RV Trip wizard is the first place I go once we decide our next destination. This site has a multitude of helpful tools, from entering in your rig size for route planning, to reviews of campgrounds you are interested in.
Heere are a few of the great options RV Trip Wizard offers:
I use this to plan our multiple stops through each season. So, I have one trip labeled Fall and another labeled Winter, etc. It maps out each stop along the way and gives you miles and drive time between each as well as cost. I did not use that feature in the screenshot of our Fall trip (below), but I did start using it during our current trip. I'm still learning more about that and I'll update this post at a later date with those details.
The miles and drive time between each stop is pretty important information for me. I usually like to keep our daily drive time below four hours. So, if our next road trip destination is, for example, 6.5 hours away, I know I will need to plan for an over night stay at around the 3 hour mark. (I'll explain how I do that later in this post.)
As you can see, it maps out each location and you can drill down into each stop for a ton more info. It is very easy to use and keeps everything organized. You can filter your searches by campground type, rating, pricing, etc. Another great tab in the research pullout is Points of Interest (POI). You can search rest stops along your route or preferred truck stops!
There have been some changes with RV Trip Wizard and it is now bundled with more RV LIFE apps, I believe, for the same fee. I'm not sure if that will be a limited time promotion for them, or if it will be standard practice. Regardless, the small yearly subscription price is well worth the tools you get just in RV Trip Wizard.
If you would like to check it RV Trip Wizard out for yourself, here is my link. By using my link, I get a small referral fee, but you don't pay anything extra if you decide to use any of their products.
The next step in my route planning process is to look for Thousand Trails properties. We recently purchased a Zone Pass and The Trails Collection. Let me quickly explain why...We were relying solely on using Passport America for most of our stays (I'll get to PA later in this post), but it started to get a little difficult to find CG that accept it in the areas we were going to be in. I had been researching Thousand Trails for a while, but just didn't pull the trigger until we really needed to.
There are a TON of mixed reviews for TT membership and properties, but I have found that there are a wide variety of people who are on both ends of the spectrum as far as what they expect and what they look for in a campground / RV resort. We have stayed at a few campgrounds that didn't have the best reviews, but we love them, and vice versa. I, myself, don't need a long list of amenities or a cement pad to love a campground. I actually prefer the more wooded spots with privacy (and full hook ups). With that said, there are a lot of TT properties that are RV resort style with the nice pools and all the bells and whistles. My decision to purchase the Pass & TC, basically, came down to average daily/weekly cost. Being full time RVers, we have a strict budget that we must stick to, and Thousand Trails will go a long way at helping us do that.
I usually will look for a TT property using the locator within there website, than once I find one I'm satisfied with, I will enter that campground info into RV Trip Wizard. I also look at the reviews there as well.
We are staying at our first Thousand Trails property in two days! I will update this post with that information. By the way, we started out with the Zone Pass and The Trails Collection to try it out before upgrading to a larger package.
If you are interested in checking out Thousand Trails, here is a direct link. If you decide to sign up for one of their packages, please use my name, Tammy Fiddie, when asked who referred you. Again, I get a small referral fee, but it doesn't cost you anything more, and I would TOTALLY appreciate the support. :)
Passport America is a yearly subscription that gives you 50% off of your stay at participating campgrounds. Each campground does have restrictions, as much as only accepting PA for one night, and most don't accept it on the weekends and holidays.
As I said above, we used PA exclusively for our stays for the first couple of months of our full time adventure. I always used their app to searched out the parks that we could use PA the most, in the area we were heading to. On average, we paid around $23 a night for full hook up sites and as low as $17 a night. Those are averages for the entire stay. For example, if they charge $40 a night and the PA discount (50% off) is only accepted Monday -Thursday and we stay 7 days, our total for the week would be $200, for an average of $28.57 a day.
The restrictions, especially during peak times in certain parts of the country, can make using PA difficult. But using Passport America along with another program like Thousand Trails can keep costs down, considerably. Click here for their info.
Harvest Hosts is a membership program that allows self-contained RVs to overnight, for free, at locations like wineries, breweries, farms, museums and golf courses. As of now, they have 1442+ hosts with places just as cool as these, to stay.
This is our go to app when we need an overnight stay. Sometimes our destination is too far away to drive in one day, and that's where HH comes in.
These are pictures from some of our stays. We have stayed at an orchard in Michigan, a classic car museum in Ohio and a horse farm in Kentucky. What amazing spots to stay the night at.
There app is pretty straight forward and easy to use. When you click on a host you are interested in staying at, it gives you all of the details about the hosts location, what size and how many rigs they can handle and contact info. You can also read and leave reviews right in the app.
This membership quickly pays for itself and its much better than staying at a rest stop or Walmart for the night!
If you are interested in checking them out for yourself, here is my direct link. If you use my link, I will receive a small referral fee and you will get a 15% discount on your membership!
The Garmin RV 780 is one of our most important tools when we are on the road. When you are driving a large vehicle, it's not the best idea to use GPS apps that are meant for average sized vehicles like cars, SUVs and pick up trucks. There are roads, bridges, tunnels, etc., that are not safe to travel when you are driving an RV. Regular GPS apps, like the ones on your phone, do not recognize that you are a larger and heavier vehicle and might put you on a route that can be very dangerous for you. I am telling you this out of personal experience. I put off buying the Garmin RV and we ended up driving a stretch of road that was not safe for us and we were lucky to get out in one piece. Needless to say, we bought the Garmin RV 780 the next day!
With the Garmin specifically for RVs, you can enter in the weight, height and lenth of you vehicle. It will use this information to suggest the safest route for the size of your RV. It also gives you turning and merging instructions sooner than regular GPS does to give you plenty of notice when you might have to switch lanes for an exit.
A couple other great features are it warns you about upcoming curves and steep grades in the road. Which is awesome to know ahead of time.
With the Garmin RV 780 you can pair it with a compatible smartphone to gain access to hands-free calling and smart notifications. This feature also includes voice-activated navigation for convenience while driving, which is amazing.
Another bonus to using the Garmin over using a smatphone GPS app is you don't need a cellular signal for it to work!
Tip: I have learned to always look over my route before we leave for a new destination. Even with the best technology, it's never 100%. I also keep a Rand McNally Road Atlas handy when needed. Better safe than sorry. Again, I learned the hard way.
Thank you for following along with our adventures! Let us know if you have a favorite spot you would like to suggest we search out on our travels through this great country of ours.
All the best,
Tammy & Judy
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