What mapping software

Do you have a dedicated GPS or do you plan on using just your phone for navigation?

Rand McNally road atlas. We look at it before we leave and know where we are going.

I use Google My Maps and export the route file to a .kmz file.
Then import that file into Garmin's BaseCamp. I use BaseCamp to "optimize" the route and export that directly to my GPS.

BaseCamp is very trying. It is not intuitive to learn.
After much patience, practice and applied intelligence, the BaseCamp software is becoming more useable.
I still prefer Google maps for finding stuff and laying out the route framework.

I use 3 things while planning and traveling. My cellphone, paper map, and GPS for our travels. I also don't like the re-routing that the devices try to take you. This is what I do with the GPS, I look at the destination and my location. I then look at the map and look at the roads I want to take. I don't map the whole trip at once. I find a town on the roads where I want to go and set that as my destination and pick some random address in that town. When we arrive at that town I cancel that trip and start a new route for the next town along the roads that I want to go on. It has worked great but only once when I forgot to cancel the route and it had us on some ungodly roads. All of a sudden it dawned on me what I had done, not cancelling the route, it was a duh moment! I also use my phone for waze and rv parky to find camping along the way. My method has worked great for a number of years.

a paper map and a yellow highlighter works

if you know your route and want to stay on that route then just ignore the GPS. there’s no rule that says you have to obey the GPS. us? even if i know where we are, where we’re going and how to get there i keep the GPS running in case an unplanned route deviation is necessary.

when the GPS wants to re-route for no apparent good reason, I just ignore her... since she ignores my suggestions to shut up, it's only fair! :)

MS Streets & Trips was last released in 2013. I still use it to plan my trips because I can't find anything else so easy to use. It lets me plan my stops and calculates the distance and approximate time I'll be on the road each day. When I leave home, I use WAZE on my phone to get to the next destination one leg at a time. Works great for me and until something better comes along, I'm going to keep using this system. I've already planned my winter get-a-way for the day after Christmas.

I also use Streets & Trips 2013. Roads haven't changed much since 2013. It's loaded onto my 10" Windows 10 tablet that I mount on the console. It links into a GPS device. I also use Google Maps on my smart phone.

Streets & Trips is available on eBay for about $20. I don't know if the eBay versions are legit, so buyer beware.

If your mapping software isn't up to date, you could be missing certain roads, streets, and highways.

I discovered that when planning out a route using 2016 Street Atlas. It didn't have a new entrance ramp to the interstate, and tried to route me way out of the way. I have since quit using it very much, and go with BaseCamp because the maps can be updated regularly.

I use the software on the PC only to plan my general route and stops. Once I have a good idea of the overall route and the stops for fuel and overnights, using Waze on the phone guides me along my way and warns me in real time of anything unusual I'm coming up on like cars along the road or accidents ahead.

I sure wish there was a replacement for mapping software like S&T but it appears everyone gave it and went with cell phone apps.

I've got several stand along GPS systems but I've left them on the shelf because they're too hard to use and lack the intuitive interface of either S&T or any of the cell phone apps. I don't know how Garmin, Tom Tom and Magellan stay in business. They've got a long way to go to make their units as friendly as a cell phone.