How to plan a road trip

This week, my wife and I are excited to welcome a missionary couple who serves in one of the more dangerous and difficult parts of the world. Because they come from and minister in a very poor region, they have never been inside a motorhome, much less traveled in one. So we’ve decided to give them the full RV experience. 

We’ll start out by heading to Sherwood, Arkansas, just north of greater Little Rock to visit my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.  From there, we’ll wander southwest to Longview, Texas, so I can visit my alma mater, LeTourneau University, and reconnect with some old friends there. Then we’ll point the big rig back toward home in Warner Robins. The whole loop will be well over 2,000 miles.

At 82 and 77, we don’t take trips like this for granted. When I managed Blue Bird Wanderlodge back in the 1980s, most of our customers had already quit traveling or had at least downsized to smaller rigs long before they reached our age. The Lord has blessed us with remarkably good health for which we are incredibly grateful, to the point that we can still plan and enjoy extended road trips.

So how do we go about planning a journey like this—especially when we’re not all that familiar with many of the roads? Before I tell you the answer to that question I want to walk down memory lane in the 90’s. 

We were living and working in Canada for most of that decade and we traveled quite a bit with the help of AAA. At that time, before GPS, they provided travelers with a trip planning service that included marked up state maps and a special type of “flip chart”  map they called “Trip Tics.” I fondly remember holding those maps in my lap while driving long distances, sometimes while the kids were sound asleep!

These days, with the advent of GPS, that technology is as outdated as 8-track cassette tapes.  In the RV, I use a special GPS from Garmin, made just for RVs that keeps us off of back road bridges that can’t take the extra weight and away from low over passes that would peel off the roof (which reminds me of what almost happened to me on a NY State Parkway; but that’s a story for another time!).  

These days, in addition to the Garmin GPS, I use AI. There are many helpful AI tools available today, most of them free or low-cost, but GROK (built by xAI) has become my favorite. Here is the request I gave it: “Guide us back home from Longview, TX, probably leaving the afternoon of May 20 with interesting things to see and places to stay on our return trip to 31088 about May 25th. We prefer State Parks or similar private campgrounds vs. overnight RV parks along the Interstate.”

In less than a minute GROK returned a detailed, easy-to-follow itinerary that emphasizes state parks with full hookups, pull-through sites big enough for our coach, lakeside views, short hiking trails, and interesting stops—exactly what we were hoping for. It even included booking tips, senior discounts, and reminders to drive in the mornings and rest in the afternoons.

We’ll still make final decisions and adjustments, but having a thoughtful, customized plan already in hand takes a lot of the stress out of the process. Technology may change, but the joy of the open road at any age stays the same.

Safe travels to all my fellow senior RVers out there. And if you haven’t tried GROK yet for trip planning, I highly recommend it.

We’ll let you know how the missionaries enjoyed their first RV adventure when we get back!

Thanks for reading All About Seniors, see you next week!

Bill Milby is a Director of Visiting Angels® of Central Georgia, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at  https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA