Designed to help you, the traveller, throughout your journeys in the spectacular state of Montana. The book is composed of detailed and extensive information concerning restaurants, motels, gas stations & auto repair, attractions, museums, wildlife viewing, state parks, money saving discounts, and just about anything you need or want to know about the places along your journey.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
Aside from its spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife, much of the allure of Montana is its wide open spaces and sparse population. One can often travel 80-100 miles between inhabited towns, and find nothing more than a bar and a church when they arrive. This can be pretty unnerving if the gas gauge is near empty, the stomach is growling, the kids are screaming for food, and its getting late enough to think of bedding down.
When traveling in most populated states, it is a safe assumption that just about any town on the map will have basic services (gas, dining, and lodging). Taint so in Montana. In January of this year, over 250 gas stations had to close or stop selling gas because of EPA tank regulations. This left many small towns without a place to fill up. And most are too small for any type of familiar food franchise, or even a place to eat other than the local bar.
Thats why we published the Montana Roadside Directory and Trip Planner. This remarkable guide was over three years in development. During that time we drove over 20,000 miles personally interviewing over 4,000 businesses and checking out hundreds of attractions. We spent thousands of collective hours putting everything we gathered into what we are sure you will agree is a truly remarkable tool for anyone traveling by automobile or planning a trip in this state.
The book is very friendly and easy to use. In fact, this was our number one priority in producing the book. 320 full color pages pack in more information about this state than any other five books in print combined. Everything you need to know to plan your trip, or to help you while youre on it is included in this book. Once you see it, youll wonder how we were able to put such an incredible book together at such a low price.
The book is divided into 27 logical stretches of highway. In each section we include literally a mile by mile description of what you will find on your journey.
Each section opens with a general description of the route, a little history of the area, towns along the way, and anything else we can summarize.
We follow that with detailed, easy-to-read maps of the section and any towns that have more than one commercial street. On these maps we indicate by number the specific location of every gas stop, place to eat, lodging facility, and attraction along the wayevery single one that was in business when we surveyed the area. If theres a McDonalds (or Burger King, or Subway, or) there well tell you. We list them allhot dog stands, burger stops, hometown cafes, and fine dining establishments. If they have a single gas pumpwe list them. If they rent even a few roomswe list them. If its anything worth stopping (or even slowing down) forhistorical sites, state parks, museums, points of interest, etc.we list it. We even include retail establishments that feel you would find them of interest. There are over 70 highway and town maps in this book.
Following the maps in our listing section, we tie the number on the map to each of the services and attractions. We provide basic information such as the name address and phone number of the service. Following the name we provide easy-to-read symbols indicating the type of service or services they provide. In many cases we have a paragraph giving additional information about the service or attraction. For many of them, we even provide photos.
If that isnt enough, we follow the listings with a quick reference chart for each of the three critical categories of interest to a traveler: dining, lodging, and auto. Each of these charts allows you to scan through all of the businesses in that category for a quick comparison. If your looking for fast food, quickly see which places fit that description and where they are. Need diesel? See which stations sell it. Looking for a motel with an indoor pool? Scan through quickly and find all of the ones in that section.
There's a lot of information packed into these tables. For instance:
Dining- Tells you the type of food they serve, the price range, if they have a kids menu, do they serve beer? wine? cocktails?, what meals do they serve, if they take reservations, and what credit cards they take. Their number on the map and in the listing section is also provided for easy cross reference.
Lodging- Tells you how big they are (number of rooms), what price range they are in, if they serve breakfast (continental or full), if they have a swimming pool (indoor or outdoor) or hot tub, if they have non-smoking rooms, other amenities they provide (kitchenette, refrigerator, or microwave), what credit cards they take, and again their reference number on the map and listing section.
Auto- Tells you what kind of fuel they sell (gas, diesel, or propane), what types of repair services they provide, if they have a convenience store, if there is a mechanic on duty, what credit cards they take, and yeswhat their reference number is on the map and listing section.
Now if all of that isnt already worth the price of the book several times over, heres what makes it a no-brainer. Many of these businesses have offered substantial discounts to owners of this book. Over $5,000 in discounts! No, thats not a typo. These are realand really serious discounts. How about over 165 restaurants offering everything from free drinks (often beer, wine, and cocktails) to free meals; almost 100 motels offering reduced rates; over 100 gas and auto stops offering free beverages with fill-ups or discounted service; not to mention the other miscellaneous businesses offering special discounts to readers. The fact is, you will probably get back the price you paid for this book your first day on the road.
Finally, there is a wealth of other information in this book: a calendar of events broken out by section; a listing of radio stations throughout the state; population, elevation, annual precipitation and temperatures by town; chamber of commerce phone numbers; and a large listing of other important phone numbers relevant to travel. There is simply not another book like this on the market. You would have to buy several books just to get all of the touring information. And there is no other book on the market that gives you every auto, lodging, and dining facility in the state.
From the Author
This book was over three years in the making. From the time the idea was conceived until the concept was refined enough to take on the road, took almost two of those years. From that point we accumulated over 20,000 miles of highway driving, interviewed over 4,000 businesses, and spent thousands of collective hours putting everything we gathered into what we hope you will find is a very friendly and useful tool for you, the motorist and traveller.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best of them all,
By Jeff Putnam (Torrance, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Explore Magazine's Montana Roadside Travel Directory and Trip Planner (Paperback)
I just bought five books including this one on traveling in Montana. I almost didn't buy this one because of the price. That would have been a huge mistake. Not only do you get what you pay for with this, it's worth twice the price. This is the only book that gave me a complete selection of motels and places to stay. The way they organized the routes and indicated directly on the maps where everything is located is a huge help. We can pick our place to stay and plan where we are going to eat before we even get there. This is also the only book that tells us not only where gas stops are, but what they have for services. And marking the attractions directly on the map with numbers is a great way to see just where things are. I like the discounts too. Seems like we should get our money back in a couple of days. I'm not crazy about having to present the book for the discounts, but hey, nothings perfect. I thought this was close enough to give it the highest rating after comparing it to everything else available. And hey, if you like pictures, there are hundreds of them in here. Anyone planning a trip to Montana would be just plain stupid to not get a copy of this.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best of the bunch,
By Everett Mize (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Explore Magazine's Montana Roadside Travel Directory and Trip Planner (Paperback)
I have purchased 11 books to plan my trip to Montana. I do not wish to write reviews on all of them, but felt compelled to comment on this one. It is far and away the best book I have found for planning a driving trip through the state. It listed 3-4 times as many motels (apparantly all of them)as any other book. The same is true for places to eat. It listed every gas stop. None of the other books listed any. Its maps are much more thorough, and they have maps of small towns as well as the big ones. The quick reference charts are priceless, and it is the only book to offer discounts from the states merchants. A truly priceless book, and I highly recommend it to anyone even thinking of going to Montana.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I wish I'd bought this sooner!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Explore Magazine's Montana Roadside Travel Directory and Trip Planner (Paperback)
We thought we had our vacation all figured out until we found this book the first day of our trip. If only we had it while planning our journey ...What a life and time saver. We never would have believed the distances. We went 85 miles on one stretch and didn't even see an occupied dwelling, let alone a place to eat or get gas. We found this book at a gas stop and it was like getting a Montana native in our car that knew every gas stop, place to eat, and place to stay. We're already planning a trip back there next summer, and will probably use this book until it falls apart in planning the trip. You can also bet it will be at the top of our checklist to pack along when we go. Thank you Champions Publishing for such an outstanding book. I can't wait to see the next one.
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