I know I've seen topics like this before, but can't seem to find them. What tools do you use to plan your travel routes? I'm not really looking for "how to find a camp ground, etc." but looking more for tools that can help find the best route that can accommodate a large rig (e.g. avoiding low overpasses, construction areas).

I've seen GPS for truckers that have info like this (but they also seem to have lots more industry-specific info that we wouldn't need) and I'm sure there are apps, but I'm just not sure where to begin.

Any suggestions/advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rachael

Connie and I have this system.

1. We talk about where we want to go.

2. I design the general route to the destination cities/states/whatever along with a basic schedule of how many days to stay each place based on what we did in #1. We generally stay a week at a time and travel 1-3 days depending on how far the next stop is…we try to keep daily mileage between 270-350.

3. Once that's done she picks out campgrounds…might not be exactly in the town we originally picked but using rvparkreview.com and other sites to pick them.

4. I make reservations for us.

We pull a 40 foot NH 5ver and use a truck GPS which has our height/weight/length in it…doesn't guarantee you won't end up on a road with a low clearance and have to turn around but cuts down on the possibility. We also look as we travel for semi's going the other way…we're shorter than they are so if they came from where we are going that's good.

Construction we don't much worry about…it happens. 

Generally speaking any US numbered highway and most state numbered highways will have enough vertical clearance for you as well as weight ability…since commercial trucks travel over those roads.

I'm not telling you not to worry and not to plan…but it's not as big a deal as you think. 

We're a lot like Neil and Connie and travel a great deal each year. I do all the trip route planning and actually use Street & Trips.  But any you can use Bing / Google or whatever mapping program you like including paper maps I suppose. I use a "standard" GPS AFTER I have planned the route and put that route in the GPS using specific weigh points so there no GPS surprise turns. I don't use a "trucker's" GPS.  Just not necessary and IMO it can limit your route unnecessarily. I base that opinion on years of GPS travel experience.  Neil and Connie feel differently.  A choice.

This is not 100% true, but if you stay on US-Hiways or Interstates or you see semi's on your route, chances are pretty good you won't have vertical clearance issues.  But that does not relieve he driver and co-pilot from looking at EVERY clearance height sign as you come to them - "Trucker's" GPS or not. Know for sure the height of your rig.  Measure it to be sure. Never believe the salesman or the brochure as to this critical number.

You should always plan your route before you leave and know the GPS is taking you is where you want to go and the way you planned.  Not where it thinks you need to go.

Linda picks the campgrounds with me "approving" them via satellite pix.  I get the exact coordinates for the campground (not the address) and put those in my GPS so I know exactly the turn in points.  Satellite pictures are really helpful when picking campgrounds and even camp sites. I can pick sites even allowing for trees so the satellite antenna will most likely work.

All this is just "us" and if there are 3,000 people on the forum there are at least 2,990 ways this is done.  Everyone has their own way and you have to find what works best for you.  It's as much style as science.  Just make sure to know your route ahead of time.  It will reduce stress and problems.

Enjoy the process
 

Every state as a Department of Transportation that has information on most road construction projects that are going on. Good place to get info before you get into the state. In truth, you are not really going to be able to avoid it in the summer - that's prime construction time and you will run into it. Don't get rattled, take your time and don't let someone behind you make you feel like you have to go faster than you feel comfortable doing. Slow is the rule in all construction areas.

We've been traveling 10 yrs and unless we are going to be on county roads for a long time, I really don't worry about heights - if the 18-wheelers are going down the road, we can to. And that is one of the reasons that we pull a car - - we do ALL of our sightseeing using the car. Goggle maps is your friend - use it to look at proposed roadway, especially in the west with the mountains - and also proposed parks.

I always call a park ahead about noon to make sure they have room for us - and often they will say "don't go where the GPS want's to take you, we are on the other side of the road, etc." because the street address (which is used for a lot of the POI are often coordinated with where the original road was proposed, not where it was actually built.

Barb

Bo and Rach,

Hey, we might have seen your trailer at Rolling Retreats a week or so ago.  Toy hauler right?

I've got a bit more advice for you.  Get the Rand McNally Trucker's Atlas.  Look in it to be sure that it has the section that lists the low overhead clearances.  Also, just because an 18-wheeler is on the highway you are taking, ask yourself it that truck is one that is 13' 6" high.  Many grain trucks and sand and gravel trucks aren't as tall as a semi with a box trailer or refrigerated box trailer.

Since we are planning a trip from Colorado Springs to Grants Pass, OR, I've been checking routes and watching Accuweather to be sure that there are any winter storms forecast into the first half of April.  Since we are going via I-80, I want to avoid having to stay along the route for a few days for the roads to clear and be opened.  I also judge about what we want to drive each day, because Jo is driving our Ford Expedition while I drive the truck and Mobile Suites.  She doesn't like to do much more than 300 to 350 miles if we can help it.

In our case, besides the trucker's atlas and Google Maps, I've also asked around to see if anyone has traveled the same areas before.  I'm totally comfortable with everything in the way of roads until I get to Oregon.  I've never driven those roads, let alone do it with a 55' 10" rig.

Oh, when you get to Rolling Retreats with your truck and hook up, see if Slade won't help you measure your rig's height with your truck hooked to the trailer.  If he happens to have his work building with a space, that level floor will go a long way with being sure of your height.

Terry

Bill's expansion on our process is good…and a lot of that I actually do as well. In our case…we compare the truck GPS with what the Garmin app on our iPhones tells us and by and large they're pretty much the same. When there are minor differences before they join up again…we take a look ahead of time and try to determine what the reason for the difference is. Sometimes it's a bridge or low clearance…but mostly it's the old "truck route" method of routing to minimize traffic through the center of town. In those cases…sometimes we take the truck route and sometimes we drive through the center of town.  There have only been probably a dozen times that there was an appreciable difference in truck GPS vs regular GPS routing…and only 2 instances that I an think of when it was due to a restriction.

I also use Streets and Trips…but mostly for overall planning purposes, not for driving direction purposes. We've got a paper copy of the Trucker's Road Atlas (at least I think that's the name of it…but don't use it nearly as much as we thought we would.

Mostly…we are shorter and lighter than a semi truck…so anyplace they can go we can go. 

Connie drives our daily driver Mazda when we are  traveling and typically stays behind me on freeways and ahead of me on 2 lane highways. The former is because we're usually driving slower than most traffic…59-62…for fuel efficiency purposes and if she's a hundred yards or so in front of me the idiots on the road come up behind me and swing around then immediately back into the right line…then find out there's a slow car in front and crawl up her bumper. She hates that so stays behind on freeways. Two lane roads she stays ahead…feels safer that way and in addition we then have 2 sets of eyes looking at stuff. If she's behind…she can't see as much ahead so I'm the only one looking. In front she can see better what's coming up. 

As Bill said…I always read the clearance sign on the overpasses and she does as well if she's in the front…not to mention that most low clearances have signage about the numbers well before you get there.

If we were doing it again we would probably not buy a trucker GPS…but when we got it we were newbies and figured that the clearance/weight thing would be a much larger issue than it's turned out to be. That would be my key takeaway for you from this discussion…yes, you need to worry about height/weight and you need to stay attuned to your environment and read signs with clearance and weight limits as you pass them…but in actuality it's mostly not a real problem.

As I said…we've run into 1 clearance issue that we had to reroute around out west in some small town in Kansas or Nebraska or something…and the truck GPS was in error in that case and wanted us to take that road. Fortunately…at the last intersection before we got to the low clearance (some sort of hay/crop enclosed conveyer between a couple of buildings) there was a sign and I just turned left 1 intersection sooner onto a more bigger road then north 1 mile to the highway out of town…the GPS wanted us to go straight another intersection (past the conveyer) and then turn left. We ran into one weight rating on a bridge up in the upper midwest…and the way around was another 40 miles at the end of the travel day…we originally decided to ignore the truck GPS and take the shorter route as looking on google maps showed nothing. When we got to where the GPS wanted us to turn left to reroute onto the big square to the far side of town…again there was a sign that said 10 ton limit 12 miles ahead so we changed our mind back and went the long way.

So…think and be careful but it's mostly not a big deal…and if you see trucks going the other way you're almost always going to be just fine. We do always look at the route on the GPS ahead of time and have been known to put in intermediate points via coordinates for turns…and depending on how far it's out of town I lean towards coordinates for campground entrance over street address for the arrival point…but when you do that you really don't need 6 digits of precision behind the decimal point…a degree is 60 miles roughly so if you have 22.123 degrees then the difference between 22.123 and 22.124 degrees is only 400 feet…which is really plenty precise enough for the GPS…I usually put in 22.1234 degrees and forget about the last few numbers from google…they're overkill for road navigational purposes. 

Like Bill…I approve all the campsites via google satellite view once she picks them…more than once I've told her to change because I didn't feel comfortable getting in or out. Like Bill I try to pick sites that have satellite visibility…but at least in my view…in most cases it's not really necessary to use web sites like dishpointer.com unless the campground is mostly wooded. In my experience…pretty much anywhere in the lower 48 you need a southwest view for DirectTV and the angle is high enough that as long as there are no trees within say 30-40 yards in that direction then we'll have visibility. If it looks iffy then I'll use dishpointer.com. If north of say Chicago then the angle starts to get a little lower and I'm a little more selective…and if in the northeast the angles are more towards the west southwest than southwest. After a year or so of doing it you'll be able to pretty much pick out sites with satellite visibility just from the satellite and experience.

To add to my reply above, you might consider an app for GPS if you have a tablet.  We were in town today to update the wife's phone, and in our visiting with each other and the manager of the store, that idea came up.  As it was, Samsung's Galaxy Tab E (mini) was on sale with a $50 rebate.  That will end up being a LOT less than what I was figuring for a regular GPS unit.

Terry

Along with all that was noted above we also use RV Trip Wizard for planning, and The Next Exit as we travel.

Linda and I use Good Sam's Trip Planner, by Rand McNally ( a GPS unit ).  It does a great job mapping your route with the ability to drag and drop the route to change it to your liking.  It also lets you adjust speed warnings, tells you about upcoming steep down grades, sharp curves ahead, low clearances, and much more.

So far we've used it to go across country in both directions without issue.  Of course we also use Google Earth to verify RV park sites before we book.

Gary

Bo and Rach,

For the Trucker's atlas, look in any truck stop, including any Love's, Pilot, T&A, or whatever truck stop.  I'm not sure the smaller Love's stores will have them, but the "travel centers" should.  If I remember right, the overpass information is in a section in the front of the atlas and they are listed by state.

Terry

Alie and Jims Carrilite wrote:

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I'm interested to see what your weights are. Axles and pin on the DRV.

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Hey there Jim and Alie,

I'll be glad to let you know as soon as we load up and get her weighed.

Rach 

cherylbrv wrote:

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Adding my 2 cents regarding low clearances -- in addition to an RV version of a GPS, I also use "Route 1", which can be found at www.lowclearances.com. It is a full database which can be imported into many GPSs as a POI (we have found several times while driving, we get a voice message from the GPS telling us there's a low clearance in the area. We can then look at the GPS to see if it's just nearby or actually on the route). There is a fee ($15/year or $45 lifetime) but I think it's well worth it.

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Hey Cheryl,

Thanks for the suggestion. I happened to find and purchase Route 1 this weekend. I'm not sure if it works with the standard UConnect GPS that came with our truck but I imported it into Google Earth (which I'm not entirely sure how to use yet, LOL) and was sort of able to figure it out.

On our way to pick up, we found a route (U.S. 281) that we thought was going to work for us to bring back, but as soon as we got off U.S. 287 we ran into a 13'9" bridge. Yikes! For the route back, we traveled part way on U.S. 180 and thanks to Route1, we are able to (mostly) figure out that there weren't any low bridges on that road. And thanks to other advice on here, I was on the lookout for big rigs coming from the other direction.

We made it home!

Thanks,

Rach