Tag: road trips

Here's my video from day two of my first research trip for Weird Oklahoma, in which I explore some abandoned and purportedly haunted relics.

I can tell you from experience that it takes a lot of research and planning to find out just what lies along a particular route that's worth making a stop for. But OnTheWay, a new trip-planning website, is set to relieve detourists of some of that work.

Enter a starting location and a destination and, using Google Maps, OnTheWay will point out what's available along your given path.

Unfortunately, the database doesn't appear to be all that robust, and the site is lacking a host of useful features, but this is one site to keep an eye on for any avid road tripper.

Heading off to destinations yet unexplored with more friends crammed into the car than can comfortably fit can make for quite the memorable road trip. Yet, "the more, the merrier" can often turn into a tension-filled disaster if you don't make the right plans.

Lindsey from Always the Planner has compiled a list of tips for just such an occasion, offering advice on how best to avoid arguments and make the most of the trip for everyone. Among them is one I always advise for any group of 5 or more:

"Schedule times for the group to break apart during the trip. When putting together your group itinerary, make sure that you leave chunks of time for the group to easily break apart. This allows everyone in the group to do some of the things that they want to do but the rest of the group doesn't. It also breaks up any in-group tension by giving everyone a break from one another if they want it."

Do you have any tips for traveling in groups?

The proliferation of GPS receivers, smart phones and netbooks have changed the way we plan and execute our road trips. Me, I'd say they've improved things dramatically, especially when it comes to making tangential stops and finding nearby places to eat and sleep.

Still, there are those times when connections fail us and we're left in the dark. Plus, we mustn't forget that there are still those of us without such high-tech devices to help us along the way.

In such cases, Google Map Buddy from Augmented Reality Software can be a huge help. Using Google's online repository of maps and satellite imagery, GMB allows you to select a region, then automatically creates a large-scale, high-resolution image ready for print.

Use it to create a big paper map for your next excursion or, if you like, print out a giant aerial view of your home town for a nice wall display. Maybe even make a poster of the entire U.S. that you can use to stick pins in all the places you've been. ... Continued