One Stop Website for trip planning?

First off, get a laptop or something for when you're bored, lol. Don't be the sad loser sitting in his seat or hanging in the lounge watching Law and Order all night. Weather, get the Weather Channel App on your phone. Traffic. Is it a big city? How big? Is it rush hour? After being out here just a few months, you'll start to realize what cities are a problem, and at what times. Construction. Most aren't worth changing the route over. Almost all of them are just a speed reduction for a few miles. Rarely a short detour. A construction zone worth knowing about is pretty rare in my opinion. Just drive. I'm a company guy, assuming you will be too. You're going to be give a route with fuel stops. Going off that route is usually going to be less efficient fuel, time or distance wise and you will possibly be questioned or charged for those out of route miles, so I don't really care about construction or weather. I know that I'll be driving the same interstate despite conditions, and I know that If I try going through a large city at rush hour, it's going to be a delay, if I go through a really big city, it'll be slow and if I go through a really big city at rush hour, I can get a half hour break in on the interstate.

You're going to have a lot more to worry about than trip planning around certain conditions for quite a while, lol.

 

For very current traffic conditions I use google maps on my phone and select traffic. It will show me if there is a big deal going on. I use it to judge construction zones and my route through cites. In my experience there is often two or three choices on route that are very similar in miles and time.

 

Hey dude, what's the matter with doing that??? I love sitting in smelly seats and watching back2back2back2back2back2back episodes of Law and Order, especially when I'm there for a 34-hour reset.

 

Me too. Other traffic reporting means (such as through a traffic enabled GPS) are often terribly outdated, often to the tune of 45+ minutes. With Google, an accident happens ahead, and within 2-5 minutes of the actual incident and the slow-down begins, Goggle will indicate this. Even in relatively remote sections of interstate, which is the second best part.

 

I have used MS Streets & Trips (2010 now) for years even pulling my car trailer and has worked well.
I just down loaded the "push pins" for trucks & RV's and added it so I have it on hand.

I also use a car GPS when traveling with out the car trailer and has worked good but when I start driving a real truck I will pick up a truck GPS to add to my road maps and MS Streets & Trips.

As for traffic as said big city & rush hours you will hit traffic so park & wait or just deal with it.
Construction not worth going around it just do go thru it during rush hour.
Dave ----

 

I was thinking of getting one of those Ipads with the cellular feature and using GPS apps on it, big enough to see and useful for other things. Anyone using them?

 

Well, there is a tool out there.
It's called a brain.
Something a lot of drivers have forgotten how to use.
Trip planning is simple.
It's based on nothing more than some visual acuity, common sense, basic math, ability to read, and most importantly, the ability to ask questions if you're not sure.
If you're smarter than a dimwit, not quite a rocket scientist, then with an atlas, a calculator, and your brain you have all the tools you need.
Now it's just a matter of learning how to use them the right way.