50 Free U.S.A. State Travel Guides

Right now, we’re going through the planning process for a three week road trip across the continent this summer. Plans are to head out from Southern Ontario, through the Northern U.S., back into Canada and up to the Northwest Territories. The return trip includes traveling through British Columbia, along the western side of the Rocky Mountains, down into Montana, through Yellowstone National Park and the Black Hills area of Wyoming/South Dakota before heading back home via Chicago and Detroit.

The thing is, we got info on the ultimate destination, the Northwest Territories, at the Travel Adventure Show in Toronto. Problem is, at the time, we thought we’d fly to Edmonton, rent an RV and just tour the lower portion of the Northwest Territories. After realizing what the cost would be with airfare for five, car rentals, RV rentals, etc., we changed the plan to an epic road trip.

So, I had pretty much no maps or travel info on all the places in between. No problem, free travel info is just a click, or two, away. It’s certainly not like the old days when you had to track down a 1-800 number, call a tourism office which had limited hours, orally dictate you mailing info and have them mail a packet to you.

However, some states, and provinces, don’t make it easy for you to get to the page on their website where you order you free travel guide and other optional information. What I’ve done is compile a complete list of links to each of the 50 states of the U.S.A. that go directly to the travel guide order form. This way, you need not waste your time searching in what can sometimes seem like a merry-go-round.

I can see why they might want to make it difficult. As I receive my info packets from each of the states and provinces that we’ll pass through, I’m a bit shocked at the costs. Each mailing is between $6 and $10 in postage alone. Not to mention, there must be some decent taxpayer cost to the high quality travel books and maps. I’m sure they want to know that you’re sure you’re going to visit and spend your tourism dollars.