Community Forums

T_Roy · 01-20-2022, 08:08 PM

I am a complete newbie to Motorhome route planning. I am planning a big trip from South Louisiana to Spearfish South Dakota for August of 2023. I figure 3 days to get up there with a little over 500 miles per day. Will stay the first night in Denton Texas and the second night in Geneva Nebraska. Up to that point it is almost all Interstate travel with a little bit of US Highway travel. From Geneva Nebraska to Spearfish gets a little trickier looking at the maps with some state highways and such. I don’t want to just rely on the RM nav system in the coach. It is a 2015 Cornerstone bought used by me just several days ago so I have no idea how updated it is. Is there an app or something I can use to back up the RM to make sure I do not run into a clearance or weight issue?

Gary.Jones · 01-20-2022, 08:49 PM

Mr. Roy

Welcome to the forum. Lots of owners with lots of information up here on this forum.

I would suggest that you update your RM maps and operating system. The download software is RM Dock. You can Google it and download for free. Then your unit has an "SD Card" in it that you remove and connect to a computer and run the DOCK and see what it gives you. It is either on the bottom of the screen which on those vintages tilted to reveal the card or the SD card is located in the side of the metal box inside the faux wood panel on your dash. It should also tell you what versions you have on everything which will tell you how old or out of date your system is.

Now, if it was NEVER updated or downloaded, then on most of 2014s and 2015, the SD card in it when new was too small for updates and the newer updates and map versions would not update until you got a larger SD card from RM. The updates needed more room than was available. They would give you one for free but expected us to give them a big deposit until you returned the old SD card to RM.

Give it a try and see what happens.. Also, call RM as they should be happy to help

Clearance and weight and length data is provided by you and should be in every unit. I think mine was called "tools" or something in the software. Its in there.... look for it.

Gary

Pilly · 01-20-2022, 09:15 PM

If you mean RM for Rand McNally, it will do no good to call for they are out of business. We have a Winnebago Navion, 2018, 11,000 miles, and our Rand McNally quit. Have had no help from Winnebago or the company who took over after RM took bankruptcy. Also trying to find a replacement.

T_Roy · 01-20-2022, 09:37 PM

Thanks Mr. Gary. I had found RV tools on the touchscreen and made sure length, height, and weight data was correct. I will see if I can locate this SD card and download the software and see what I can do with it. I am assuming I would be able to build Motorhome specific routes with this DOCK software also?

jl.kauai · 01-20-2022, 09:59 PM

I have been all through SD in a 40 ft Foretravel with a tag axle. The roads might be narrower in some places but the road system will be fine for you. I had no trouble on any of the country roads. Watch out for farm equipment. When you go to a gas station you will be amazed at all the different pump choices. Be very careful at what you select. You are in farm country for sure. Good luck, Travato John

Hurricane-TX · 01-20-2022, 10:32 PM

No idea about the nav system as I don't and wont use one but 1500 miles in three days is pushing it.

RayandWendy · 01-21-2022, 04:07 AM

Get the Rand McNally Trucker Atlas for a good backup to check if roads are appropriate for a big rig.
Later...
Ray

Butte64 · 01-21-2022, 04:41 AM

You are better off getting a Garmin RV GPS. Look for the other thread on this.
You may find that 500+ miles a day in a motorhome is ambitious and not the same as a car. Keep in mind parking limitations. Arriving at unfamiliar campgrounds can be very challenging, especially if you have a back in site. Camping World has a great atlas that shows STAA approved routes highlighted. If it is good enough for an 18 wheeler semi I feel good about it.

RV Parky is a good app for planning.

Let us know how it turns out.

brobox · 01-21-2022, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilly

If you mean RM for Rand McNally, it will do no good to call for they are out of business. We have a Winnebago Navion, 2018, 11,000 miles, and our Rand McNally quit. Have had no help from Winnebago or the company who took over after RM took bankruptcy. Also trying to find a replacement.

The company that purchased RM out of bankruptcy is no longer supporting RV GPS's https://www.randmcnally.com/ They have switched to 100% truck and fleet GPS's. Sorry your unit quit and there is no support. I am afraid we will see more of that on the forum.

brobox · 01-21-2022, 05:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T_Roy

Thanks Mr. Gary. I had found RV tools on the touchscreen and made sure length, height, and weight data was correct. I will see if I can locate this SD card and download the software and see what I can do with it. I am assuming I would be able to build Motorhome specific routes with this DOCK software also?

Last time I tried to use the Dock software for route planning, it was no longer able to do that. I believe it has been discontinued along with the map updates.. I used RV Parky for routing last time and I liked it, much better with all the up to date RV parks. Along with others, 500 miles a day in a MH is a bit uncomfortable and takes the enjoyment out of seeing the country. Most have found the 300 miles per day is in their comfort zone.
I am a non Interstate traveler and enjoying seeing the country instead of the back of semi's. If the highway shows that it is wide enough on a map, it is motor home friendly. If it has a dotted green line, that's even better, it's the scenic route and one of my favorites. If it is a light gray line, don't take it.

The GPS will want return to the Interstate, so you will have to route from a town to another town along the scenic routes if you are taking a route with a freeway close by.

T_Roy · 01-21-2022, 06:42 AM

Thanks for all of the replies folks. I will definitely pick up a trucker atlas and checkout the Rvparky app. The 500 miles per day may wind up being too much but I have been doing most of my traveling on a motorcycle for years now and have always done around 500 per day. A few years ago I went from the house to Custer South Dakota in 2 days on my Harley Road King, 900 miles the first day and 650 miles the next. As far as scenic routes that is why we plan on trailering our 2 motorcycles. The plan is to travel the big fast route roads in the coach. Then use the coach as base amp to branch out on the scenic roads for day trips on the bikes. Then take a rest day or 2 at the campground then do another 500 miles.

garysfb · 01-21-2022, 08:24 AM

It seems as though everybody has different methods of travel. Before we retired we drove 8 hour days to get where we were going because time was an issue. Now that time is much less of an issue we plan 4-5 hours a day and don't do many 'one night stands'. That gives us time to relax in the morning and then the afternoon without rushing, especially in the winter because I hate driving in the dark and parking this big rig in the dark. It also gives an extra day in places where we can take day trips in the Jeep or just clean and do laundry, and of course fix stuff. JMHO

Marcosdad · 01-21-2022, 08:34 AM

The planner I use is RV Trip Wizard. It might be worth a look

Gary.Jones · 01-21-2022, 09:41 AM

Everyone is different. On the way to ARIZONA a couple days ago, I did 485 miles the first day and 450 miles the second day, and the only reason I didn't drive another hundred miles each day was that I was running out of sunlight on these short days of sunlight and I was boondocking at Walmarts or rest areas which I don't like to do long after dark. That is VERY easy for me to do. I'm at the Quartzsite Gathering now and one of our owners drove from Florida to Quartzsite in two days which puts my 500 mile days to shame.

We all drive and live differently. There is no one "right way" for all owners.

And the RM Dock software was available for download just a week ago as I downloaded a new version on a new laptop, and I also got maybe 10-15 updates to the software and maps in the same process. Things change but I was getting software support a week to 10 days ago. You get a lot of good and bad information on the internet, and sometimes customer service people don't know what they are talking about either !!

The SD card is in a slot in the side of the metal electronics box right under the faux wood panel on top of the dash. The SD slot is on the side of the box facing the passenger side and down near the bottom. Push in the SD card and it pops out very slightly but you can get fingers on it then. Reinstall after doing the update by reversing this process.

Gary