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Old 04-11-2016, 09:56 AM   #1
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Post Trip planning program

What is a good trip planning software/program with mileage and/or driving time limits per day? I am planning a trip out west to the Grand canyon at the end of this month.
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Old 04-11-2016, 02:17 PM   #2
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I use Roadtrippers.com for ALL of my trips now for the past few years. FREE. EXCELLENT
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Old 04-11-2016, 02:46 PM   #3
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I have never used any kind of trip planning. My experience shows that trip plans never work and you're always disappointed. I drive until I'm tired then look for a place to park for the night, usually a rest area, sometimes Walmart or a truck stop. I never play for few hours sleep.
I rarely get reservations. It has to be something special. Sometimes I go to someplace where there's several campgrounds and if one is full move on to the next. Typical stay is 4 days to 40 days.

Some of the best trips we've taken are when I ask which way at the end of the driveway. Sometimes I'll tell somebody we'll be in such and such in February, the means anytime between Feb1 and Feb 28.

There's a name for this kind of experience. It's called serendipity.
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Old 04-11-2016, 03:18 PM   #4
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Google Maps works fine for me.
Then if my Garmin doesn't agree, I create some "via waypoints" as necessary to force it to the planned roads. Works pretty good.
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Old 04-11-2016, 05:38 PM   #5
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I use Road Trip America Map Wizard for routing and distance. It does show some potential points of interest. It's set up for auto travelers so it's not trailer specific.
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Old 04-11-2016, 06:13 PM   #6
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Are you a Good Sam member? I like their trip planner, although I use a variety of other resources in conjunction with it including a high end Garmin GPS that allows for quite a bit of route modification.
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Old 04-11-2016, 06:57 PM   #7
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Trip planers imho are useless. I drive 2 hrs before lunch and 4 hrs or less after lunch. Never had a problem unless your on a time limit. I do as Byron said above. Stop and go at my pleasure.
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Old 04-11-2016, 08:06 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chester Taje View Post
Trip planers imho are useless. ....
Man, I really admire you people who can go with no plan, and live happily-ever-after in the parking lot of Walmart. But it seems that the best that life has to offer is often in high demand with limited availability. Case in point: I just returned from a trip to Henderson Beach State Park in Florida - one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. And being so (as well as a bargain for campers) one needs to reserve a site there months in advance. You don't just show up and expect to be admitted like you do at Cracker Barrel along the interstate. So I reserved a site almost a year ago and planned to arrive there when my reservation started. Had I not planned my trip I might well have arrived the day my stay ended.

Trip planning is not only about getting to your destination however. I also research points of interest along the way. I admit, you might well stumble across something interesting without planning, but you likely miss more than you know if you don't research your route (also known as planning your route).

Anyway the OP's question was not about the value of trip planning so that is my last comment on the value of doing it.
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Old 04-11-2016, 08:09 PM   #9
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Big difference in the need to trip plan between those who work and those who are retired. As is said, when you don't know where you're going (or care when you get there) any road will do.
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Old 04-12-2016, 08:38 AM   #10
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Old 04-12-2016, 08:50 AM   #11
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If you use a Garmin GPS in the TV you can hook it to your computer and use Basecamp, free from Garmin. I don't know if it is the best trip planning software but it does give you drive times & distances between waypoints.
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Old 04-12-2016, 08:56 AM   #12
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I love planning trips! Usually we decide on where we are going, then I google map from point A to point B and see how long the drive will be. Then I get out my good old paper road Atlas, and see what interesting things are labeled on the map. Then I google said things. I look for campgrounds along the way, usually state parks, national parks or interesting locations. Then I google those campgrounds and try to get a feel for what they look like. We usually drive between 6-8 hours a day, depending on how long the trip will be and where we are going. I always make reservations because I like knowing we have a camping spot to pull into at the end of a day. Someone up above mentioned Roadtrippers.com, which I hadn't heard of, so I'll be checking that out as well!

Edited because I forgot to mention: Google maps gives you drive times based on local speed limits. I usually take the mileage and divide it by 60mph, then add an hour to get a more realistic drive time.
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Old 04-12-2016, 09:14 AM   #13
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Another vote here for a Garmin GPSr and either their 'Basecamp' or 'MapSource' program (earlier version) for all trip planning. Have used same for past 12 years, through all 48 states, and 9 provinces. Most recently from Ontario to San Francisco. Currently planning a trip through Scandinavia, (but, without the FGRV). "Won't leave home without it !"
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Old 04-12-2016, 09:50 AM   #14
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That trip out west sounds like one I took many decades ago...before the Internet and the GPS.
Back then the planning took one full year. To stay at National Parks you should have reservations and most must be made a year in advance. Back then all reservations were made by phone and U.S. Mail with "TW Services" an agency appointed by the Park Service. If you plan on staying at National Park Campgrounds plan a year ahead.

When we visited the Grand Canyon we camped in Williams, Arizona at a private campground. When at Yellowstone we camped for a week at Fishing Bridge A full hookup campground inside the National Park...it took a full week to cover that Park.

When we were touring both Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon we stayed at nearby private campgrounds.

During our epic trip that lasted 6 weeks with our two children we toured almost all the National Parks in the West plus the 4 corners, Pikes Peak, the Indian cave ruins at Mesa Verde...we tried to cover it all. Because of advanced planning we allowed plenty of time for both exploring and travel. Durning the trip we limited travel to about 6 hours drive time per day. An over the road truck driver told me to figure on a maximum of 50 MPH for my calculations. That allowed for rest stops, lunch and gas stops etc. I suggest you use that target.
The longest travel day we scheduled was from Rapid City (Mt. Rushmore) thru the east end of Montana...that was 12+ long hours of empty country...eastern half of Montana was a very empty place back in the 1980s.

Our basic road plan was supplied by the AAA Auto Club....we used campground directories from Good Sam to locate campgrounds...we pre-reserved every night just to avoid surprises. Today the Internet would make the planning process a lot easier...back in 1983 it was a lot harder...the planning can be half the fun.
Advanced planning will make the trip more enjoyable.

During our epic trip we burned thru 2 trailer tires (dessert heat not good).... We maintained a log of our trip but for some unknown reason never recorded gasoline costs...campground costs...yes...can you believe $6 a night for a private campground !....We took a million still pictures and using a newly invented camcorder created an epic two hour recording of the Adventure.

Plan ahead...enjoy the trip...see all you can...the Grand Canyon is fine but don't miss Bryce and Zion canyons and a lot of other sights along the way!

Happy Camping !!!
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Old 04-12-2016, 02:06 PM   #15
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I'm mostly old school I google the mileage from point a to point B then divide by 45 miles an hour to side how many days I might want to drive it in. And I checked the map for towns are areas of interest then Google cool things to do in that area if it's something that might require a reservation I make reservations. And we use GPS combined with maps on our phones for daily driving . However your question and similar questions leading me to believe I may need to get a Garman design for travelers or campers seems like I may be missing something well I rambled enough good luck and good travels.
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Old 04-12-2016, 03:07 PM   #16
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Garmin GPS a good thing.

I don't plan the trip. Never have and don't intend to start. However, I do use my GPS a lot while traveling. Our days on the road usually go something like this. At first light we're ready to go and drive for a couple hours, ask Garmin when for a listing of place I can get breakfast. Pick someplace from that list and tell Garmin to take me. Needing fuel I again ask Garmin where fuel and be purchased then tell Garmin to take me to that location. Both cases if something I would prefer along the I ignore Garmin.
I drive until I'm tired, sometimes 11:00pm+ usually earlier. Anticipating that tired point I start looking a hour or two earlier. I don't need a campground for a few hours sleep, gas stations, truck stops, rest areas, and of course Walmart.
I figure this on driving late. I awake and alert, I'm sitting in a comfortable chair, the iPod is playing some pleasant music and have great conversations with my wife, secretary, and navigator.
Most of the time we have no idea where we'll land for a few days. When get someplace we don't know how long we'll stay, minimum 2 night maximum 40 nights so far.
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Old 04-12-2016, 04:29 PM   #17
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We like to decide how far we want to travel for our final destination, and then it's fun to figure out different ways to get there and what we might want to see along the way. I mostly use Google maps to plan and search but also use Rand McNally tripmaker to create the overall trip with general stops along the way.
Rand McNally will also let you see what points of interest are along the route.
We found a lighthouse in Nebraska that way so we want to drive by that on our trip to Alaska this year.
Some of the places promise to be crowded so we will normally make reservations for those, so that's one of the benefits of trip planning, since you can get an idea of how long you'll take to get to those places.
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Old 04-12-2016, 04:56 PM   #18
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We also are not too big on planning out our whole trip. . When we went to Quincy CA for the Northern California Rally last fall , we took the mileage to Quincy and divided by 250 miles per day and figured 8 days to get there. We then left home about 3 week before the start of the rally.
For the majority of our trips if you take the total mileage on the road divided by the number of days on the road ,we average about 125 miles per day.
To me planning a trip down to the last detail reminds me too much of being at work.
Thank God for retirement.
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Old 04-12-2016, 07:26 PM   #19
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My trip planning consists of picking a place (or places) I want to go, and then I look at a hard copy Rand McNally atlas to determine the best route. I have but do not ask the Garmin anything because due to extensive experience, it is affectionately named "Stupid."
Rarely make reservations unless I am going to a rally. Depending on my destination and the availability of interesting stops along the way, I will drive anywhere between 30 minutes and 10 hours. I just won't drive after dark. When the afternoon shadows start to lengthen, I have the "navigator" use one of the campsite apps and find us a place to overnight, whether it be a campground, Walmart, or Crackerbarrel, etc!


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Old 04-12-2016, 07:35 PM   #20
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We also are not too big on planning out our whole trip. . When we went to Quincy CA for the Northern California Rally last fall ,
And he brought good beer from Wisconsin too
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