Driving-Road map apps

[WI TWO]

Can some one tell me what they use to plan trips. I have AAA and Good Sam's and they are OK but I was hoping to find something that gives more details. Of course all of the obvious things, Roads, Tolls, Bridge heights, construction, best routes etc. Is there anything that shows waysides, Walmarts, Cracker Barrel, Good Harvest etc locations that allow overnight parking. Also, one that will take in consideration how far you would like to travel in a day. We are trying to hit the road the 30th of this month and want to travel 300 or less miles /day. Safety is also a concern. Areas to avoid... I know Loves has some locations that have RV parking/sites fee based and that would be OK. We were thinking of just crashing over night on the way to AZ and and then camp once we arrive. Then the rest of the trip we can travel less and stay a couple of days each stop along the way. Heading to AR once we leave AZ. Northern AR mostly then not sure. Any thoughts a some good longer term locations. I love the COE campgrounds but 2 week max.

Thank you

 

[Scotty Hutto]

I've had a good experience using RVLife TripWizard to plan trips, and it shows all you mention plus fuel stops, etc. It does NOT show Harvest Hosts, so I just flip back and forth between browser screens when planning.

You can plan it on your desktop, then use your phone or table app for navigation.

https://tripwizard.rvlife.com/

I'm sure others will chime in with other products that do the same. 

[Marine Boy]

I second the RVlife TripWizard.  What really helped us was out west having major altitude changes and being able to make good route choices.

[Ivan K]

I use RVParky lately, there are certainly better ones but for $15 it does what I need and has the daily range as well, eventhough I don't use that. I also like COEs for privacy since we do not do long terms and packed parks.

[Martinvz]

#3 for Trip Wizard. It is primarily a web browser based system with a phone app for driving assistance. 
 

It depends on what you mean by trip planning as it can mean many things.
 

We use Park Advisor app for finding campgrounds and their locations, reviews, etc. We have found this to be the best we have found. There are many similar apps and you need to decide which works best. Park Advisor provides campgrounds, national parks, Corps of engineer parks, state parks and a host of others, also, Walmart, Cracker Barrel and other overnight stops. It also has Costco, Sam’s Club and some other retailers. We regularly use Costco for gas and find it a useful feature. However, Harvest Hosts and similar sites do not make that info available to this site. I occasionally use Trip Wizard for Camp grounds but find their filtering for the various points of interest, as they call it, far to quirky.

if you mean ‘Route Planning’ to keep you safe on the road, then yes, I do find it a useful tool. To use as you can enter your rig’s dimensions and weight, as well as set some travel parameters. I look at incline as I have a gas coach and need to make sure the mountains are not too steep (both up and down). TW will propose the fastest/shortest route every time and take you on the busiest roads without proposing any alternatives. The only way I found to get the alternative route that works for us for more peaceful driving is to put in 1 or several waypoints to get the desired route (a bit tricky some times).

We use a Garmin for the days drive and it generally is the same as TW. Never only rely on Waze, Google Maps, or other mapping apps designed for cars as this can get you into trouble with low bridges and other obstakels. i have a trucker mapping app called Hammer that I occasionally use on my phone.

For fuel we use Gas Buddy, effective for both gas and diesel, including advertised prices. It also includes Costco mentioned earlier.

If you have something else in mind for your original question, let us know.
 

[LakeBob]

I use Trip Wizard primarily, and RVParky to help find other RV park options.  I really like the feature in the Wizard that outlines a distance ring on the map from your starting point based on the data you provide regarding average speed, desired travel hours, etc.  This really helps narrow down the search area when planning longer trips.  I find the Wizard campground reviews are more current than RVparky.  We rarely boondock so the wizard works good for us.  RVParky will show you all the Walmarts, casinos, etc.   The Wizard site is also nice to track your travel costs. 

[lotosrggp1]

I checked out rvparky recently and would not rely on it to find a place to camp. Within a 10 mile radius of where i live they do not show 5 rv campgrounds and one listed now appears to be closed.

[Ivan K]

27 minutes ago, lotosrggp1 said:

I checked out rvparky recently and would not rely on it to find a place to camp. Within a 10 mile radius of where i live they do not show 5 rv campgrounds and one listed now appears to be closed.

I agree, ran into it too, mostly I use it for trip tracking and add a place holder nearby if the park is not listed. But it is cheap for that, used to be free.

[cbr046]

An alternative for just routing is https://truckrouter.com/ that can provide a route with weight & height limitations.  You have to "join" but there's no cost. 

I had a route planned last week cutting a path around I-40 in E TN . . . . that revealed a bridge with a 13T limit.  I would have been just over the limit.  My buddy took the route with a pickup truck and said it had more hairpins than a 1962 debutante, and I would have been traveling at night.  I took the longer route up I-81 to I-26 then South and probably worked out the same time-wise.  Just checked that shortcut and they closed the road until Dec 31!

On the way I up I chose US441 through Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  The Friday leaf gawkers were out in full force.  Some of the turns came up pretty fast, too.  Then the joys of late afternoon traffic through Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Seiverville.  I swore I'd never drive through there ever again and yet I did.  Turned out to be a big mistake. 

Anyway . . . .truckrouter can be handy for off-interstate routing. 

- bob

[WI TWO]

Thank you all for the great info!! This is VERY helpful.