County Road Maps

[eric1978]

Check your email. I scanned a page from Delorme and sent it to you.

tried to post it here but it wouldn't fly

Thanks wrench. That bing map you attached earlier is really good. I need to pick up a Delorme, too, but I've always found something more fun to spend my money on when I've had one in my hand at the store.

Only problem with the Delorme atlases is that they don't differentiate between public county roads and private roads. In most cases they name the public roads either by number or by name, but it still can get a bit confusing when you're looking for a road. The county road maps show all public roads and selected private ones, but the private ones are depicted with a different symbol. However, I wouldn't be without Delorme atlases for every state I visit, and I carry the Missouri atlas in both vehicles as well as another copy that stays in the house. I also have their software, but don't use it much because I like to have the actual book in front of me. I do have the National Geographic map software for Missouri and Arkansas, as well as Montana. It's pretty expensive, but it's all based upon USGS topo maps and the topography is excellent--topography on the Delorme software leaves a lot to be desired.

I've always assumed that most private roads will be marked. But I have noticed some private roads will start off as a public county road and cross onto private property that isn't clearly marked. Some land owners leave their private drives pretty ambiguous for god knows what reason. My dad's old neighbor in Huzzah didn't mark his private drive. One minute you're on a clearly marked county road and the next thing you know you're pulling up to his house at a dead end. To this day I don't know why he didn't put up a sign. I guess he liked confrontation because he said he's had to run off hundreds of guys looking for access to the river, which could have been easily averted with one PRIVATE-NO TRESPASSING sign. We had a gate at the top of our private drive, and although it remained open almost all the time, never had someone wander in.

[Wayne SW/MO]

If you want it for fishing you might check out Tryon's 200 Missouri Smallmouth Adventures. The hand drawn maps are pretty good and show roads that actually access creeks and rivers.

[Gavin]

Maps, maps, and more maps....you need em...DeLorme, County Maps, Conservation Atlas, Chuck's Books...my wife's kid cruiser has a GPS nav system....works OK between cities and in town, but you need some judgement. Its worthless for most river access...cuz they are all in "Unverified Territory". Cheers.

[fishinwrench]

Maps, maps, and more maps....you need em...DeLorme, County Maps, Conservation Atlas, Chuck's Books...my wife's kid cruiser has a GPS nav system....works OK between cities and in town, but you need some judgement. Its worthless for most river access...cuz they are all in "Unverified Territory". Cheers.

I've never understood the fascination with GPS.

The worst case of "lost and screwed" I've ever witnessed was caused from depending on a darn GPS unit.

I'm an old-school compass and map guy myself.

[Wheatenheimer]

I've never understood the fascination with GPS.

The worst case of "lost and screwed" I've ever witnessed was caused from depending on a darn GPS unit.

I'm an old-school compass and map guy myself.

I think that GPS's are a very cool gadget (even though I don't own one.) Although, you still have to use a smidgeon of common sense on your journey.

Example: I work at the airport in Springfield. This past May we moved from the old terminal, located off of West Kearney, to the new terminal, located off of West Division. Keep in mind this has been very much publicized and blatantly marked with signs, billboards and what-have-ya. On a daily basis, we have people that miss their scheduled flights because their "GPS guided them to the Old Terminal!"

Are they so focused on their GPS that signs and all other surroundings vanish? I don't know.

On the other hand..........my Brother has a TomTom that we used on a road trip from Ohio back to Missouri a few months ago and it saved our behinds navigating the outskirts of Chicago at night during a Thunderstorm!

I'm torn! Maybe I like being lost every once in a while. Just not in Southside of Chicago!

Kevin

[Gavin]

Your GPS is only as good as the map that you load into it....I have a hand held....but rarely use it...Last time I turned it on was a couple years ago, when my wife and I wanted to to see how fast we could get the canoe moving...we already knew where we were going. Could be useful on the open ocean, but I have no need for one around here.

[ness]

I've got an older model handheld GPS too, but like Gavin, I rarely use it. I just bought a new car, and as much as I wanted the in-dash GPS because it's cool, it was going to cost about $2,000 to get the package that included it.

If I'm going to an area I'm not familiar with, I'll sometimes waypoint the car or something hard to find with it, but that's about it.