Using The Internet for a More Efficient Road Trip

[Grey1618]

Hello Everyone,

I have a slightly off-topic question for the forum that I thought a bunch of productivity and efficiency minded people might be able to help with. I'm planning a road trip across the United States this summer that will be my third major cross-country trek.

However, the world has changed since I last went cross country. Back then, GPS was new and still quite a trick. Now we live in a post Web 2.0 world and I was wondering if any of you know of some tools that can help harness the power of the Internet to make a road trip more efficient.

Two examples of the kind of thing I'm thinking about are roadsideamerica.com and trapster.com The first is a user created collection of all those quirkily American road side stop that a person can visit. It's really easy to use a site like this to quickly find some things worth seeing.

The second is perhaps more practical, in that it's an application for your iPhone that helps you avoid speed traps set up by the police.

Anyway, if you know of any ways to leverage the Internet to make a road trip more efficient, productive or safe I'd love to hear about it.

I'll send you a postcard : )

Thanks in advance,

-Grey

 

[TesTeq]

Are the US police speed traps unsafe?

The second is perhaps more practical, in that it's an application for your iPhone that helps you avoid speed traps set up by the police.

Anyway, if you know of any ways to leverage the Internet to make a road trip more efficient, productive or safe I'd love to hear about it.

Are the US police speed traps unsafe? Or not efficient? ;-)

 

[Day Owl]

@TesTeq: Neither unsafe nor inefficient, but often productive.

@Grey1618: Dare I suggest that you simply drive at the speed limit? Or do I hear manic laughter from various corners of the board?

 

[Oogiem]

@Grey1618: Dare I suggest that you simply drive at the speed limit? Or do I hear manic laughter from various corners of the board?

Now now, don't encourage him to drive more slowly, some of the smaller rural communities depend on income from fining tourists hitting speed traps ;-)

Only partly joking, we are in tourist season now in my area, the big clash comes when the tourists trying to drive fast on narrow 2 lane roads (that are like 4 lane highways compared to Welsh roads ) hit the combination of many road bicyclists stretching their limits in the Rocky Mountains (and wobbling on the non-existent shoulders) combined with haying season when anyone with a swather, baler or stack wagon hits the roads to try to get all the hay cut, baled and picked up in between rainstorms. It's a good season for the cops to get their quota of tickets written. ;-)

 

[Grey1618]

I love the assumption that I'm going to be speeding : ) Trust me, you don't drive back-and-forth across the country several times without learning that speeding isn't worth it. I always stay at the limit -- both because driving 10mph faster doesn't really get you to your destination any faster and because I don't like the stress.

I love the speed trap app because I've found that small-town cops can be a bit over-zealous with their jobs. If I know there's a trap ahead, I'll make sure to be going well under the limit to not give them any excuse.

 

[Oogiem]

I love the speed trap app because I've found that small-town cops can be a bit over-zealous with their jobs. If I know there's a trap ahead, I'll make sure to be going well under the limit to not give them any excuse.

Not overzealous, just doing their part to provide critical income for the towns involved ;-)