I know this is probably too much to ask for but..

[Craig D]

I would like to find a website that, even if they charged a yearly fee, would offer useful information for my family's RV trips. For example.

1. I put in the source and destination and it suggests routes to take and also suggests points of interest along the way. Such as interesting sites, museums, scenic views/drives, lakes, theme parks, maybe some of those awesome hole in the wall restaurants that they sometimes show on the food network when traveling around, world's largest ball of twine etc.. Just any places that my family might want to stop and enjoy along the way. These should even be suggested by popularity and number of high reviews also provided.

2. It would also be nice if it would show me all of the RV parks/free camping areas along a given route, and provide prices, amenities, and contact info for these parks.

Does anyone know of any sites like this? Like I said, probably too much to ask for!

[Alf S.]

Hi: Craig D... You could try your local branch of the AAA Auto club. They do special things for people with Rv's. We printed our 4000 mi. East Coast trip on line... all 60 pages of maps info and stuff.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Gina D.]

it exists!

it's called "Google"

example of campgrounds search near Show Low, az.

It takes you to a map of all the ones in an area, and provides links and info on each one.

You can play with the maps an go out farther etc.

Reserve America also does this for gubmint campgrounds, and you can actually change the maps by dragging them... new campgrounds will show up on the screen.

[Time K]

Gina's right. Use Google and type in "www.fiberglassrv.com"

[Anne Badgley]

I use google directions or my Tom Tom to plot my route. I just found Wildernet.com to be very helpful for finding campgrounds along the way. I start with a state and they have an interactive map with icons for state and federal parks in the vicinity. When I click on an icon, the details and a website comes up for the selected campground. Pretty cool!

[Frederick L. Simson]

You could try your local branch of the AAA Auto club.

[b]Seriously, if you have a AAA membership, check out their online [b]TripTik^® service.
I used it for my 3 week trip in July and it does everything you are asking for. There are some quirks in the program, but there are some neat features as well.

[Robin G]

Craig, there are actually several sites as the ones suggested. But as far as what options there are to see along the way, it basically comes down to personal opinions about what is great to see or not. I personally check out the chamber sites for areas we will be traveling to. For one service/website to investigate all the possible tourist traps along the way would be almost impossible. And honestly you may find something interesting that others think is a waste of time and vice versa. A website might not catch a great music festival, local celebration, or any of the other great community events that pop up in towns all across the country. One thing I always do is check out the State Tourism site for the particular state we are traveling to. Then from there I can usually find more area type websites that let me know whats occurring there during our visit. I think for any one website to try and provide all the info to all it's members would end up being like a cattle drive, kinda like cruises used to be.


Woodall's
Good Sam
Trailer Life

All provide campground contact info, pricing, etc. ALL owned by the same Company! Affinity Group so it's a big bunch of doo, snagging you to buy yet another camping guide. IMO

[John Hussey]

I use google directions or my Tom Tom to plot my route. I just found Wildernet.com to be very helpful for finding campgrounds along the way. I start with a state and they have an interactive map with icons for state and federal parks in the vicinity. When I click on an icon, the details and a website comes up for the selected campground. Pretty cool!

Now that is one useful link, Anne, thanks. Here is link for it:

http://www.wildernet.com/

It is full of info. Scroll to bottom of page and each location is listed..
Thanks

[Craig D]

Thanks all.. This is good information. I was just looking for a one stop shop that does it all. One mention was Google, and I think that while Google is very useful, it becomes one of many tools necessary when planning a trip. i.e. from what I know, I can not put a source and destination in Google and have it suggest routes that are reasonably efficient but take me by the most highly rated attractions.

I guess I just really appreciate all of the ratings and information on tripadvisor.com and I wish that there was another site that did what is described above while suggesting routes based on tripadvisor reviews of attractions.

At this point, I more or less am doing the following.

Plan initial route in Delorme Street Atlas and also in M$ Streets and Trips.
Search for POI's within a fairly large radius of the route in both pieces of software.
Look up POI's that sound interesting on tripadvisor and read what others have to say about them.
Decide on a few that are highly rated and then adjust route to allow for these stops.
Consider the schedule and when we'll need to stop for the night based on the POI's and mileage.
Search for places to stay using Delorme/Google and add those.
Use Delorme with GPS connected to laptop to track trip as we go.

I suppose this works ok, but it seems like there should be a better way to plan. I appreciate the post on AAA as we will be getting AAA before our trip in December and I'll check out the triptik feature. Also, the wildernet.com link looks pretty good too and I'm sure I can make use of that while planning.. Anyone have any other good resources? I did find freecampgrounds.com that seems to have a lot of info for cheap (<$10/night) campgrounds, as well as a lot of boondocking sites listed.

[Anne Badgley]

[b]Seriously, if you have a AAA membership, check out their online [b]TripTik^® service.
I used it for my 3 week trip in July and it does everything you are asking for. There are some quirks in the program, but there are some neat features as well.

OK, I took the challenge! I don't have AAA membership so I wanted to see what would happen. I am happy to say that the TripTik planner worked better than any other site I have tried, even without logging in or having a membership. The route allowed me to try other options (I checked out my plan to go from Indy to AZ). I could select what options to show (I chose show campgrounds, scenic routes, gas stations, attractions) and there were alerts for my route that told me, for instance, that major roads in Arizona are being more closely monitored than usual for traffic violations. I could zoom in on the map and then see the icons for the options I had selected. When I clicked on a campground, a picture came up of the entrance and a brief description, including what discounts are offered and a contact phone number. I haven't tried yet to see what will happen if I use the print function, seeing that I don't have a membership, but even without a print-out the information is very valuable.
Thanks, Frederick, for the recommendation!

[Joe Z]

[b]Seriously, if you have a AAA membership, check out their online [b]TripTik^® service.
I used it for my 3 week trip in July and it does everything you are asking for. There are some quirks in the program, but there are some neat features as well.

I just tried the triptik from AAA and was really impressed..... it showed my route and anything i could want along that route by clicking look for icons..... great tip.thanx and i see they also have an app if you have the iphone etc
Joe

also went on the wildernet site and that was also very good

[Alf S.]

Hi: All... It really worked well for us. We have been CAA/AAA members since 1968 and used to have to order Trip tics well in advance of a trip and pray that no new construction had poped up on our route. We now have a CAA/AAA PLUSRV membership!!! Isn't modern techy stuff wonderfull!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Frederick L. Simson]

We now have a CAA/AAA PLUSRV membership!!! [b]Isn't modern techy stuff wonderfull!!!

WARNING, WILL ROBINSON! WARNING, WILL ROBINSON!
Link to my bad experience with "AAA"

While I sing the praises of the so-called "American AUTOMOBILE Association" and certain features of their membership, they are FAR from acceptable when it comes to claiming to include a travel trailer in their roadside assistance program. I feel like a victim of Bait-and-Switch.

I discovered this past July that my membership is actually with "The Automobile Club of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA". Once I cross the border, my add-on services (like the RV endorsement) go away. The separate regions are fiefdoms independent of each other, and mutual aid agreements between them are barely minimal at best.

[Bill K]

Frederick,
I was at my AAA office today and asked about that happening and was told that it was a touchy policy and if the area your in does not have the equipment they will not honor it.

Also like you said they are all separate. Here I always thought it was a national outfit.

This is something I did not know.

Bill K

WARNING, WILL ROBINSON! WARNING, WILL ROBINSON!
Link to my bad experience with "AAA"

While I sing the praises of the so-called "American AUTOMOBILE Association" and certain features of their membership, they are FAR from acceptable when it comes to claiming to include a travel trailer in their roadside assistance program. I feel like a victim of Bait-and-Switch.

I discovered this past July that my membership is actually with "The Automobile Club of SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA". Once I cross the border, my add-on services (like the RV endorsement) go away. The separate regions are fiefdoms independent of each other, and mutual aid agreements between them are barely minimal at best.

[Dave Fish]

I use google directions or my Tom Tom to plot my route. I just found Wildernet.com to be very helpful for finding campgrounds along the way. I start with a state and they have an interactive map with icons for state and federal parks in the vicinity. When I click on an icon, the details and a website comes up for the selected campground. Pretty cool!

Thanks for providing this link. I briefly checks it out and it looks like it will be very useful for our upcoming trip down the Pacific coast.

Dave

[Alf S.]

Hi: Frederick... Us Canajians all know the Americans are independant...but not that darned independant!!! Eh. Eh. Eh. It's one thing when you pay the premiums...another when ya makes the claim.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie