Planning the big loop - e2w&back
OK, after two years of getting her to go for longer and longer trips, I'm ready to head west from the east coast. Looks like the general route is I81 to I40 to AZ, then north and back. Don't have ro...
Forum Discussion
I used Streets and Trips to do this, trips I made, trips I planned, fantasy trips for my sisters.
I have DeLorme Topo (Street Atlas is in and under this) and am trying to learn how to use it to do the same thing. Big change in interface, and because it probably does more, is more complex. The last version of S&T is hard to get, so I need to learn a new tool :(
Online tools, I used to use MapQuest before getting S&T. I switched to S&T because I could set my daily limits, time between stops, start and stop times with margins, and almost instantly revise stops and see the whole trip readjust. Version I have used the Woodalls directory.
The big advantage for me was shifting from "miles per day" into a "how do I use the time" framework. On a trip like this there may be travel days grinding out 600 miles and touring days when you might move 50-200 miles.
All my trip plans were starting points. Sometimes the original plan was good for a week or so, sometimes I blew it off in the first or second day I would turn a travel day into a play day. But the whole point of having something on the laptop, at the end of the day I could look at "what does this do to the rest of the trip" and "how does it change tomorrow."
Since it is a RV trip, I suggest playing with the Good Sams travel planner, see how it works for you. The database is not limited to GS parks, it is probably the most extensive listing of RV parks and RV-capable campgrounds that cater to the public, might represent almost half of what is really out there.
I seldom carried travel planning as far as making reservations. Unless I have some hard time-place targets like a wedding reception. graduation, anniversary or a family reunion weekend, my road trips are ad hoc, planned but flexible.
I have DeLorme Topo (Street Atlas is in and under this) and am trying to learn how to use it to do the same thing. Big change in interface, and because it probably does more, is more complex. The last version of S&T is hard to get, so I need to learn a new tool :(
Online tools, I used to use MapQuest before getting S&T. I switched to S&T because I could set my daily limits, time between stops, start and stop times with margins, and almost instantly revise stops and see the whole trip readjust. Version I have used the Woodalls directory.
The big advantage for me was shifting from "miles per day" into a "how do I use the time" framework. On a trip like this there may be travel days grinding out 600 miles and touring days when you might move 50-200 miles.
All my trip plans were starting points. Sometimes the original plan was good for a week or so, sometimes I blew it off in the first or second day I would turn a travel day into a play day. But the whole point of having something on the laptop, at the end of the day I could look at "what does this do to the rest of the trip" and "how does it change tomorrow."
Since it is a RV trip, I suggest playing with the Good Sams travel planner, see how it works for you. The database is not limited to GS parks, it is probably the most extensive listing of RV parks and RV-capable campgrounds that cater to the public, might represent almost half of what is really out there.
I seldom carried travel planning as far as making reservations. Unless I have some hard time-place targets like a wedding reception. graduation, anniversary or a family reunion weekend, my road trips are ad hoc, planned but flexible.
