide but keep in mind other alternates and past alignments.

Another thing is as great as that book is laid out the pages can at times be a bit too busy. This can make it hard to orient oneself in using the book to navigate. My suggestion is to study the book a little before using it. This will help you understand it's layout a lot better, so that if you choose to let someone else use it you can get them accustomed to it as well. 

Also the maps are good, but can lack a bit to be desired at times. So keep additional maps on hand just in case, a GPS may also help you here as well. 

Overall though the book is a must have. It will give you the confidence and ability to navigate the route successfully, and keep you family occupied as well. 

Great Route 66 Books - Introduction

In this series I hope to review books that may help you in learning about and/or traveling Route 66. 

There are actually a ton of books out there on Route 66. Take a look on

Amazon to see for yourself, the selection can be overwhelming. Add to that independently published books, kindle books, and books sold through Route 66 associations nationwide and the selection becomes a positive avalanche of book options. 

Being an experienced Route 66 traveler, and knowledgable about Route 66 I have an incredible collection of books on the subject. This has also given me the ability to sort out the truly good books, from the bad and/or clone books the subject has produced over the years. 

So keep watching for my suggestions coming to you soon.