Our Story

Welcome to our site! We are Joanne & Steve. After 20+ years working for a city school department and police department, we sold almost everything, bought an RV, and started living on the road with our three children. Joanne homeschooled and worked online. Over the years we worked for Jellystone Parks as well as volunteered. We stopped traveling after 7 years and bought a house. Steve continued police work with the National Park Service and Joanne taught Kindergarten. Now that our three kids are adults, we have decided to travel more and explore.
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Friday, January 18, 2013

APPS and Internet and Travel

When you move your home from month to month, especially heading to areas to which you have never been, you put trust in others' opinions and what you read on the internet.  We utilize a few tools when we choose a destination and campground.

Our basic rules are that we want to travel no more than 350 - 400 miles each day when we head to a new place.  We choose areas that we are interested in seeing.  We don't want to only drive interstates; we like to get off and take roads that give us something to look at...but, this can have its perils when it comes to low bridges, construction, and sketchy neighborhoods.

Steve does the research on campgrounds, then we talk about them.

RVParkReveiws.com  is his first stop.

Then, there are Google searches to see if anyone has had any issues with the place.

If a campground doesn't have a website, we dismiss it.

When we narrow down the search to a few possibilities, we check out the surrounding areas to see if they are places we'd feel safe.  (Traveling the country brings a slew of dangers, but that's another post.)
Wiki has city and town stats, including salary level and crime.

Often, our choice is a place that is the hub of the places we want to visit, so that driving to sightsee or engage in museums, fairs, parks, etc, isn't a 5 hour project.


Once we make a choice, and hit the road, it's to the iPhones and some great apps that get us through the trip.

         
Planning
               Google Maps                                                                   
RV Park Reviews
Driving
 
What's coming up at the next several exits on the interstate;  food, fuel, lodging, rest stops, rv & truck friendly? 
What are the prices/ locations of fuel where I want to go?
Where is the next  Travel America truck stop?
Where is the next Pilot truck stop?
Route planner, locations, check your points.
Where is the next Love's truck stop?
Trip Advisor: Locate hotels, things to do, and restaurants.
Keep a journal of the trip; get city guides for cities around the world.
Important while traveling...keeping up with the weather.
Radar, alerts, forecasts, etc.
Community-based  traffic and navigation app; talk with others  about traffic, gas prices, construction, and speed traps.

Destination
Use this when you head to D.C.
iTrans D.C. Metro
GO NOLA...New Orleans
History Here...find the historical places around you

Other Stuff
Cop Radio: listen to local police radio

Police Scanner: listen to local police radio

See who is living nearby 























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