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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / July 2007Route planning and road grade.
Hello, We are planning our first out of state trip with the trailer. The idea of going through the mountains makes my wife nervous. Is there any computer routing software that helps plan a trip, and you can set a max grade? Free preferred, but will do paid if someone that has used it, and likes it. Thanks Matt : Hello, : [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] : grade? Free preferred, but will do paid if someone that has used it, and : likes it. Don't know about the software issue, but in my case, it's not the grades so much that makes my wife nervous. It's the turns, particularly on the downhill portion. As others have said, if you stay on the interstates and take it easy on the descents, she will probably be fine. "Generally" speaking southern routes are less mountainess (I know, not really a word) than northern routes > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Thanks Matt I don't know any software that does that, but pick a route and then check the Mountain Directory West and/or the Mountain Directory East to see if their are significant grades on that route. If you find unacceptable grades, just modify your route. These books are available at http://www.mountaindirectory.com/ Generally you won't find grades over 6% on interstates, I-70 west of Denver has some 7% however. Ron > going through the mountains makes my wife nervous. Tell her to relax. My wife is quite afraid of being "close to the edge" when on mountain roads. (I do all the driving.) We took our L-O-N-G pickup up the Fall River Road in Estes Park a few years ago. This is a SERIOUS, old mountain road with several "switch-backs", a few at which I had to stop and back-up a bit in order to make the turn. Leslie simply averted her eyes from the edge and was OK. It helped that I didn't make any jokes or frivolous moves in order to "thrill" her. She was thrilled enough - but quite patient and surprisingly calm. Unless you plan to traverse tertiary (3rd) roads, or your wife has a propensity to fret over "nothing", you/she should be OK in the mountains.  Signature:) JR >> going through the mountains makes my wife nervous. > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > thrilled > enough - but quite patient and surprisingly calm. Actually Jim, that road is a piece of cake, but then we take a lot of back roads. We took that road a couple of years ago in our crew cab long bed dually. Like you said there was a switch-back or two that we had to back up and turn again to make it around the corner. We have been on a road in WY and another in MT where we couldn't go back up hill with our rear axel drive only dually. Those get your attention, you have no choice but to continue down hill. We now have a crew cab long bed dually 4x4 so hopefully we won't have that problem again. <g> By the way, my wife says she will never again ride with me down the west side of Flathead Pass in MT. It is a seldom maintained dirt road that drops 1,730' in 4.1 miles, but when you first start down the west side you drop 1,000' in 1.7 miles! Ron > Unless you plan to traverse tertiary (3rd) roads, or your wife has a > propensity to fret over "nothing", you/she should be OK in the mountains. > We took our L-O-N-G pickup up the Fall River Road in Estes Park a few years > ago. This is a SERIOUS, old mountain road with several "switch-backs", a few > at which I had to stop and back-up a bit in order to make the turn. > -- > :) > JR Last year we were going to Estes Park. I am not sure which road we took, but the main road was shut down do to an accident. We ( 2- 40 ft MH's and class C with a trailer) were re-routed up another road that also had the traffic coming down out of Estes Park. Semi's and all. On some turns we had to stop to let the other traffic go so that we could make the turn and sometimes they would stop to let us go on the next turn. We were behind a semi and it was a pretty good grade. The semi could only travel about 10-15 MPH. It took a long time to get there and it was pretty close to the edge of the pass most of the way. Hank <~~~likes em tight >Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >Thanks Matt If you use Garmins ToPo map software you can see the actually terain i the area in question. It does not show percentage of grade but the contor lines will give you a real good idea what you are dealing with. It is quite detailed and zoomable and runs on a PC without even owning a Garmin GPS but if you own a handheld map one, you can even upload the ToPo maps to unit and it will show you where you are at on the map (or likewise if you have a GPS receiver hooked up to PC) You can usually find it on Ebay for 75 to 100 bucks. I have it and it is pretty sweet. ----------------- TheSnoMan.com >>Hello, >> [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > ----------------- > TheSnoMan.com DeLorme's Topo maps software will do the same thing plus give you a profile of the route. Ron >>> Hello, >>> [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Ron I second Ron's first suggestion that you purchase the Mountain Directory. Not only will it tell you how steep the grades are, it also gives you information on places to pull off the road which is not a bad idea if you are climbing steep grades on warm days. Your transmission will thank you. The Mountain Directory also gives you the entire trip through the grade, like when climbing over a pass. You are much better prepared for the ups and downs. Give it to the wife and have her read it to you as you travel so you are getting the info in real-time. It will keep her occupied and not looking out of the window <g> Personlly, uphill never bothered me. I was much more disturbed by downhill SignatureJanet Wilder Bad spelling. Bad punctuation Good Friends. Good Life > Give it to the wife and have her read it to you as you travel >so you are getting the info in real-time. It will keep her occupied and >not looking out of the window My wife used to get sick reading in car. Reading going through mountains does not sound like a good combo too me. ----------------- TheSnoMan.com >>>> Hello, >>>> [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > Personlly, uphill never bothered me. I was much more disturbed by downhill Janet is right, hardly anyone loses control and goes over the edge on those long steep up hill grades. <g> The down grades shouldn't be bad if you are prepared and going a reasonable speed in the proper gear when you start down hill. On our way back from south TX every spring we travel through La Grange, TX on US 77. Just before crossing the Colorado River south of La Grange there is a 3/4 mile stretch where the road drops over 200 feet (a little over 5% average grade) and has many sharp turns. They slow you down to 25 mph and I drop down to 1st gear where I accelerate to maintain 25 on the 'straight sections' and just let off the accelerator to slow for the curves. I later found out that I had no trailer brakes when we came down that hill this past spring. Get the Mountain Directory, it will guide you step by step through grades that may cause you a problem. Ron >>>>> Hello, >>>>> [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] > > Ron Remember, these mountain directories only cover the main roads. The other roads can be scary! We took a country road from the Shenandoah valley up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had a 26 ft Minnie Winnie and were towing a small Saturn. The road was steep, twisty and narrow with no place to stop and it was cut into a nearly vertical cliff. We made it, but I am sure the transmission was hurting. On another trip to Roan Mountain in East Tennessee we lost our brakes due to overheating coming down the mountain. I managed to get into a cut on the wrong side of the road and let the brakes cool down. Later we found both front rotors cracked badly. Scary again. Neither of these roads are listed in the Mountain Directory. We enjoy our RV. Enjoy yours. Just be safe. John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee > Remember, these mountain directories only cover the main roads. The > other roads can be scary! We took a country road from the Shenandoah [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > We enjoy our RV. Enjoy yours. Just be safe. The Mountain Directories *I* had listed plenty of non-main roads including some in National Parks. If, on the rare occasion, we could not find a route we wanted to take in the directory, we just didn't take it. Our method of travel was a little different than yours. We checked things in advance before we got into trouble. SignatureJanet Wilder Bad spelling. Bad punctuation Good Friends. Good Life >> Remember, these mountain directories only cover the main roads. The >> other roads can be scary! We took a country road from the Shenandoah [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > Our method of travel was a little different than yours. We checked > things in advance before we got into trouble. After I got in trouble, I discovered the books and bought them. Now I avoid that kind of trouble. I went out to the RV and got the books to check the road. The section of road we took up to the Blue Ridge Parkway is in the eastern mountains book for Virginia. It is Virginia Highway 43 and I quote: "The westbound decent on highway 43 from the Parkway junction toward Buchanan is almost 4 1/2 miles of very steep grade. The upper 3 1/2 miles are about 10% with very sharp curves and several hairpin turns. It is a narrow two lane road. The last mile at the bottom of the hill is 6 to 7%. Use caution on this road. There is a sign on I-81 that says RV's and trailers are not recommended on this highway." We went up this road, not down! We entered from a side road, not from I-81 so we did not see the warning. John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee > > Remember, these mountain directories only cover the main roads. The > > other roads can be scary! We took a country road from the Shenandoah [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Bad spelling. Bad punctuation > Good Friends. Good Life- I agree that having a "Plan A" is best. BUT! You always run into situations that aren't covered in any travel book. Books and plans can't see the future, therefore, it doesn't matter when an accident forces you to go around it and taking a narrow, steep side road. That's why you have a "Plan B". In Plan B, you practice driving your rig so that these situations don't confuse or scare you. Hank <~~~~likes Plan O s**t why not tell the wife to worry about the needlepoint and you and the truck will worry about the mountain? SignatureSteve Barker > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Thanks Matt > why not tell the wife to worry about the needlepoint It's "counted cross-stitch". Get it right. Sheesh! <big grin> Signature:) JR |
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