Conquering the Open Road: A Comprehensive Guide to Planning a Road Trip

I'm Bob Bales , and today we're talking about how to plan a road trip Not just check the tire pressure and fill up the gas tank , but how to plan a trip , so it's more than just driving down the interstate . Now , before we start , I want to let you know there are some links in the show notes and products that I use in helpful sites .

A couple of them do pay me a small commission if you use them , but , like I said before , I'm never going to promote anything that I don't personally use or haven't used in the past . So let's get started . Now, you've probably heard it said before that it's not the destination , it's the journey .

Well , that's how I've always looked at my travels , especially road trips . I remember vacations as a kid . They always involved road trips since we would travel to other states hauling our camper trailer behind us .

Our road trips consisted of eating sandwiches for lunch that mom made in the front seat and passed out to everyone , stopping only for gas and bathroom breaks , and the times my father would get fed up with me and my brother I mean my dad was a true athlete .

I was always impressed that he could drive 70 miles an hour down the highway smoking a cigarette , reaching in the backseat with the hands the size of a catcher's mitt , just to whack some sense into my brother and me and do it with deadly accuracy . Now , my dad was a firefighter and he had 30 days of vacation a year .

He always took about three weeks of it in the summer and we would go somewhere . But the road trip started out sometime around February when he would get out the Rand McNally road map and start planning the route .

He would calculate total miles , how much gas needed to be used , based on the car's gas consumption , distances and time between stops , camping sites , places of interest along the way . Before long he had his detailed plan with the route marked , total mileage , total cost of gas , and he knew what he needed to save up for the trip come summertime .

But the road trips of my youth fueled my passion for travel , learning about new places and led my interest in history , since we always stopped at historic locations . Now almost every blog post , article or guide out there about planning road trips lists the same things .

So let's get them out of the way , just so you can check the box , and then we'll get into the meat of the subject Prepping your vehicle for the trip and packing . Now I'm going to lump both of these into one subject , because it's really not that hard Check the oil , tires , brakes and make sure your vehicle's maintenance is up to date .

Consider packing a car emergency kit . Pick one that's suits your needs . I mean, they have a wide variety of kits that contain jumper cables , flares , tow straps , first aid kits and so on . Just pick one that'll give you a piece of mind in case something happens on the trip . Buy them off of Amazon for anywhere from $20 to over $100 .

Now , since you're on a road trip , you can pack everything in the car , just cram it in the vehicle and go . But you don't want to do that . So pack comfortable shoes , with a few changes in clothes , of course , any medications and snacks for the road . Consider a small ice chest for drinks and a flashlight .

I carry a small mini light that fits easily in my pocket and it's really bright and costs two or three dollars . Just because you're in a vehicle , don't over pack . Keep it simple . And that pretty much covers prepping your vehicle , and packing . Now let's get to the important stuff Planning your route . Okay , the first thing you need is a Rand McNally roadmap .

No , you really don't . I know everyone likes using their cell phone for everything these days , but I like using my laptop when it comes to planning trips . I can easily bounce between the tabs doing research on several things and have multiple tabs open without losing track of one another .

And , yes , you can do that on a cell phone , but either I'm just too technically disadvantaged or it's just easier on a laptop . For instance , I'm planning a trip to Gulf Shores , Alabama , in a few months . So I go to Google and I put in Houston and Gulf Shores and click on the map view .

It tells me it's a little over an eight hour drive and it's easy . Get on Interstate 10 out of Houston head east till you get to Mobile . Gulf Shores is a few miles south of Mobile , right . However , I don't plan on just driving nonstop . I want to see a few things along the way .

So , looking at Google Maps , I can see alternate routes , check to see if I want to stop along the way and check something out . Which means on this trip I'll probably get off Interstate 10 somewhere around Mississippi and drive along Highway 90 down coastal Mississippi and explore some of that area a little bit .

When I do this , for most road trips I usually take back roads , because not that Highway 90 is a back road , but I find it taking alternate routes and back roads and just getting off the Interstate I really find some interesting places, Instead of just hitting cruise control , sitting on the Interstate for eight hours at 70 miles an hour .

So when it comes to planning your trip , do it the easy way . Just go to Google Maps , put in your destination , look at a few alternate routes . It'll tell you everything you need to know, how many miles , how long it should take you to get there , toll roads , just all kinds of info . Next is accommodation options . For this you have a lot of options .

You can rent an RV for a few days or a week . Just stay in RV parks . Like I said , when I was a kid , we had a camper trailer . We stayed at state and national parks all along our route . You can go for luxury hotels , resorts , vacation rentals , budget hotels . There's just a lot of options .

If you're going to stay at your destination for several days , you might want a resort there . But if you're planning on stopping along the way, you can look at all sorts of options . Some parks offer cabin rentals , and I'm not talking some broken down cabin in the woods , I'm talking some really nice places .

Or, book a comfortable budget hotel somewhere along the way . Check out the reviews on several of the booking sites to get a feeling for the place . Is it clean , safe and a good location ? Those are the things I look for .

Unless I'm going to spend lots and lots of time at that hotel , those are the only things that matter to me , because I'm only there to sleep anyway . I want a clean place , a safe place and a decent location . I'll put a few resources in the show notes so you can look at some of the things that I check out whenever I travel .

Alright , now you're on a road trip , so you want to capture memories and you want to be road safety conscious .

So everyone has a cell phone that has a camera, and a lot of people also have digital cameras that they take on trips . So use them . Take more photos than you think is necessary . The nice thing about today's cameras is , unlike the old 35mm cameras, if you don't like the photo , just delete it .

More important is to take a little insurance along the way , and by that I mean a dash cam . Now , Rexing is a great company and they have a lot of options for dash cams . I love this company . Dash cam prices range from anywhere around 50 to 300 dollars , depending on what you want .

Dash cams can capture things that happen on the road trip that you may not have time to pull out a cell phone and capture . Dash cams also capture the important things like accidents , road rage from other drivers , weather incidents and just cool stuff along the way . All of this comes in real handy if you ever want to make an insurance claim .

I'll give you an example . I was traveling on a road trip through Iowa in a rental car a few years ago and a deer ran across the highway . I mean within a split second . I never saw it coming , came up an embankment and the first thing I saw it was in front of me .

I hit that thing doing 70 miles an hour , totally destroyed the front of my car , airbags deployed and , of course , the deer had a bad day .

Now , I didn't have a dash cam , but luckily the truck driver behind me, that was traveling on the interstate behind me, he witnessed the whole accident and he told the authorities what happened , that in a split second , deer ran across the highway . No way for me to react . But it would have been a whole lot easier if I had a dash cam to show .

Just get one , trust me . The peace of mind is worth it . Plus , you capture some really cool video along the way . I'll put a link to Rexing in the show notes , and they have great reviews . You can't go wrong with this company . But even if you go with a different company , trust me , just get a dash cam .

You may never need one , but come the time you do need one and you don't have one , you'll regret it . Alright , now you're on a trip . You got to eat sometime , so let's talk about your food and dining adventures while you're on the road . Some people take a road trip and they get hungry along the way .

They just see a fast food place along the side of the highway and they stop and grab something , or they get something from the gas station . When they stop for gas Unless you are lucky enough to be traveling in a state , such as Texas or a few others , that has a Buccee's then gas station food usually isn't that great .

For those that know Buccee's , then you know when you see one . It's time to stop . For those that don't know , Buccee's think mega gas station with up to 100 pumps or more and the inside sells everything from clothes to barbeque pits , smoked sandwiches , smoked brisket sandwiches , fudge, breakfast sandwiches . Well , just trust me , it's worth a stop .

When I plan my route using Google , I know what time I plan on leaving and I look for approximately where I will be at certain times . Let's take this trip to Gulf Shores . I'm planning on going on . I plan on leaving around 2 o'clock in the morning .

Couple of reasons I can get out of Houston , get away from the metropolitan area , before there's any morning traffic going on . It's nice and quiet at 2 in the morning . I can roll down the window a little bit, liight my cigar , sip my coffee and hit the road . I also plan on stopping along the way .

So I want to be able to leave early enough so I can see a few things and get into my destination early enough to relax and see a few things when I get there as well .

So I plan on leaving very early in the morning and I know approximately where I'll be come Breakfast time, and I know it'll probably be somewhere around Bay St Louis or Gulfport , Mississippi . So , once again , using Google Maps , I search for restaurants or breakfast .

Just put that in the search terms Around those areas and I zoom in and they'll let you hit search this area" and you'll come up with all kinds of places . Now I like to try local restaurants when I travel , not the chain restaurants or the fast food places .

So when I do this , I get Google reviews , I can check out what the place looks like and I can always cross-reference it with some place like Yelp to get some other reviews , which I find Yelp and Google reviews are . They're not always accurate , but if there's enough of them in there , you can take it pretty much accurately .

Yeah , you may have a bad experience when you go somewhere , but if I see somewhere that's got 4.8 stars on Google reviews and there's 300 of them , chances are it's a pretty good place to eat . So you like seafood ? Search for that . Barbecue ? The same thing , and anything else .

If you're traveling in Florida and you want to sample Key Lime Pie , then type in Key Lime Pie , hit the search button in Google Maps . It'll tell you all kinds of restaurants that serve it . If you want to stop and check out a distillery or a winery or a brewery on your trip , or you want to try something that the state is known for or something new .

Just do a Google search on it , look at the reviews and check the Yelp reviews . I also love to hit local cigar shops when I travel , so , along the way I'm hitting these towns , I'm looking in Google Maps for cigar lounges and if a couple of interesting ones pop up , well , trust me , I will be stopping there and checking them out .

So, so far we've learned to use Google Maps for planning out your route and looking for places to eat and things to do along the way . But here's the biggest thing explore along the way . If you get off the interstate and take some alternate routes , you can discover some really interesting things on your trip .

It might be a roadside attraction or an interesting store that you see passing through a small town , or one of a thousand things that you would have never known about if you hadn't done just a little bit of exploring . Now , whether I'm at my destination or en route to my destination , I always explore the surrounding areas .

I've discovered interesting museums , wineries , an olive oil farm , restaurants , roadside attractions and historic sites on my travels , just by taking the time to do a little exploring while heading to a destination . So let's recap Make sure your vehicle is in good shape . Pack what you need , but don't overpack .

Plan your route and consider taking the back roads , or at least get off the interstate for part of the trip . Consider all your accommodation options . Get a dash cam for safety and peace of mind . Check Google Maps for restaurants that you might want to try and do some exploring on your trip . That's my usual process when it comes to road trips .

I do add a couple of others in there , but they're specific to me , like packing plenty of cigars and making sure I start off with a huge cup of black coffee . But road trips can be a lot of fun . If you have young kids , it's something that they will remember for the rest of their lives .

And if you have older kids , well , hopefully they get along with each other . You know the way air travel is these days, I will gladly take a road trip when I can .

Instead of having the hassle of getting to the airport , dealing with crazy air travelers , long lines at the TSA , overcrowded and overbooked flights , flight delays and nutcase passengers and flight attendants who would rather be anywhere else . Travel is about the people you meet , the stories you collect and the memories that stay with you for years .

So make your next trip and every trip afterwards , a memorable one . Thanks for tuning in to the Traveling Fool podcast . I hope you enjoyed it and get something out of it that you can use . Please take a moment to leave a review , subscribe and share it with your friends , and stay tuned for more tips , destinations and travel news in our future episodes .

Thanks again .