The real value of the road atlas

I bought a new map book today. The road atlas style—with color. I bought it even though the 2009 version is still usable. Usable, but not pretty.

My 2010 options: the big atlas or the compact spiral bound book. That compact style is tempting. Fits anywhere. Folds to any page easily. Has just as much color and clear type as the big atlas.

What doesn't it have? Detail. It's not the little roadways I want the detail for. It's the little blue icons marking rest areas.

Rest areas are not as plentiful as they once were. State governments are quietly slicing budgets and putting "CLOSED" signs on an alarming number of sites. Will my 2010 atlas have updated information?

I did attempt to go digital. Put the Rest Area app on my iPhone. Alas, it is not easily navigated and just plain hard to read in a moving car. Nothing beats scanning a paper page for those little blue houses. Whoever would have thought that boomers would have a tradition for locating rest areas?

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

DOT Provides Wifi on All Roads

Clearly, I've been in a lot of highway rest areas in Texas this month. Here's my observation about my observation skills: I jumped to a conclusion about where Texas was installing wifi.

When I first spotted a Texas rest area with wireless access to the Internet, it was on I-35. So, I concluded that the interstate highways were the lucky spots.

Well, the Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) tends to all roads. And that's why wifi is turning up in rest areas on all sizes of road. Above sign is from the Safety Rest Area at Donley County on 287.

And as a boomer reader commented to me in email last week, it's amazing that as some states are cutting back on rest areas, Texas is building them bigger and better than ever.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Play room at the Colorado Welcome Center

Boomers travel. Or if they cannot travel, they wish they could. I'm in the category of having a flexible schedule and the ability to travel (as long as I maintain access to the Internet for work).

Of late, I've been noticing new things in interstate highway rest areas. In 2008, I saw tornado shelters and wireless Internet in Texas roadside stops. In 2009, so far my new find is this children's play area stocked with toys. It's at the Colorado welcome center on I-70 (east side of the state next to Kansas).

The play room is about 20 x 20, which you cannot tell from this corner shot. What you also may not be able to see is the decorative image at the top. It's a cattle drive.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Internet on the Interstate: Safety Rest Area in Texas

"Bell County Safety Rest Area, Southbound" is the new roadside facility (Fall 2008) located on I-35 heading south, halfway between Waco and Austin, Texas. The architecture resembles a grist mill. But better looking.

Historical information is on display and so is practical information for this part of the country. A storm shelter is located near the restrooms, complete with sitting benches and photographs of tornadoes and storms.

Lobby seating area (see photo above) includes perfectly placed electrical outlets—you know what they mean. Yes, Texas rest areas and travel information centers provide free wireless Internet access. And convenient electric for your laptop. The computer network name is Texas Safety Rest Area Free Wifi, and it opens with the TexTreks Web portal. There's even a toll-free help line: (866) 532-5235.

The TxDOT web site gives this reason for providing wi-fi at rest areas: "Wireless Internet service is provided to help drivers fight fatigue, a major cause of auto accidents. The service encourages drivers to make regular stops and return to the road rested and alert."

It's not all about wi-fi, though. New and renovated rest areas are designed to promote exercise (via walking paths), safe roadside stops (security systems and cameras are well advertised), road information (with maps, road condition reports, and weather updates). Federal funding helped make these rest areas possible.

On a personal note: Tom Bold and I spent more time exploring this rest area than we have ever spent at a roadside facility. In short, TxDOT met its goal: get drivers out of their cars to "refresh." We didn't actually boot up a computer but having spotted the electrical outlets at the table, we did wonder out loud if wi-fi were in the house. We reached for iPhones nearly simultaneously. We couldn't get a clean photo of the network name on a phone screen, though, which led to another distraction: is a screenshot possible on a cell phone?

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.