Best Ways to Plan Your Road Trips

Planning your Road Trips and routes can be tricky and stressful. Back in the day, the driver would sit with their hands on the wheel, while the passenger held a map and turned it one direction and then the other trying to figure out which way was up and which way was down. Now, the driver sits behind the wheel while the other tries to fight with a small device that leads you magically to all the places in the world.

And although this sounds much easier (and it can be!), it also opens up so many more possibilities and places that we can become overwhelmed. From Instagram geotags to Google Maps, we now have so many places to see on our lists that we often don’t even know where to begin.

So with that in mind, I decided to help point you in the right direction. When you decide it’s time to plan your next RV trip, here are a few resources and ideas to consider before whipping out your GPS.

Learn to Explore Like a Local
Every year, we always want to try new activities and visit new places, but it can be a challenge to figure out how to make these places connect or find other activities or destinations in the areas we already know we want to visit.

The simplest way to make sure you see beyond the tourist traps is to simply type in your destination in a search engine like Google or Pinterest. I use Pinterest often to find new and unique things that I normally would have never known about.

You can often find guides about how to get to these unique places, how much they cost, and how long you should spend to help plan out your days, too.

You can also join Facebook groups like The RV Bunch or online forums in the area you are looking to explore. This gives you an easy way to communicate with locals about your trip plans and ask questions before you arrive. Many times this will help you avoid RVer’s remorse when it comes to overcrowded tourist areas or experiences that aren’t worthwhile.

Make a List
Making a list of all the places you want to go may seem overwhelming, but there’s a method to the madness. Listing off all the places you want to see and visit this year can help you group destinations and activities that are near each other. This in turn helps you spend less time navigating and driving in circles and more time hopping from one place to the other without worrying if you’ve missed out on the place you wanted to visit.

Great road trip planners can be found all over, but one of my favorites is this one. This planner keeps your list of travel goals and your road trip plans all in one place.

Decide on Dates & Best Times of the Year
When driving a big rig, the best thing to do is stay away from extreme weather. This means finding temperate places to stop, sleep, and explore. To avoid planning a sufferfest of a trip, be sure you check the weather before heading out on your trip.

Related Read: Weather Apps and Websites for RVers

You wouldn’t want to be in Arizona in the middle of the summer when monsoons and heat stroke is imminent. You also don’t want to visit Glacier National Park in Wyoming in the dead of winter and freeze your toes off either.

Make a point to sit down and plan out the things you want to do during their in-seasons or shoulder seasons. In season will always be the busiest time of year for these activities. Shoulder seasons may leave some of your plans up in the air, but you’ll see less tourists and be able to enjoy most of your activities.

Don’t forget to mark off the dates for holidays and family gatherings. You won’t want to forget about going home to see your family and friends, so be sure to plan around those times of the year if you intend to defer from your route!

Determine What Roads to Take
Driving across country can make it difficult to know what conditions you’ll come upon on the road. There are several ways to check mountain grades and highway conditions online to help you avoid hazardous situations.

Apps like Truck Stops & Travel Plazas was developed to help truckers on the road get to their destination safely and gives you the grades of the roads you intend to travel on.

For those who want something more reliable in bad service or on mountain roads, you can always purchase a Motor Carriers Atlas. These books give you access to tons of road information that many use to determine their routes.

Check Out MobileRVing.com’s Trip Planner
Once you’ve settled on dates, it’s time to plan the route itself. You can easily spend long periods of time scrolling across Google Maps or you can add all of your destinations in to an online trip planner.

MobileRVing.com has created something that allows you to plan your trips your without having to Google “_____ near me”? Instead of shuffling around a map, MobileRVing.com’s Trip Planner allows you to see what’s near you, add in your destination details, and voila! Inside this fancy little tool, you’ll find RV friendly activities, campgrounds, and more, that are near you or your next destination without all the hassle.

You can even save your trips once you find the perfect route and find your friends on their road trips, too. It’s everything you need all in one place!

Stay Flexible & Open
The biggest piece of advice I can give you about planning your trips is to stay flexible. Not every activity or place on your list will work out perfectly. Due to unforeseen weather, events, or closures, you will have to rethink at least one of your days on a long trip.

The more upset you get about missing out on a place or opportunity, the more you will sour your entire experience on the road, so it’s important that you keep an open mind and go with the flow on days that aren’t what you expected.