MAPPING

[Janis]

Hello Everyone,

My husband and I are newbies and will be taking our first trip to Livingston, TX.

I was wondering if there is a place on here to map our trip if we want to make a couple of stops on the way?

Thanks in advance and happy camping

[NDBirdman]

https://freecampsites.net/

https://www.usace.army.mil/Locations/

https://www.campgroundreviews.com/

https://www.rv-camping.org/blmcampgrounds/

 

Many more sites, google is your friend.  I'd paste more but I'm on my way out the door.  Have fun!

 

[Al F]

7 hours ago, Janis said:

Hello Everyone,

My husband and I are newbies and will be taking our first trip to Livingston, TX.

I was wondering if there is a place on here to map our trip if we want to make a couple of stops on the way?

Thanks in advance and happy camping

Do you want a map showing which highways to take, or did you want places to stay along the way?

Google Maps can be used to map a starting point to your destination, however I find it difficult to make it pick out stops along the way. 

[2gypsies]

40 minutes ago, Al F said:

Do you want a map showing which highways to take, or did you want places to stay along the way?

Google Maps can be used to map a starting point to your destination, however I find it difficult to make it pick out stops along the way. 

In Google Maps all you do is 'add a destination' & it will re-route you as to where you want to go.  Most often you then have to move your destinations up or down to get you stops in the correct order.

[RonandSue]

I use RV Trip Wizard.  www.rvtripwizard.com Full featured, but it is not free.

[Al F]

20 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

In Google Maps all you do is 'add a destination' & it will re-route you as to where you want to go.  Most often you then have to move your destinations up or down to get you stops in the correct order.

Thanks.  Now I know.  

I have always used Delorme Street Atlas to plan my routes.  It is a little outdated since 2015 is the last update, but it works well. Very easy to insert stops and find the mileage between stops. 

[2gypsies]

4 hours ago, Al F said:

Thanks.  Now I know.  

I have always used Delorme Street Atlas to plan my routes.  It is a little outdated since 2015 is the last update, but it works well. Very easy to insert stops and find the mileage between stops. 

I love DeLorme!!  Still use it.

[davida]

I love Streets and Trips, it is no longer updated or even sold. I haven't found anything that added stops/overnight/mileage the way it did/does. Although I no longer RV, on my last car trip I planned it with Streets and Trips. Then I noted the stops and used google maps for the driving. Not much help but thanks for letting me remember the 13 years on the road with my late husband. P.S. love paper maps for general overview!

[Jinx & Wayne]

I guess I'm pretty finicky about trip planning.  I've looked at most of the combined trip planners but find they are all lacking in some area.  So I use a bunch of different sources.  First I look at the paper Rand McNally Road Atlas and consider route alternatives based upon what we think we want to visit, mileages and areas to avoid (like the DC Beltway).  Once I have alternatives I use Campendium to search for campgrounds at reasonable intervals along the way.  If I'm going through high country I use Mountain Directory to spot grades.  Then I use Allstays Camp and RV to check for clearances and rest areas.  Once I have that done I type out each travel day's directions with mileages, turn/exit info, rest areas, etc.  When I do this I look at route change intersections and ramps on the ground using Google Maps.  My navigator then has the typed directions. When we get to a spaghetti interchange (can anyone say Hartford, CT) I've actually seen the route and signs.

I never rely on a GPS when towing.  They seem to have a rare sense of humor that comes out at the worst time.

Yeah, I know this seems excessive. But it works for me  It's part of a habit I developed in the Army as a NCO planning convoy routes.  I remember one time the 1SG planned a route that got a 11 foot tall armored vehicle stuck in an old Roman archway (German National Historic Site).  It took a day and a half to get it out. I decided I didn't need that sort of fun on my shoulders.

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

Here's my approach.
1. Decide on a general route and destination, like the Black Hills of South Dakota via Atlanta and Mammoth Cave
2. Go to Google Maps and let it map the route
3. Decide how many miles you want to travel that first leg of the trip, say 200 miles
4. Right click on the starting point, select “measure distance”
5. Drag the marker out along the route to around that distance – you can then drag the line from the side to make it more closely match the highway route and more closely match your desired distance
6. You now have a target area for a place to stop.  Go to campgroundreviews.com and look up the area and start reading reviews, looking for a suitable spot
7. Having completed that part of the trip, go back to your original map, click on that stop and start the routing process again.

Here's a blog I did on myapproach to planning: http://pastorscott.com/travel/travel-planning-i-confess-im-a-planner/

[2gypsies]

We never let a mapping program dictate how we're going to get there.  Like Jinx & Wayne in the above post, we use a paper atlas to find what we want to see along the way & create our route based on those areas.   We really like the Benchmark individual state atlases as the scale is large and shows many details, especially public areas which we like.