Mad Maps: Driving Tours of America's Backroads

August 27, 11:03 AMAuto Review ExaminerJohn Matras

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Maybe you think you know all the best driving roads in your area and think you’ve driven them all. Or maybe you’re a vacationing motorist/motorcyclist in an unfamiliar area and want to drive the great roads that exist everywhere…if you know where to look.

Either way, consider Mad Maps.

Mad Maps is a collection of regional road maps with highlighted driving loops, from 60 to 200 miles long. The drives are on the celebrated “blue roads,” the back roads off the main highways, better for adventure than getting anywhere particularly fast. In this case, however, the roads are in twenty different colors, each for a different route, along with optional side trips and detours.

Loops are selected for scenery, attractions and driving fun…which means these routes couldn’t have been laid out with a straight edge.

More than just a map, the routes have a general why-you-should-drive description, warnings (where weather could be a problem, where there’s no gas, pavement conditions and so on), written directions, optional routes and roadside attractions (places to eat, scenic vistas, things to do). Camping areas and ATV/off-road vehicle areas are noted as well.

We know that the Sunday drive/weekend trip just for the sake of driving is regarded by some as anti-social, but we doubt the critics are staying home with the lights turned off. So hit the road.

The maps sell individually at madmaps.com for $10.95 and there are Get Out of Town five-loop maps for $5.95, plus multi-map packs as well and “Epic Journeys.” Digital versions for your gps unit are downloadable at garmin.com.

Do the math: It’s as little as fifty cents per tour, and prorated over the all the detours it’s even less. You’ll spend more on Cheetos.