Community Forums

srusso1202 · 05-18-2008, 06:40 PM

Hate to admit it, but I have not made the GPS plunge as of yet. I was curious if folks have some trusted sites for planning RV road trips. Part of me worries that Mapquest and Google Maps are geared toward autos and I'd like to avoid any tough spots with the RV.

Thanks,

srusso1202 · 05-18-2008, 06:40 PM

Hate to admit it, but I have not made the GPS plunge as of yet. I was curious if folks have some trusted sites for planning RV road trips. Part of me worries that Mapquest and Google Maps are geared toward autos and I'd like to avoid any tough spots with the RV.

Thanks,

historyljc · 05-18-2008, 06:56 PM

Steve, I use Good Sam trip planning to help avoid clearance problems. Also check your route with Low Clearances. It is helpful to have a copy of the Mountain Directory Advisory that you can order on line or pick up a copy at a truck stop. With it you can check your route for steep grades. Post your route or ask advice on a particular route here on IRV2 in the CROSSROADS section. No one here is bashful about telling you where to go or how to get there.

Lindsay Richards · 05-19-2008, 03:12 AM

We use the Mountain Directory for Trucker, RV, and motorhomes. It comes in an East and West version. It gives you the grades (% and duration) of most roads so you can avoid those ups and downs on your trip. A 3 mile streach of 7% upgrade isn't a problem for a car, but does put a strain on our RV (and marriage)

speed racer · 05-19-2008, 04:11 AM

I just drive where I want to and if it gets to rough I go a differant way. I have a gps but it doesn't do me much good. It screemes at me all the time because I dont go the way it wants me to.

LindaH · 05-19-2008, 05:02 AM

We do pretty much as speed racer. While we have a GPS unit, it's a hand-held model, not one of the kinds that "talks" to you telling you how to get someplace. We use our GPS mainly for finding our location when we're parked for the Datastorm Users Group location map.

I do use a mapping program on occasion, but mostly just for finding mileage between one spot and another. We're paper map people and we have state atlases for the states we often travel in.

Tom N · 05-19-2008, 05:51 AM

Most of us are familiar with AAA's TripTik route planning.

You can create a TripTik online line at aaa.com

-Tom

doc · 05-19-2008, 05:52 AM

We use a Garmin GPS, but ONLY as a method of telling us where we are in relation to our arrival time and miles traveled. We were once routed through a sub-division off I-24 while enroute to a small town SW of Nashville. It eventually got us there, but if we had been in the MH it would have been dicey on some of the corners. I guess my take is that it is a navigation aid rather than the final authority.

Izzyblueye · 05-19-2008, 03:56 PM

There have been a number of times had I taken the GPS instruction I would have been in deep doo doo. I happened to have known the area and there is no way I would take a motor home over the route they offered. It has its pluses, but you better be able to read a map and have some idea of where you want to go and how to get there.

Stanbnv · 05-19-2008, 04:30 PM

There was an article and picture in this weeks Goldendale Sentinel about a trucker who was routed by google over a narrow, steep, crooked road that he shouldn't have been on and his trailer slid off a switchback and wrecked his truck. I don't have a GPS, and for now, don't see the need, but that's just me. I asked for a route north from Reno on the DeLorme program once, and it wouldn't route me up US 395 as it showed that the road ended at the CA/NV border.

Ray,IN · 05-19-2008, 06:11 PM

No unreliable GPS unit for me. I buy a new Trucker's Road Atlas each year. If you follow the highlighted roads for big trucks you can't go wrong. It has all the information you will ever need to drive anywhere in the U.S.A. and Canada.
You mentioned a website? Good Sam Club has ,arguably, the best routing software on the internet.

jfb · 05-19-2008, 06:19 PM

There is/are a variety of trip planning services available on line: Rand McNalley, Yahoo, etc. Our GPS is VERIZON on our cell phone, annoyingly persistant but on the mark!

historyljc · 05-19-2008, 07:33 PM

I know what my route is going to be before I ever crank the C7. My GPS is one of the tools that I use in planning and traveling to my destination. It is extremely helpful in alerting me to turns, giving estimated time of arrival, speed, direction, and a little humor with the way "she" pronounces some of the words.

I can read a map (better than any 2nd Lieutenant I ever served under, but that's not much of a recommendation), but a map won't tell me when a turn is coming up when I'm on an unfamiliar road. Neither will it show me which lane I should be in to turn onto the interstate. My GPS will show me which lane to be in when I'm on a section of multiple interstate highways splitting off, my map will not. The "tool" has many advantages, but it does not think - that's what the driver and co-pilot (if available) are supposed to do.

By the way, I really like the places where they paint the road number in the correct lane to get you pointed in the right direct. Have seen that mostly in Texas. Wish they would do it all over.

Izzyblueye · 05-20-2008, 12:16 AM

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By the way, I really like the places where they paint the road number in the correct lane to get you pointed in the right direct. Have seen that mostly in Texas. Wish they would do it all over.
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This sounds like a great idea. Like to try it out sometime.