Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Apps to use when planning a trip

There are hundreds of apps that you can get to help plan your RV trips.  There are so many that I can't possibly cover them here, so I'll talk about the "big" ones.  These are the ones that you'll see frequently mentioned in discussion forums (like IRV2.com) and in numerous Facebook groups.

Fuel Stops


  1. Allstays Big Truck Stops.  Free app that only shows Flying J, Pilot, Loves, Petro and TA Travel Centers truck stops all over the USA.
  2. Trucker Path.  Shows parking, truck stops, fuel stations, truck washes, hotels and rest areas. Nice thing about this app is that truckers report to the app how full parking is at truck stops/plazas.  You can see if the lots are full or not. 
  3. Allstays Camp and RV. Lots of features, like filtering.  More than 30,000 US and Canadian camp sites with details (including places like Walmarts); truck and rest stops, dump stations, supplies, RV service & low bridges.  
  4. RV Parks and Campgrounds.  Free app, no ads.  Very similar to Allstays Camp and RV.  Shows campgrounds, fuel stops, rest areas, and much more.  Everything is filterable.

There are also apps for individual stops, like myPilot, Love's Connect and TruckSmart.  These are good for rewards programs and detailed stop information, but don't present competitor's stops - so you don't see all of your possible choices when you use them.

Even though I have all of these, we mainly use Allstays Camp and RV.

Campgrounds

  1. Allstays Camp and RV.  Huge database of campgrounds and places to stay.  More than 30,000 US and Canadian camp sites with details (including places like Walmarts); truck and rest stops, dump stations, supplies, RV service & low bridges.  Costs about $10.
  2. RV Parky.  From the Play Store description, "Find over 25,000 listings of RV parks, camp grounds, rest areas, gas stations, and stores. Get information, view pictures, get directions to where you are headed to next."
  3. RV Parks and Campgrounds.  Very similar to Allstays Camp and RV, but not as slick and has no ads.  Shows campgrounds, fuel stops, rest areas, and much more.  Everything is filterable.
  4. RV Park Reviews.  There are several "review" sites on the Internet, but this is probably the best one.  Not only will you find reviews, but you'll get a checklist of campground amenities, links to their web sites, and other contact information.

Trip Routing


  1. RV Trip Wizard.  Great subscription application (about $45 per year).  Let's you plan your trip in sections and computes expenses along the way.  As you select an area, you'll be able to choose campgrounds and easily add them (and all of their info!) to your itinerary.  This is our main planning tool.  For detailed info, go read my post titled Plan your trip with RV Trip Wizard.
  2. Good Sam's Trip Planner.  This online trip-planning tool allows you to find campgrounds and plot your course, but doesn't have all of the bells & whistles included with the RV Trip Wizard.  However, it only cost you a Good Sam's membership and that comes with some other benefits.

Remember:  there are many more apps, but these are the ones that I saw mentioned over and over again in many Internet forums and groups.  We typically use Allstays in combination with RV Trip Wizard, RV Park Reviews, and CoPilot RV Navigation.

 Related Posts:  Trip Planning:  Getting Started and Planning a trip with RV Trip Wizard

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