On the road planning. Internet, Overnight parking, ...

You are planning to work way too hard....
Get one of the navigator packages with a GPS puck.
Learn to work it.
Get a way to power your laptop when you are underway.
Go to Discovery owners site and look for the overlays you want. I'm not going to tell you what all is there because there are too many.
Now you will have all the information you need at your finger tips when ever and where ever you need it.
You will still want internet access to get GasBuddy.

Safe Travel

Matt

In the begining, we tended to over plan and I think that is common. Now we don't have a set plan and just start thinking about where to stay in the early afternoon. We have seen so much that we didn't know was there until we got where ever. We also like to stay two days at a spot. We explore the full middle day and leave the next day. We normally go only a few hundred miles. If you travel every day, you miss a lot. Talk to locals about out of the way spots to eat and you get some wonderful, cheap meals. Allstays phone app has almost everything you need and is very up to date. Have a great time and always go where you wife says.

Don't forget about a weather app. Driving into a storm can really mess up your day.

Allstays is great! Has much more than just RV parks.

It takes time but I plan the routes in advance and know how far we will want to travel on any given day and then in that area I use Google Maps to do a search around the area for camping locations. I get mapped locations for private RV parks and public campgrounds.

The states all operate websites for their state parks and the federal government also has websites for BLM (blm.gov) the US forests, and national parks. In a state like Utah for example there are state and federal parks, BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands with camping areas, and national forests.

For private RV parks what also works is to use www.yellowpages.com to do a search for campgrounds for a specified town and it will provide a listing of contact information and display them on a map. This also works for finding restaurants and service stations that pump diesel or when looking for a grocery store or other type of business in an area.

I use yelp.com a lot to look for restaurants in an area and 80% of the time it is useful for finding a good place to eat.

I have never in my life had to stay in a parking lot anywhere at night in four decades of travel. If you like to stay in such places then go for it but it is in no way necessary unless you are too lazy to look for a decent place to stay.

Fastfwd75 wrote:

I am planning to buy a nano-sim once we get to the US to get Internet data on my phone. 1-3GB/month probably so I can also do email and browse when there is no wifi at camp.

I'm not familiar with this idea, is this just so you have additional memory for storage? I don't see where buying a nano-sim gets you data, am I just missing it?

We went from Ottawa to Lake Louise last year - I used Microsoft Streets & Trips on a netbook. There are lots of overlays, and you can pre-plan to your hearts content. Does not require internet access. Enjoy your trip.

Padlin wrote:

Fastfwd75 wrote:

I am planning to buy a nano-sim once we get to the US to get Internet data on my phone. 1-3GB/month probably so I can also do email and browse when there is no wifi at camp.

I'm not familiar with this idea, is this just so you have additional memory for storage? I don't see where buying a nano-sim gets you data, am I just missing it?

I mean a data plan so I can use email, allstays app, navigation, ...

It's much less expensive to get a prepaid US carrier sim than pay the roaming fee of my Canadian carrier.

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Hi,

A lot of local gas stations also sell propane. During a cross country trip, I only filled once in a welding supply store with propane, most where at gas stations. Look for the large white tank.

There are a couple of free campgrounds between Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. It is just west of Flagg Ranch, a full hookup campground that is between the two National Parks.

Just don't tell the people at the Canadian border that you are un-employed and don't own a house. They did not let me in for those reasons. It is ILLEGAL to let a poor person into Canada. I guess if you are returning, you can get in though. I guess it did not matter that I had just sold my home for $360,000 and most of the profit was still in the bank at that time, giving me time to travel. I hope you have a fun time traveling around the US. I had a wonderful time in 2006 and 2007. I found many boondocking places, and stayed as long as possible at each one!

Fred.

Campsites at Flagg Ranch have been shut down and closed by Obama. A year ago, I tried to stay there, and they been blocked by a couple of dumps from a dump truck, preventing entry.

Hey..dude...this time you guys have to travel is a gift..unwrap it slowly. I don't expect you to not do your planning and electronic wizardry, but, in the end....you will wish you had.

Get off the interstates...go the slow way. Every little town has a city park..you can stop there. I mean..Moab was just a name, there is so much to experience just hangin out in Little America. Trust me...I have done it and continue to do so. Small town rodeos, race tracks, fairs, pie eatin from farmer markets.

Another suggestion then...start a Blog...this is kind of a way to involve everyone in the adventure. Take lots of pix..every day..upload to the Blog...heck, have a bunch of Blogs. One for each person if you like..but a joint Blog has an energy. You can do and upload kids video and music and all kinds of neat..time consuming...stuff.


For what it's worth.



Gary Haupt
Canada