Trip planner, Good Sam or AAA, or?

[sjturbo]

I'm often obsessive about planning. This may be a no brainer but humor me please. We will likely be hitting the road soon for maybe 6 to 8 weeks at a clip. I like visual aids, trip planners, atlas, ect. GPS is nice but not as big. I would appreciate opinions on different atlases and trip planners that you have used and could suggest.

[Houston_Remodel]

Roadtrippers is very similar to GSC trip planner, but you can add unlimited number of stops. My current trip has over 50 stops. When I use Road trippers on my android phone, and hit the next destination, google maps takes over and guides me there.

[2gypsies1]

We've used Delorme mapping program for over 20 years. However, we also use other ways to gather information. Starting with a good road atlas helps to get the big picture. If traveling in the West, Benchmark puts out a wonderful atlas for each state. This is especially helpful if you enjoy public sites rather than private sites and if you like to explore the backroads, as we do. Good luck!

[Seamutt]

I miss Microsoft street and trips, was very easy to work with.

[Drbolasky]

I always begin planning with paper maps; we have a good collection of AAA maps. I'll plan my own route based on destinations and what we want to see along the way. I solicit opinions from folks here on the Forum and if I have any concerns about access to campgrounds or attractions I'll go on Google Maps and check out their satellite view. This last is especially helpful if you need to travel through urban areas where which lane you are in can make a big difference!!!

[wingsfan20]

I use AAA online trip tiks. Have used it for years and it is great. If you are a AAA member, you can save your trips. I log fuel stops and include in my trips for future use.

[TexasShadow]

1. know where you want to go, first. Suggest looking at an Atlas.
2. choose going first class or primitive and determine how primitive.
3. buy an Atlas..the walmart one is what we use.
4. if you're leery about secondary roads and mountain passes, set the Garmin to semi trucks and buses routes. if you like scenic, don't choose that one. 🙂
We rely on State and National Parks for most of our camping. Use the Atlas to find them, then look them up to see what facilities they offer.

[Janss]

No reason you can't use all of them. I use Google maps at home and at RV parks during my trip. I can easily figure out distances, can see alot in satellite view like the layout of gas stations and RV parks, etc. I also carry the Walmart Rand McNally atlas as well as some AAA State and area maps in the RV to see the big picture when I want to. Haven't tried the Good Sam trip planner, but I'll have to look at that.

[Sam_Spade]

sjturbo wrote:
I'm often obsessive about planning.

Well then it's unlikely that anyone else's opinion will mean a lot to you. Try them out and pick the one you like the best; most are free.

I use the GoodSam one and Google Maps.

[DrewE]

I rather recently bought a copy of the latest large scale Rand-McNally road atlas from Wal-Mart (which has by far the best price on it). This is a spiral-bound atlas, and being large scale means that states are often split up on multiple pages, which makes for a bit more cumbersome planning but shows more detail and shows it more legibly than other road atlases. One noteworthy drawback is that it doesn't have Mexico or Canada maps. On the whole, I think it's the best deal on a road atlas these days, at least the best I've come across. The spiral binding is a definite advantage.

I also like the AAA regional US maps (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest) for planning and longer-distance travel.

For online tools, I've generally defaulted to Google Maps, though their no longer available old interface was much superior to the current one. The propensity of the current interface, when adjusting routes manually, to snap to tiny local roads that are invisible at the current magnification rather than the visible major highway is highly infuriating.

[rr2254545]

Never used AAA but Good Sam is the best on line free trip planner there is

Only limitation is that you can not have more than 25 stops - I have used it for years