We trust and use an online planning tool called rv trip wizard. It is $39.00 / year but very useful for planning to avoid short overpasses. It also allows you to setup preferences to avoid toll roads, ferry, etc. We use it to research and locate RV Parks, parking stops, truck stops, Walmart, Cabella’s all in one tool. Of course when Planning an RV cross country trip, we use other tools like RVParky, Campendium, and we use RV forums and Facebook groups to get real time feedback to either confirm a go or no-go decision.
The Printed ( or emailed ) Itinerary from RV Trip Wizard has all your notes as well as calculated fuel burn cost based on your user input for average miles per gallon and miles per hour. Another great feature is to see hill grades and elevations along your route. The wonderful RV lifestyle adventures we enjoy don’t always come easy and rarely it doesn’t work out like we plan at all, but it isn’t from a lack of preparation and planning.
While the RV Trip Wizard is one of our top tools, it is certainly not the only one. We also use an app called “tollguru” on our phone which allows us to plan and budget for toll roads when we are travelling in an area that we know they have toll roads. North East area is full of tolls, and Florida and Chicago has their fare share as well.
We still use the “stick man” street view on google maps to determine pull in access, turn around room, and get “land marks” in mind so we know before we get there when to start looking for a specific land mark and which turn lane to get in, etc.
We also use RVParky, and tip advisor, and Google to look at user posted photos of the campgrounds we are considering to better assess whether the sites are big enough or too close together, etc. We like the 3rd party photos better because the campground website photos are only going to be the good ones that may be 10 years old.
Final tip: take your time planning. Do your research, and reach out to Facebook groups or social media communities. Most all RVers are excited to share their experience with you so you can learn from our mistakes.
