I’m moving across the country in a few weeks and am trying to plan my route as I’ll be driving a moving van with a car towed behind it. The entire drive will be 16-17 hours.
Google maps seems limited for searching everything I’d want to take into account for the route (pull through gas stations, height requirements, avoiding mountain highways, etc.) and was wondering if anyone knew of a better way to plan out the trip?
Stick to the interstates, most problems solved.
Not really much else to know/worry about, except for the start/finish legs, where you’ll have to get on state highways and local roads. There you just stick to the largest roads.
The end point, in a city/town, is where you’ll run into difficulties. Even then, typical rental trucks are no longer than 24ft (unless you have a CDL, but if you did, this wouldn’t be a question).
Take a look at your route on Google maps, specifically where you expect to enter your destination.
I’ve moved across country twice so far and this is pretty spot on. The very beginning and very end of the trip is the only point that’s going to be potentially difficult, otherwise you should always be traveling on a major highway if possible.
The only thing I would add is to plan ahead and make sure you know exactly where you’re going to stop and rest for the night with that length of drive. You’re going to want to plan to get to your final destination in early evening when there is a good buffer of sunlight still around or in the early mid-morning so that you can get as early a start as possible on unpacking. Also make sure you have a lock for the back of the moving truck if you’re stopping anywhere overnight and park the truck somewhere you can see it from your hotel window.
Also sunglasses for morning driving. My first solo trip had me riding a curb early in the morning because the sun blinded me so much
I have traveled extensively, and use this to generate my routes. You can restrict toll road usage, it can automatically plan your gas stops and suggest night stops. You can specify day start and end times, restrict the number of driving hours, and can even include brief stops (like for sightseeing) and it will automatically adjust your entire itinerary. You can specify your planned driving in speed in absolute terms, or in relative terms (as a percentage of the expected speed limit), and if you add or remove a point, it will automatically place it into a point in your itinerary which makes the most sense.
It’s amazing.
Copilot RV Navigation app worked well for me.
Look into RV communities. They’ve got a lot of the same requirements that you have with your moving van. There are probably apps for that.
I haven’t looked at the RV apps. But I’ve used TruckerPath with great success before. It’s designed for OTR truckers and might have more than you need or be confusing. But it can set height restrictions and give you a lot of info on truck stops that if they can accommodate an 18 wheeler, they can accommodate you.
Do not take Storrow Drive in Boston, other than that you’ll probably be fine.
My parents used to use AAA TripTiks to plan our trips. Granted this was decades ago in the olden days of paper maps, so I have no idea how good they still are, but apparently they still exist. Worth checking out.
I did a cross-country move about 8 years ago, and just planned each leg of the trip separately. I chose where I wanted to sleep, planned the route to get there, and then did the same for the next leg. There’s really no wrong way to do it as long as you connect the dots and go the way you want to.
Couple of thoughts that come to mind that might help. I’ve done a few long haul trips and it’s daunting. It never helps to buy a US road atlas for like 20$ at Walmart. Take a highlighter and mark whatever route you find in Google on it. There are a few places where there isn’t cell service on the interstate but it’s pretty rare now. This will give you a backup but it also forces you to look at your route. Look at the different cities and note how big they are. Get a general idea of how far apart they are. My thought on this is most vehicles you can get 300 miles to the tank. This will kinda help you plan out approximately where you’ll need to stop and gas up. You can also look at your map and see if you’re good for x more miles or if you stop at this gas station you’re passing.
The other thing is plan on stopping every couple of hours. Get out, walk a few, go pee, buy a snack or pull one out of the cooler. A lot of the rest stops along the interstate are pretty decent but don’t expect hot food in most states. You’ll probably find vending machines at most of them.
A quick google showed me :
Rv trip wizard and Roadtrippers.
No clue if they have the features you want, but worth a try.
Google Maps/Android Auto will route you around any problems on the way, so while it’s good to plan a route, I wouldn’t feel obligated to stick to it if there’s a wreck or a road closure or something.
