Author Topic: Route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.  (Read 11989 times)

Rod Tomlinson

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Route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« on: May 20, 2015, 07:57:44 PM »
1996 36' Beaver Monterey. We are new at this. We plan to leave Miami before July 1 and travel for a year visiting as much of the US as possible without pushing it. I plan to take a route that takes me by Tampa, Atlanta, North Georgia mountains, Ashville and than a route in the mountains and up to Niagra Falls, NY. Than down the east coast to Jacksonville and west to eventually San Diego and north to San Francisco, thru the mountains states and return to Miami.

First, what are the best camping site discount clubs to join?

Second, what is the best route planning program?

Third, the best road assistance program.

Asking a lot.

Thanks
« Last Edit: May 22, 2015, 03:31:54 PM by Glenda Farris Co-Admin »

Larry Dedrick

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Re: route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2015, 04:57:47 PM »
We use Good Sam's for camping discounts as well as for their Trip Planning program.  The discount is available at many campgrounds at 10 percent off. However if you are staying a week most campgrounds we have come across give you one night free and don't use the discount.

As for Trip Planning I liked the program until I saw one that Keith Cooper uses called RV Wizard I believe.  It seems a little more user friendly although I only used the demo portion since I had already planned our six month trip this year.  Here is a link to a video Keith did on trip planning.  http://HTTPS://YouTu.be/G05_VgLVd3o

Another good discount program is Passport America.  They seem to have many more restrictions than Good Sam's but we do plan on joining it once it works into our plans.

We use Coach Net for Roadside assistance but thankfully have not had to use it yet!

Safe Travels,
Laura Dedrick
« Last Edit: May 21, 2015, 05:00:48 PM by Larry Dedrick »
Laura/Larry Dedrick
Ormond Beach, FL
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Peter and Connie Bradish

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Re: route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2015, 05:26:16 PM »
1. campsite discount
    A lot depends on your travel style. We don't stay in one place for more than a week to 10 days. For us the best is Passport America. You have to watch what each CG requires or restricts. Some only have the PA rate from Sunday thru Thursday night. Many do not honor PA on holiday weekends. Some only allow the PA rate for a day or two. We usually use PA as we travel from one location to another. We don't boondock much.
    We also are members of Elks and Moose. These organizations have parking lots and sometimes CGs at their lodges where you can stay.
2. route planning
   Hubby uses our Garmin and I still look at good old paper maps.
   Personally I like to use Tripadvisor. This is a website which show restaurants and things to do by city. Many times I use it to find restaurants or attractions to visit on our route.
3. best road assistance
   There are a number of services out there. We use AAA because I was already a member for car trips before we had an RV. AAA has an RV service. We have had to find tow services three times through them. Each time they have been helpful and found us a local service who could tow our RV. You just have to be sure you explain to the representative you are talking to that you need the tow truck the tows semis. They think of an RV as a "camper" and send the car tow truck not the semi tow truck.

Connie Bradish
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Dan Murphy

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Re: route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2015, 05:42:43 PM »
Route planning to this date ha been almost nonexistent..We been at it 3 yrs and still don't have the knack of it! Even if we think we have it planned I want to drive less or I feel like driving more that day. Or the place we pick is a POS campground so--
We kind of "fly by the seat of our pants" as my dad used to say.Around 2-3 pm I ask Kris to start looking for a CG. She checks with an app on her phone. I think she uses RV Parking.com and the Passport America app. She also checks out Elks lodges---Meanwhile---I just keep driving.
Sometimes if we drive later in the day and just wish to sleep a little and keep going we use a Walmart.We check out all the signage along the highway also for campgrounds and I have checked in at iRV2 or here at BAC forum to ask about certain areas to camp.

I agree with Deeds on the use of Coachnet. We have had the misfortune to have to use the service twice and they have been great! One thing in their favor opposed to others I have heard about is they will let you have some say in where you may get towed or get service.Some others may just tow to the nearest point where any service may be obtained.Not always where you may want to go.
 

Edward Buker

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Re: route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2015, 02:02:30 AM »
For long route planning we like Delorme Street Atlas. It allows you to alter the program generated route by adding vias and it is easy to add stops. That being said long routes for whole trips that are extensive become a bit cumbersome. We use Street Atlas to do planning on a PC or tablet but for actual travel navigation we use a Garmin 7inch unit for RVs and Delorme on a tablet is a back up. We download POI (Point Of Interest) files for the Garmin (which are extensive and very useful) from The POI Factory of what interests us. They have files of all the U.S. campgrounds, attractions of all kinds, Walmarts etc. as an example.

We plan an overall trip, but in practice for  the most part, after many years of travel, what works best for us is we choose our next campground spot or destination on the Garmin for the day and check the route it proposes and travel just one day at a time point to point. It is just simpler that way.

We are also a fan of Coach Net.

Later Ed

Bill Sprague

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Re: route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2015, 02:47:24 PM »
For road and highway picking we've used Microsoft Streets and Trips for years.  It quickly calculates the quickest or shortest routes.  Give it a departure time and when you want to stop and it will plot where you want to look for a park.  It is not very good at suggesting parks, but does have some in it's database.  Google maps has become good at highway picking but is not as good at estimating where the overnight stops are.   Attached is a sample trip from Seattle to Branson with driving starting at 9 am and stopping planned for 3 pm.  Speeds and "rest" times can be changed.

For RV park picking, BJ has become skilled at using rvparkreviews.com  http://www.rvparkreviews.com/.  It is a user based review system with commentary.  The usual thick books are concerned with bathrooms, swimming pools and playgrounds and we are not.  Rvparkreviews helps find places good pads, hookups, low noise and easy maneuverability.

Glenda Farris Co-Admin

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Re: route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2015, 03:31:02 PM »
Camping clubs:  Passport America is good for staying one night when going from point A to point B.  Their discounts most of the time for us have been for only one night.  They are reasonably priced and have participating campgrounds all over the USA.  We also have a lot of friends that are Elks.

Route Planning:  For route planning and GPS, we’ve always used Delorme Street Atlas.  The route planning is easy and allows for lots of options.

To put on your map, you can download icons for FlyingJ/Pilot, Super Walmart’s, COE parks and rest areas.  For us, we also use the icons for Thousand Trails, Passport America, Costco, SKP parks and casinos.  There are dozens more icons available - all free. They are not always the latest, as they are updated by volunteers, but it’s an awesome resource.

You can find the icons to import into Street Atlas here: 
 http://www.discoveryowners.com/cginfo.htm

We also have a Garmin GPS that we can use in the motorhome or the car.  Smartphone: I also use Maps on my Android phone to access traffic congestion up ahead, especially in cities.  Sometimes, I use WAZE on my phone, too.

Road Assistance:  For years, we had the Affinity (originally RRR) /Good Sam service and when we needed it, it was excellent.  Now, we have Coach Net (through our insurance), but have never used it.

Safe travels,

Glenda   8)
« Last Edit: May 22, 2015, 07:43:02 PM by Glenda Farris Co-Admin »

Frank Towle

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Re: Route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2015, 06:00:39 PM »
Another vote for DeLorme Street Atlas.  We have been using this product on a laptop bungeed to the center console since 1999 - now on 2014 version.  We plan each trip in advance and are easily able to set time/distance per day, refueling stops, and set pushpins for overnights.  Voice recognition and response provides hands & eyes off the laptop and on the road! 

Have also used DeLorme Topo, setting elevation 100' or so above reality and getting great views of 'tree tops' as you drive down the road.  All mountains, rivers & lakes are named on the screen as you travel by.  Best for a co-pilot to run on his/her own laptop and call out natural wonders as you go.

Tic Wilson

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Re: Route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2015, 02:51:49 AM »
We too are relatively new.  We favor Passport America, and Escapees.  For travel planning we use allstays.com and bing maps.  Allstays will show you every type of camping from resorts to BLM lands.  Bing maps can accomodate up to 25 stops, so we can add fuel stops and sightseeing as well as multiple camp stops.  Then you can e-mail the plan to yourself and recall it anytime.
We use TripAdvisor to find things to see and do, that we might otherwise miss.  As for roadside assist, we went with good sam, but have not ever had to use them thus far.  Safe travels!

Keith Cooper

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Re: Route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2015, 12:41:30 PM »
Rod,
I am not sure there is a “best” answer for these three questions.
1.   Roadside assistance – like many others we use Coach Net and have had good service on the occasions when we have had to use it. Take a look at their web site for a list of services and 00spend a little time in the FAQ section http://www.coach-net.com/ . We went with Coach Net when we were shopping around for RV insurance.
2.   Camping Site Discount clubs to join- this also depends on your individual circumstances. For example a lot of full timers use Thousand Trails programs. However, it just didn’t make sense for us. We are members of Passport America (50% discounts), Escapee’s (15% discounts and they will get you off the road), Good Sam/Camping World (10% discounts), FMCA (10% discounts), Elks, Moose, and National Parks Senior Pass.
Many campgrounds are participants in a number of programs However, most will only give you one discount so always ask for the biggest discount first.
3.   Route Planning – this depends on what is most important to you.
a.    If you want or need internet independence then Street Atlas USA is a good once you beef it up with some additional POI files from places like from poi-factory.com, poidirectory.com, Fleetwood Discovery Owners group, and/or ultimatecampgrounds.com ($6.95 annual) There is a caution: POI files from poi- factory, poi directory & discovery owners group may not have been updated in a very long time.  The only reason I would not recommend Microsoft Streets and Trips is that Microsoft has sunset the program and is ending support on July 14th 2015
b.   If you are looking for a cheap web based solution the Good Sam Trip planner is a good choice.
c.   If you have internet connectivity and want to lay out a complex trip that you are going to download into your GPS in the shortest time then RV Trip Wizard is the best choice.
d.   When we are rolling down the road and need to find something nearby we use Smartphone/ Tablet App’s and the two we use the most are Allstays Camp & RV for commercial sites, and  Ultimate CG for places like state, county, regional, non-profit, Indian reservation and utility company sites.
Just as lagniappe there is one web site we try to use after the basic trip is laid out and that's  www.roadtrippers.com just because its about the trip, not the destination.
Depending on the situation we use all of these route planning tools  8)
« Last Edit: May 25, 2015, 01:14:07 PM by Keith Cooper »

Joel Weiss

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Re: Route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2015, 01:19:27 PM »
I'm surprised no one has mentioned usingrvparkreviews.com to find places to stay.  Although I'm biased (I'm one of the site admins) it has by far the largest database of user generated reviews (well over 200,000) of roughly 15,000 CG's and RV parks in North America.  The site is totally non-commercial; park owners don't pay anything nor do those who submit reviews.  Like any review site (TripAdvisor, Yelp, Amazon, etc) reviews vary, but I've always found it pretty easy to get a sense of whether or not a particular park would work for us. 

BJ Sprague

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Re: Route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2015, 03:36:25 PM »
I'm surprised no one has mentioned usingrvparkreviews.com to find places to stay.  Although I'm biased (I'm one of the site admins) it has by far the largest database of user generated reviews (well over 200,000) of roughly 15,000 CG's and RV parks in North America.  The site is totally non-commercial; park owners don't pay anything nor do those who submit reviews.  Like any review site (TripAdvisor, Yelp, Amazon, etc) reviews vary, but I've always found it pretty easy to get a sense of whether or not a particular park would work for us.

... I think Bill mentioned this very useful website in his post.  I do most of the trip planning and it is my hands-down favorite site for rv parks.  I especially like the direct links to park websites and Google Earth views.  The Google Earth views can make a big difference! 

Regarding Passport America - we have used this discount camping association for over 10 years; however, driving extra miles to save a very few dollars doesn't always work out as a cost savings.

In the western U.S., tribal owned casinos are frequently located along interstates.  Most offer overnight parking with security patrols.
Some have fuel stops with good prices.


Peter and Connie Bradish

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Re: Route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #12 on: May 26, 2015, 03:18:20 PM »
As an add on to camping:
 We also use fairgrounds, city parks and sometimes even mobile home parks in out of the way places. We research family genealogy and many times our ancestors are from small country places which don't have much in the way of CGs. We just came from a small town in Illinois where we paid $125/week for 50 amp, water and sewer at a mobile home park. They had 5 RV spaces. We are now in Springfield, Illinois at the fairgrounds and will also pay $125.00 for a week. We are on blacktop with 50 amp and water. There is a dump station at the fairgrounds. We can easily go a week without dumping so no problem. Personally I like to use the dump station if properly built. So many places we camp have sewer at the site but really it's almost unusable. The sewer is either too far away or too high or uphill. So a nice dump station with a concrete ramp and lower sewer allows for a really good emptying of the tanks.
An added bonus is that there will be an Arabian horse show here at the fairgrounds this weekend. Entrance is free. How wonderful !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joel Ashley

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Re: Route planning, site discount clubs, road assistance.
« Reply #13 on: May 26, 2015, 09:53:11 PM »
Connie brings to mind similar experiences as we researched my family tree too.

In the Midwest especially, on our 6 month cruise in 2012, time after time we'd explore a small town and discover the city fathers had committed to supplying their constituents with a centrally located park with recreation facilities, especially baseball diamonds.  More often than not they included camping spots with utilities.  On occasion they were free, but many were $10 or less per night, usually mostly honor system in an envelope in a box on a post, with no strict arrive/depart times, and sometimes with regular constabulary patrols for security.  Commonly there were few if any other campers.  And entertainment was included as the grand old game was played almost nightly by America's youth of all ages.

Some city parks were older with minimal maintenance and grass or gravel spots with or without shade, but others were kept up and had newer concrete pads and patios, tables, fire pits, and full hookups next to trees and maybe a cool creek, and perhaps flower beds.  The idea was to keep tourists around more than a day or so for a bit more local business income opportunities.

To find such towns more easily, and enjoy the true all-American nature of them, we stayed off the freeways, traveling mostly quiet state roads in the coach, and exploring deeper county routes with the toad.  Nebraska was great that way.  Sometimes we found we could spot a potential city park ahead of time online, and could call city hall for more info to make sure it could handle the coach size, etc.

Joel and Lee
« Last Edit: May 26, 2015, 10:00:31 PM by Joel Ashley »
Joel and Lee Rae Ashley
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