Mobil Travel Guides back — easy to use again

They're back. They weren't exactly gone, but they're back.

Thank you. Thank you.

Mobil Travel Guides, known for their star-ratings of lodgings and restaurants but absolutely treasured by road warriors for their ability to sit flat on the passenger seat or (better) the lap, have returned to their original soft-cover style for 2004.

This comes after a misguided three-year detour into a hardcover- book format that was too heavy to pack, too clumsy to use and with some type too tiny to decipher in poor light without a flashlight -- which made them dangerous to read while driving.

A must-buy since 1958, the guides, produced by what is now ExxonMobil, changed to the hardcover format in 2001.

The guides became a 10-volume set (from seven) in 2001, spinning off California, Florida and New York-New Jersey -- formerly in the regional guides -- into separate volumes, which meant anyone driving all of Old Route 66 had to buy four books (at $16.95 each) rather than the earlier three.

The 2004 edition once again has expanded, to 16 volumes. Anyone driving all of Old Route 66 now has to buy five (at $18.95 each) instead of four, a tribute to marketing genius -- but at least now they stay open.

And for now, they're cheaper ($11.37 plus shipping) on www.mobiltravelguide.com.

Copyright C 2003 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.