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Road Trip
Access Magazine · May 13, 2001

The 1,240-mile drive from Tacoma, Wash., to Durango, Colo., can be a grueling one, especially in the dead of summer. So when Randy Balogh and wife Marisa decided to make the trek with their two teenagers, they wanted a pleasant, well-planned route. And, they had a mission.

"We were interested in seeing as many national parks along the way as we could," says Balogh, a computer consultant in Tacoma. "Finding them on a map was easy, but getting the kind of information we wanted wasn't." Coordinating a three-week driving schedule meant he needed park hours, lodging options and details about park attractions.

Balogh turned to the Web and eventually found the National Park Service's ParkNet site, which offers detailed information on everything from the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area to Zion National Park. The site includes helpful tips for motorists who want to take a detour into one of the parks, with information on locations and admission costs. "It made planning our vacation convenient," he says.

ParkNet helped Balogh plan a vacation to places like Canyonlands National Park in Utah, where his family marveled at the dramatic Wingate Sandstone cliffs, and to Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado, where fossilized skeletons protrude from the quarry rock face.

He's in good company. More than 59 million travelers used the Internet last year to find information about destinations or to check prices or schedules, according to the Travel Industry Association of America.

The Net can be a motorist's best friend. Destination ideas, directions, lodging and restaurants can all be found online. Sure, you could have your motor club or travel agent take care of the planning, or you could buy a bunch of travel books and do your own research. But the Web, with all of its travel sites, regional guides, obscure roadside attractions and serendipitous connections, will turn up things to do and places to go that otherwise would not have occurred to you.

Gwendolynn Gawlick, author of the soon-to-be-published book "Roadgirl Bible" and upcoming Web site, uses the Net not just for practical matters like directions but as a source of inspiration. This summer she plans to drive across the United States in a 1965 Ford Mustang. As she usually does on road trips, she'll be taking the Internet with her, using her laptop to log on to AOL. "I usually log on in the morning at a motel and in the evening when I check in," she says. "I can plan my itinerary for the next day, get maps, etc." She also researches before hitting the road, looking for possible side trips. "That way, if you have extra time, you already know what you want to do," she says. She prints out items of interest and puts them in a binder, organized by region. This binder also serves as a handy trip log for her summer vacation. Gawlick also uses the discussion boards at Journeywoman and Vagabunda! to consult other travelers. To scout out possible events along her route, she uses FestivalFinder and WhatsGoingOn.com.

Blacktop wanderers who dream of taking a trip like Gawlick's will love Road Trip USA, a site that celebrates the romance of the American highway. It's a companion to a paperback of the same name, but author Jamie Jensen doesn't use the site to hard-sell the book. He describes some of the country's classic highways, including Route 66. Along the way, he adds historical details and suggests stops.

Like Gawlick, Molly Dawson swears by MapQuest.com, one of the best-known mapping sites. Dawson, a consultant, used printouts from the site for door-to-door directions when she moved from Lincoln, Neb., to Somerville, Mass., two years ago and made the two-day road trip into a vacation of sorts.

At MapQuest.com and most other mapping sites, you type your point of departure and your destination. The site then charts a course, offering detailed instructions and a map that can be printed or downloaded onto a personal digital assistant, such as a Palm handheld. But MapQuest.com sometimes comes up short when you need it most; when you're trying to find your way through less-traveled areas, it will sometimes offer vague directions to turn onto "unnamed" streets. That's why it's a good idea to pack a road atlas as fallback.

If you tend to highlight your route on a map with a marker or pencil, you'll like MapBlast!. Its new LineDrive Directions feature traces your route with an easy-to-follow line, eliminating some of the guesswork when you're in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

It's a good idea to check Rand McNally's updates on road construction. You can also use the site to find lodging and attractions. CarPoint gives traffic updates for major metropolitan areas.

Finding reasonably priced roadside lodging online isn't much different than looking for the best deal on any other vacation. Debra Jourdan, a Memphis, Tenn., office manager, takes a road trip at least once a year to Gulf Shores, Ala., with her husband, Jeff, and their son's family. She recently discovered a site called ResortQuest, which offers specials on condominiums and hotels at popular vacation destinations. ResortQuest offers 18,000 vacation condos and homes in 42 locations across the country (although it offers little in the Midwest). At off-peak times, the rates on some properties are lower than those at mid-range hotels. Jourdan saves about $600 a week on vacations by clicking on the Specials section and traveling during the off-season. "I plan our vacations around the special offers," she says. "But the benefit is that we get to stay in a bigger condominium, and now we never want to go back to a hotel."

Most national hotel chains, including Motel 6 and Days Inn, allow you to find and book rooms online, but one of the most convenient lodging sites for long-distance motorists is Best Western's. Its trip planner helps you plot a route and shows the location of hotels along the way. You can select from Best Westerns located anywhere from a mile to five miles off your route. (Often, the farther from the highway you get, the better the rates.) You can also check room availability and book directly online.

The best hotel deals generally come to those who plan their trips at least two weeks in advance, but should you find yourself stranded without a room, try Hotwire and LastMinuteTravel.com. Both sell hotel rooms (in many chains) that would otherwise go unused. If you find a room, check with the hotel to see what the going rate is for that night; sometimes hotels will offer even lower rates when you call them directly.

A big concern facing just about anyone driving a considerable distance is the price of gas. The Net might help you find the lowest prices in a given area. Several Web sites try to track fuel costs across the country, such as GasPriceWatch, but their accuracy is spotty.

Although limited to one interstate, USAStar's I-95 Exit Information Guide does a good job. Besides its gas price update, the site is an excellent, wide-ranging resource for anyone traveling the East Coast route. Although the Net can't lower the price at the pump, taking a spin on the information highway before you hit the road is a good way to plan your summer vacation. You'll find information on everything from lodging to meals to roadside attractions. You'll probably even discover a place you never thought of visiting.

Christopher Elliott is a journalist and commentator based in Annapolis, Md. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.