Route Planning

When we were talking with Lessie and Ed back at Hickory Creek, she had mentioned that they used the Rand McNally Motor Carriers Road Atlas to ensure that they were planning to use roads that were accessible to big rigs. When we were in Columbus, we stopped at a Love's Travel Center and went to the back of the store where the truckers would pay for fuel. I had looked up the price of the book on Amazon, and found I could get it cheaper at the Love's (significantly cheaper than the price marked on the book and the Amazon price!). I think we paid under $35 ($29.99 is what is in my mind; Amazon has it listed for $49.99 and it has $79.95 listed on the back).

Lessie had told us that they did not get the "deluxe" edition (it has laminated pages and spiral bound) but since we got it at a good price, we thought the spiral bound would be easier to have it open to a particular page, and that we could mark on it with dry-erase markers if we wanted/needed to.

So, we turned to the map of the area of Texas where we were, and where we were going... roads with an orange highlight are ok for big rigs (the red push-pins designate weigh stations) - it appeared to us that every road in south east Texas was accessible to big rigs! What use was this???

Then we happened to look at New Jersey - it appears almost no roads (other than I-95, the Jersey Turnpike, and the Atlantic City Turnpike) were accessible to big rigs. But... we knew we had driving on the Garden State Parkway - unlike "Parkways" in NY, non-commercial big rigs were ok on it.

In addition, we have signed up for the "Days End Directory" - a $15/year service from Escapees that is a member-sourced list of places that you can stop for the night or for a few minutes. If we're on interstates, we usually count on rest areas for stopping to change drivers or to have lunch, and look for Walmarts for overnight boondocking. But, we knew for this part of our journey in Texas, that wasn't going to be possible. So, we looked up the routes between towns (for example, today was Hondo to Langtry) and copied the various options into a calendar entry that we both would have access to on our phones (even without internet service).

Because of that pre-planning, we knew where several State of Texas (depression era) rest areas with picnic tables were located. Because the Days End Directory is created and maintained by RVers for RVers, it also has information about how easy or hard the site is to access and how many and what size rigs it can accommodate. And... because we share information back,

 The only thing we ask in appreciation of the Directory and related services is your participation - reporting as you travel and use locations in the Directory or notice new ones suitable for inclusion. We’d love to have from you each year at least one new addition, or two substantial updates, or four simple revalidations. (Mix or match - look at it as 4 points needed: addition = 4 points, update = 2 points, revalidation = 1 point.) NOT a requirement, but a request, and we hope folks will understand the importance of it to the extent they are able to help. Day’s End’s future depends on the reports received from its users.

At the end of each subscriber's year after purchase, a renewal fee is asked for continued online Directory Search and Download Access, including access to the interim additions, updates and deletions between Directory editions for those who want them. That fee is waived for those who accumulate 24 or more points in the Reporting Rewards Program during the year. Here is how the points are awarded:
Addition = 4 points
Update or Deletion = 2 points
Revalidation = 1 point

So... we've been submitting updates/revalidations/additions as we've been traveling. I don't honestly know how many points we've accumulated, but maybe we won't need to pay next year!

Finally - this is the Motor Carriers Road Atlas page for the Southwestern part of Texas which includes where we are tonight (Langtry) and on westward - again, almost every road in Texas is highlighted in orange.

The roads we've been on have been nice and wide with good shoulders and passing lanes. The trucks on them are traveling quite fast, but so far we've been able to let them pass pretty expeditiously, so maybe we're not causing too much delay in commerce!