Trip planning

Location, Home in CA

I got a little damp this morning during my walk. It started to drizzle just after I left the house. We have had a lot of overcaste mornings but few of the coastal drizzle starts to the day. I am definitely ready for some warmer weather.

I have been looking at possible camp sites for our trip this summer. I use Microsoft Streets and Trips to plan my route and also find campsite locations. Google Earth gives me a “bird’s” eye view of the camp sites. In some cases it is a fuzzy view if I zoom in to far but it is good enough to see the general detail and location of camp sites.

Streets and Trips provides routes, mileage, driving times and an estimate of fuel usage. I can print copies of maps and routes to use on the road. Generally I only print details of a route if I am unfamiliar with it or it is some complicated route within a city. I do the trip in segments and store those segments for later recall. This has worked well for several years.

I guess the next step would be a GPS. I have thought about it but the displays are generally so small that it is difficult to operate them while driving. I am not a fan of the talking display. I think it is too distracting. I have a friend who uses a fairly large LCD screen mounted where the glove box is on the passenger side to display his route while traveling. This really is superior but does intrude on the passenger space. Again, it is just one more distraction while driving.