Newbie needing advice

CountryMom27 wrote:


WOW - thanks for the great advice! I love the idea of different options. I'm picking up a new road atlas for Christmas and the boys are going to be navigators. We will have PS3 time onboard, but we will also have reading & daydreaming time & iPod time to break it up. I've also let them know that as first mates they'll need to help with cooking while I'm driving.

I love the idea of a vacation where we're all involved, and where we can see so many loved ones who are sadly getting older and not going to be around forever.

What is the app/site you used?

The tool I use for this is Microsoft Streets and Trips, which has been discontinued. The version I'm using is old, maybe 2005 or 2007. I bought newer versions but found the product less usable for me as it "improved."

An alternative is DeLorme Street Atlas. What I have is DeLorme Topo, for which Street Atlas provides the planning and routing functions, but I have not yet figured out how to make it work for me as smoothly as the old version of Streets and Trips.

I suspect there may be more than one online product that works as well, which would be the reason Microsoft left the consumer mapping market. I've used Mapquest and Google Maps for quick planning, know that GoodSam has an online product as well with a RV focus (e.g. camping places in the point-of-interest data). I've not checked any of these for the key features I used in Streets and Trips, that is the ability to put a "length of stop" for every stop, and quickly recalculate every thing forward after a change. I traveled with S&T on a laptop, so when a day's activities changed my overnight stop, I could re-plan the remainder of the trip in a few minutes. I would need a good Internet connection, together with a good online tool, to do this online.

Looking at other responses has me thinking about the RV. For a rental, you would probably find something on the order of 22-24 feet long adequate for the trip, if the boys would sleep together in the overhead bed. I don't know how that works today, when every child might expect a private room. I know it worked OK for travel 50-60 years ago, even though we were accustomed to having our own beds (but not own rooms) at home. Our family still makes these privacy compromises to make cruises and road trips more affordable, or to pack a large extended family into one house for a holiday gathering or a reunion.

However, if you are thinking of buying and selling to possibly save the rental fees, then make sure that what you choose could be suitable for long term use, because you just might decide that you want to keep it.

Budget $3000 to $3500 for gasoline, maybe more if prices go back up to $3 or more by the time of your trip.