Streets and Maps Software

I still run S & T 2008 as one of my planning tools. Probably use it as much here at the house as when we are on the road. As many above mentioned, I use it to do a general plan, from A to B. Often I am checking the times and miles depending on the route chosen. It does have a learning curve to it but for the limited use I make of it, it is friendly enough for me.

I also have it on a laptop that I take with me traveling. It gets used at night to check out the next day or twos travel plans. Then in the driver's area, I run both a Garmin and have a built in Chevy Nav system. The Chevy system has lots of information, due to it running off a DVD placed inside but the Garmin is friendlier IMHO, probably because I have used Garmin equipment for so many years and most of them are very similar in operations, in my trucks, boats and aircraft. I tend to program in the towns of any size along the route or near by, then I just set the go to destination to one of the towns, when I get there, I cancel and punch in the next town on down the road. The Garmin has a couple of features I like, that the Chevy doesn't have or I haven't found yet. The current speed limit, the local elevation and the ability to make changes while the vehicle is moving. The Chevy Nav system won't allow changes while moving, even though my wife is the one doing the changes. We have to pull over and stop. This function can be changed on the Garmin to allow.

I also have the Trailer Life Directory and mapping program on the laptop. It is also very good, but again as with most, has a learning curve that I have to relearn each summer to use it effectively. It is excellent on helping to find campgrounds, etc.

I have one of the GPS dongles to use with S&T so it will function as a GPS, but I really don't have room for my laptop up in the front seat, with it's 17 inch screen. Works fine, but I seldom use it, but carry it with us on our trips, just in case. LOL Overall, I like having a quality portable GPS, such as a Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan,or any of the other good brands, that a person likes and can operate to their satisfaction, plus S&T to do planning with and a good paper street atlas plus a paper TOPO atlas of the area. I like to place a micro SD chip in my Garmins, to add more TOPO detail to the screens as we get into the mountain west, especially