Camp sites

[Pippie]

Can anyone tell me what apps exist and are best. Is there a app one can use while traveling to find camp sites near where you are if you want to rest for the night. I bought a trailer and will be towing it in a suv.

Just want to know so when I do travel I know how to find good camp grounds with hook ups for water electricity etc

Thank you

[CMHM]

There’s many, I use Campendium mostly and then often double check on Google Maps for satellite views.

[Lily&Me]

I like the AllStays app.

Maggie

[Dennis C]

For quick overnight stays, we often use KOA campgrounds. They have an app. KOA campgrounds are typically not anything special, but they’re clean, reliable, and close to major highways. They’re a bit like the Holiday Inn of campgrounds.

[moosetags]

We use rvparky.com and have for many years. There is also a smartphone app. In the app there is a "campground near me" button. hit it and it will give you campgrounds within about twenty miles. it also shows Walmarts and Cracker Barrels.


As we rarely make any advance reservations, this one works best for us.


Brian

[MikeandCarol]

Campendium, AllStays and Ultimate US Public Campgrounds.

[Mollysdad]

I swore I could go anywhere using Allstays and Gas Buddy.

[Mikemdd]

Note that Allstays is Apple only.....no Android

[Acheron2010]

I create an overview of my trip using Google Maps, identifying places I want to visit. Then I use RVTripWizard to identify local campgrounds. Then I use the HarvestHost member site to see if there are local places to stay for free overnight.
Then back to Google Maps to identify potential alternate routes, gas stations, grocery stores and medical facilities. I take notes on my iPhone to program my truck GPS for that day's travel. More than once I have had to use WAZE to find a place when my GM GPS strayed from my destination.

[Rich W]

Like Brian/Moosetags, I use RVParky. It's a great little free app for your phone. It finds campgrounds around you or you can enter a city. It will tell you how far it is to any place you select and you can filter the places that appear on the map (select or deselect). It gives reviews from campers, last reported prices and other information. You can even save your favorite spots for future reference.

The developer used to sell this app but now he just lets it go for free. What a nice guy.

[Fungus]

This is great info.

One thing I would add is that we avoid interstates if possible. They are generally an unpleasant driving experience, especially through urban areas. Google and the truck's nav seem to want me on the interstate. "In a quarter-mile do a u-turn if possible."...over and over again. Or "turn down the ridiculously narrow dirt road to save one minute." No thanks.

So I plan a route a few nights before departure and put it in the Google Sheets doc for the trip. The night before departure, I program the route into Google maps with multiple stops...Star City AR to Tyler TX would have stops in Monticello, Waldo, and Atlanta (TX). The truck's nav gets the final destination. Plugging in the stops along the way keeps the nonsense mentioned above from happening. I listen to Google mostly. I cancel the stop a few miles before reaching it so that the nav doesn't take me to the center of the town. Satellite view verifies that the road is not that narrow dirt road.

[gypsydad]

Wife uses RV Parky almost exclusively while we are on the road. Reviews, phone numbers, rates, etc. We also joined VFW who offer RV parking in many locations. I don't use Walmart and have not tried Cracker Barrel or Cheddars, however there are many who do.. We also have Wrights Guide to Free and low cost camping...used to use this guide a lot, before we got RV Parky App...lots of places you never would find otherwise, usually hardly anyone there is my recollection. Many out there.

[Jim J]

Originally Posted by Mikemdd

Note that Allstays is Apple only.....no Android

I have Allstays PRO on my Android and my home desktop windows based computer.

Works fine.

[Mikemdd]

Originally Posted by Jim J

I have Allstays PRO on my Android and my home desktop windows based computer.

Works fine.

I read that they are no longer supporting Android. However, if it works, thats great.

[krgolding]

Trip Wizard Pro is great.

[first choice]

We use Good Sam which also gives you a Three Number rating for each campground. Your feedback effects the numbers.

[davidlbriggs]

RV TripWizard is the only app that I know of that will allow you to plan your day's drive by either distance or time. It will draw concentric circles either "as the crow flies" OR BY ACTUAL MILES TO TRAVEL in a day.



Plus a ton of other features like picking your favorite map tool for navigation or using the default that will calculate time and distance by a specific speed; no more multiplying by a factor to accommodate slower than the speed limit progress.



It will avoid tunnels (propane issues) and keep you off roads where an RV should not go.


You can drag the determined route to a different road in case you want to drop in on the in-laws. Not sure why you would do that, but safer than dropping in on an old girlfriend with the missus in the jump seat.



Can't say enough good things about it!



Two cons I can think of are the lack of a feature rich POI filter and selection tool. It could be stronger. And, not having a complete set of functionality on the mobile app. Some things have to be done on a PC.


FOR $30 or $40 a year you cannot go wrong.


Oh, and NO ADVERTISING!



Cheers!

[Pippie]

You gave me lots to think about too. Thx. What I did not understand is your comment about propane and tunnels? I’ve not hit the road yet so hauling a trailer will be my first. Can you educate me about the propane comment please?

I guess I should have my laptop with me too?

[davidlbriggs]

This article from RV trip wizard explains it. https://www.rvtripwizard.com/rv-info...nks-in-tunnels


I take my laptop everywhere I go for several reasons. So no big deal for me.



For the most part anything you can do to edit a trip can be done on the mobile device, but you will want a computer to start a new trip or make significant changes to an existing trip.