How to plan stops by miles in GS trip planner

[kapnkirk]

Was hoping someone knows a way to plan trips in Good Sam trip planner by miles, say 300 miles a day and the software would make a waypoint and then I could look for camping.

I have looked all through the trip planning on Good Sam and can't find it, if there is not that option could you tell me of another trip planning software that could.

Appreciate any advice, Thanks, Keith

[kapnkirk]

Matt

I tried furkot again as you suggested, I didn't get to much further, guess I am technology challenged and went back to GS trip planner, I just put in a stop that looked around 250 miles, that is working pretty good now, I am getting better with it, keeping a window open to google maps too is helpful.

The one thing I keep making errors on is the mileage in trip planner, keep looking at the wrong stop thinking thats the mileage to stop and it is actually not, it is actually miles to next stop and if I want to know how many miles for the stop I just put in is actually noted in last stop, with practice I will stop making that error (I hope).

Appreciate all the advice, you all are a great bunch, Thanks, Keith

[Us_out_West]

If it does not have trip planning for RV's it's not much good to me.

[Matt_Colie]

I am going to suggest that you go back and work with Furkot more. It does a lot more than most and almost as much as the old Street Atlas -
- BUT - a lot of what it can do is veritable "Easter Egg" in that you have to go looking for it. The help files are very good and seem to be pretty complete, but I have trouble with the developer's vocabulary as things don't always have the name I expect.

Some things are very subtle. Like if you change the icon of a stop to a fuel pump, the app uses that as a sign that you filled the fuel at the location and tracks fuel from there.

It is not at all easy to get it to EOD and a non-standard location (Rest Area, Walmart or the like), but if you pick the correct icon for that stop it will usually get the idea.

I just wish I could download it as we are out of coverage a lot of our travels and that is with a 3wERP repeater. Without that things would be hopeless.

Matt

[one_strange_tex]

kapnkirk wrote:
OST

I looked at the driving directions tab as you said, but the first turn was 504 miles after getting on I-10, could I be missing something? I have been putting in a tab hear and there as a guess at miles, that kinda works but I was looking for something more automated.

Thanks, Keith

I hear you on that. This is a problem with my suggested method when you are traveling long uninterrupted stretches of interstate highway such as I-10 in the panhandle of Florida or I-10 in West Texas. My workaround is to eyeball a fraction of the distance between the turns and maybe putting a preliminary stop in to check the true distances.

Several planners allow searches at time or mileage intervals, InRoute for the iPad being one of those.

My travel planning is not too automated anyway, since I search for good RV parks using rvparkreviews.com, fuel stops at 200 mile intervals (usually truck stops since I am towing a fifth wheel with a diesel truck, relying as well on Google satellite imagery to check out entrance and egress), and interesting sights along the way. It's just my way to avoid unpleasant surprises, not always successfully. It is not necessarily everyone's preference since it is more interactive.

As it is, I now have a Garmin RV GPS and use BaseCamp since it will allow me to download my plans directly to the GPS. BaseCamp along with Google, park reviews, various fuel finders, trip advisors, etc., etc.

[docsouce]

2X on the method "RkyMtnVia" uses. I might add that I also Google in " RV campgrounds near XXXXXXX " X being the location I'm heading to. We like to run 200 to 250 miles a day and make our reservations 3 or 4 days ahead. This method has worked well for us.

[RoaminRichards]

RV Trip Wizard will allow you to set the parameters you desire either by hours driven or miles per day. It has a function to set you fill in those parameters,i.e., Point A (300 miles or 6 hours)to point B. It keeps track of fuel used.Trip Preferences

The information below is used to estimate the cost and routing for your trips.

RV Info
Personal Expenses per Day
Routing
Driving
General Settings
Memberships & Favorites

NOTE: Please enter the RV information below. It is required for everything to work properly.
Miles Per Gallon
Fuel cost per gallon
Fuel Tank Capacity (Gallons)
Reserve Gallons (Used for Mileage Feature)
RV Height in Feet
and inches
Fuel Type
Trip Preferences

The information below is used to estimate the cost and routing for your trips.

RV Info
Personal Expenses per Day
Routing
Driving
General Settings
Memberships & Favorites

If the "Miles per Day" field is selected, this is the daily driving radius that will display on the map. If the "Hours per Day" field is selected, the daily driving radius will be this number * the MPH. You may optionally enter two other radii as shown below. These will appear in different colors.
mph is My Average Driving Speed (including fuel stops, etc.)
Hours Per Day
Miles Per Day
Inner Radius (Optional)
Middle Radius (Optional)
Do not display driving radii
Driving Time Calculation:
Use Google Maps estimate ?? Use My Average Driving Speed
Hope this helps. Safe Travels!

[kapnkirk]

Us out West

Interesting, I google mapped your path with all the stops and thought why would you go so far into California to get to Arizona, but when I took out the Calif stops google came up with 2 routes, almost your original and the straight down never in Calif, and both routes near same miles and hours.

Yes I would rather route hours also, not in a big hurry but I love to plan and follow a plan, 20 years Navy did that I suspect. I am still trying to get GS trip planner to work, getting better but still needs work.

Thanks, Keith

[Us_out_West]

We tend to travel by hours and not by miles.

With that when we leave our home base in Reno enroute to our winter home in Eloy, AZ. it's a 4 day trip.

Itinerary via GS Trip Planner;

1. Reno to Woodbridge, CA. (Lodi area) 3:00 hours 175 miles.
2. Woodbridge, CA to Bakersfield, CA. 4:12 hours 256 miles
3. Bakersfield, CA to Needles, CA. 6:45 hours 279 miles
4. Needles, CA. to Eloy, AZ. 5:45 hours 303 miles

On the other hand say we are going up the Oregon Coast all the way to Seattle it may take us a month or more so time and distance really don't factor in as we are just making really short trips in between.

[kapnkirk]

OST

I looked at the driving directions tab as you said, but the first turn was 504 miles after getting on I-10, could I be missing something? I have been putting in a tab hear and there as a guess at miles, that kinda works but I was looking for something more automated.

Thanks, Keith

[one_strange_tex]

kapnkirk wrote:
Was hoping someone knows a way to plan trips in Good Sam trip planner by miles, say 300 miles a day and the software would make a waypoint and then I could look for camping.

I have looked all through the trip planning on Good Sam and can't find it, if there is not that option could you tell me of another trip planning software that could.

Appreciate any advice, Thanks, Keith

I looked at Good Sam and you can do it from there. Use your home as your starting point and then establish your ultimate destination, several days away. Then look at the driving directions tab. It gives the miles between key turns but also the cumulative miles from your starting point. So now you just start looking at the 300 mile point, the 600 mile point, etc. You may have to guess a little on some intervals and adjust your route for sightseeing and RV park preferences, but you can pretty soon converge on a route that takes you where you ultimately need to go with the preferred driving interval included.

I use this technique on other trip planning tools as well. I hope I was clear in my explanation.

[kapnkirk]

Thanks for all the help, I looked at the Furkot and RV trip wizard, I couldn't get the Furkot to really work, I would probably have to spend some more time and ask questions.

I liked the rv trip wizard but their demo wouldn't let me put in any preferences to try the mile/time thing, I may try it for their 30 day trial if I like it, but believe will experiment with google maps more until I get frustrated with it or the DW finally retires and I have to route a long trip.

Appreciate all your thoughts and will keep at it, Thanks, Keith

[Edd505]

Find an old Streets & Trips on line, no longer supported but roads don't change much.

[guidry]

BobKrogstie wrote:
Try furkot.com It's free. From their website "You can also constrain your days by setting Travel Time and Daily Mileage limits either for the entire trip or independently for each day."

That's what we use. We want to only travel about 6 hours a day so this website can show you spots on the map where that will put us.

[RckyMtnVia]

I use Google maps and RV Park reviews. Once I have found a location on Google maps that is about 300 miles from my starting point, I look at the map on RV Park Reviews to see what is near the 300 mile mark. In most cases, I can find a park that is within the range of 300 miles. Sometimes I have to go 325 and others 275, approximately. Works for me and it is free, and RV Park Reviews give reviews by fellow campers.