RE: [A/S] Cross Country

["Perry Joe Scudder" <perryjoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Joan,
I am going to assume you are asking about a GPS (Global Positioning System),
if that is not what you are asking about - hit the Delete Key NOW.
I am going to post a pretty detailed description of what you can expect to
get out of a "Travel Planning" software package. I will hit some of the
things I like about the three different ones I use for my trip planning. I
decided to do this because I get all kinds of questions about trip planning
from folks at rallies and while on caravans, and maybe folks on the list are
interested too.
I travel with a laptop computer running one of the "Mapping" software
packages and a connected GPS unit all the time. I would not leave home
without my route planned on my trusty laptop. I use the laptop for E-Mail
and keeping the Banking done on line while traveling for extended trips (3
to 4 months at a time).
I have three different "Mapping" software packages on my laptop, and find
each one of them has at least one feature I like better than the others. I
drive 99% of the time while using a DeLorme software package called "Street
Atlas USA 2004". You can purchase the GPS unit and this software as a bundle
from WWW.DeLorme.com for $129.00 I believe. The GPS unit is a small yellow
cube with a cable with a USB plug on the end that just lays up on the dash
of the truck, and plugs into the USB port on your computer. It is about 1/3
the size of a deck of cards (1" tall X 1 1/2" wide X 2" long), and does not
require any mounting at all. Mine has ridden for 4 years and is not attached
to anything at all. The software has good maps of most streets and roads in
the USA and all Major roads in Canada. It has tons of other stuff like
hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, hospitals, ..... Points of interest listed
and displayed on the map if you select them to be displayed. You can display
any or all or none of the 30 or so categories of "points of interest". You
plan your trip by taking the route they select to your destination using
your choice of "Quickest", "Shortest", or "Scenic" route. You can change the
route by putting a "via" dot on the highways you prefer to use. You then
tell it how many miles or hours you want to travel each day and it will put
a small square with a moon and stars in it along the route where you should
look for a campground to spend the night. You can try and find one using the
"find" feature in the software, or look up the towns nearby in your
campground directory book to decide where to stay. You can find the location
of the campground on the map based on the directions from the campground
directory and insert an "overnight" "stop point" on your route. Your route
will be highlighted on the map, and show all of your stops. When you turn on
the "GPS" function it locks onto the satellites to put a "green dot" on the
map at your location and centers the dot in the center of the screen of your
computer. When you move about 20 feet the green dot turns into a green arrow
pointing in the direction you are traveling, and it leaves a "cookie crumb"
trail of little green dots behind to show you where you have been. The
cookie crumb trail may sound silly, but when you are in a big city and
setting at an intersection (a green dot on the map unless you are moving) it
is a really handy thing to know which direction you came from to get to that
point (I found this out from using another one of my software packages -
Microsoft Street and Trips - that only puts a small car in a circle on the
map at your location - no cookie crumb trail. The map moves along as you
travel to keep the green arrow on the screen someplace. You can zoom in or
out to display the amount of detail you want at any given time. The screen
is split to give you a close up section of the map and another section that
covers a section of the map that is about 3 or 4 times larger and less
detail. There is a third small section in the corner of the screen that will
show your what area your screen is covering on a much larger scale map like
a state size map with a "square" on it that shows the location of the map on
your screen. This allows you to follow your progress through city streets
while only seeing 2 or 3 blocks on the close up screen, and 20 or 30 blocks
around your location on the other screen. The program has "voice" direction
for all turns and road / street changes if you want to turn that feature on.
I do not use it.
There is another section of this program that is not included in any of the
others. It is called "Turns". It is a small section of the screen at the
bottom that has 8 boxes that tell you the distance and direction and
description of the next event on your route (can be a street change or state
border for example), and another set of two boxes that gives you the
distance and time to your next stop, and another pair of boxes that tells
you the distance and time to your "end of day stop". The "Turns" display can
be swapped for a box that has the text description of your route. It has all
the road names distance to travel and such in a text format.
You can plug in a profile for the program to use for your trip planning that
includes such things as time you want to start traveling in the morning,
what time you want to stop in the evening, and how much it can vary from
this, how fast you drive on different types of road, the kind of roads you
prefer to travel on, what fuel mileage you get, what you expect to pay per
gallon for fuel, and what you expect to pay for food and lodging along the
way. You will get a recap page that shows you how many days and miles the
trip covers, how much fuel you will need, and how much you will spend for
food and lodging for the trip.
 Microsoft Street and Trips has most of the same features except the "Cookie
Crumb trail", the "Turns" section on the screen, and the "Split Screen Map".
It does have all the "campgrounds listed in the big "Woodall Campground
Directory" displayed on the map if you turn on that feature. I use this
program to locate the campgrounds, then spot them as a "stop point" on my
DeLorme program map when I am planning a trip. I run Street and Trips on my
desk top computer to locate campgrounds, and DeLorme on the laptop for route
planning.
I also have the "Trailer Life" Directory on a CD that has a pretty good trip
planning package this year. I have had it for several passed years, and the
trip planning and map portion were pretty poor. They have made some major
improvements for this year. The one feature they have that is not in either
one of the other programs is the use of "Dates" instead of the number of
days for trip planning.
If you are still reading, you should know if "Route Planning" software on a
laptop connected to a GPS unit is something you would enjoy. I use the
"Planning" process to water down my "cabin fever" during the non-travel
months of the year. I also find I have a very good picture of the route in
my mind, and have looked at several alternate routes before cranking the
engine on the truck.

Sure hope this helps someone sense, it took so long to post.

Joe Scudder
WBCCI 8624