Preferred trip routing web app that does what it's told (Google MyMaps knows it's smarter than me)

So, Mrs Rotaryracer and I are planning a cross-country drive in the summer of 2023.  I'd like to do the entire trip on Route 50, from Ocean City, MD to West Sacramento, CA...I'm turning the Big Five-0 late this year, so "50 on 50" has a nice ring to it.  :)  Just for grins, I figured I'd try to plot the route in Google MyMaps, knowing that Google Maps will automatically try to route for fastest/easiest/bestest versus sticking slavishly to US-50.  I did the start and finish points and started dragging the route where I wanted it....made it as far as Cincinnati before Google puked and refused to let me drop the line back on Route 50.  I tried a few different ways and in different browsers, but it wasn't happening.

Anyone have any recommendations for a route planning software that will not try to prove it's the smartest sentient being in the room and just let me go how I want, regardless of dumb or slow it may seem?

To throw another wrench in the gears....any recommendations for the above PLUS an EV range/trip calculator similar to ABetterRoutePlanner?  ABRP (at least in my limited attempts at playing with it) won't let you deviate from the route it recommends, which is naturally the fastest with greatest availability of chargers.  I'm not sure if we're actually going to try this in an EV - the whole "Loneliest Road" section on NV/CO/UT looks like it might be remarkably light on chargers - but I'd like to know if it's at least remotely possible.

And....GO!

Regular Google should do it, you just have to trick it.  Turn off highways/interstates, then just keep adding new stops and drop those where you want.  I usually only plan a day's drive in advance though 

Or just use a paper map and have your passenger navigate 

Google maps ain't perfect but I'm on it daily for work purposes.  One of the options it gives you is "avoid highways."  That might be helpful on your desire to stay on Rt50.  

Another thing that might help is keep adding small towns to the list of stop.  Choose towns that are on Rt50.  

I think one of the limitations is that it will only let you add 10 stops to a trip.  So, it can't be an unlimited list of small towns.  But, you don't have to do the trip as all one Google screen.  Try directions to Cincinnati and then start another trip (with 10 stops) from Cincinnati farther west.  

Lastly, Google maps is much easier to manipulate from a laptop screen than it is from a tablet screen.  

Paper?

Rotaryracer said: 

I'm not sure if we're actually going to try this in an EV - the whole "Loneliest Road" section on NV/CO/UT

I drove the loneliest road twice in 2021, once each way. I don't remember seeing an EV charger anywhere. There's only about 3 gas stations even on the 410 miles from Fallon NV to Delta UT.

I've made myself some interesting routes using the "walking" option before but yeah the trick is to turn off highways and try to put a few intermediate points out of the way to fill in the stops. Other times, just have the app open and use it like a regular map by zooming in and out around the area and navigate your own path.

analog travel app

Sounds like a fun trip , 

does AAA have the trip service anymore ?  

Mr_Asa said:

Or just use a paper map and have your passenger navigate 

This sounds way more fun than using the googs.

iansane said:

Mr_Asa said:

Or just use a paper map and have your passenger navigate 

This sounds way more fun than using the googs.

100%

Did a TDY in Port Hueneme, Ca.  Had to drive back to Tallahassee, Fl.  Dad flew out and we took our time heading back.  Dad navigated and we just wandered.  We stopped at every visitor's center we could find and grabbed maps and pamphlets for local attractions.   We went 1500 miles out of our way and didn't get on the interstate till we stopped to see his brother and family in Grapevine, Tx.

buzzboy said:

Rotaryracer said: 

I'm not sure if we're actually going to try this in an EV - the whole "Loneliest Road" section on NV/CO/UT

I drove the loneliest road twice in 2021, once each way. I don't remember seeing an EV charger anywhere. There's only about 3 gas stations even on the 410 miles from Fallon NV to Delta UT.

I did it in 2010 in a SC S2000 and I still cant believe I did not run out of gas, I got the station on fumes. 

Try mapquest or AAA

A while back, I read an article on apps that were being developed for motorcyclists that focused on finding scenic and interesting roads (calimoto, best biking roads, etc.)

Not sure if any of them do navigation, but they could be a way to see at least see options around your planned route.

Maybe I'm over simplifying this, but it sounds like you know the route you want to take, so just do that. Follow signs to stay on 50 forever, if you get to a confusing part stop and look at the map to see how to proceed.

buzzboy said:

Rotaryracer said: 

I'm not sure if we're actually going to try this in an EV - the whole "Loneliest Road" section on NV/CO/UT

I drove the loneliest road twice in 2021, once each way. I don't remember seeing an EV charger anywhere. There's only about 3 gas stations even on the 410 miles from Fallon NV to Delta UT.

There are 6 charging stops on that section between 95 and Delta. Looks like the biggest gap is 147 miles, although there's a 152 mile section that only has a 14-50 (aka RV outlet) charger available in the middle so you'd either want to stay at that campground or plan to go the whole distance without charging.

EV chargers don't tend to have big giant signs on sticks so they're easy to overlook. Also, every RV park with power is an overnight charging opportunity.

FYI.

Microsoft Streets and Trips was the absolute best for this, you bought it on a DVD and could map out as many stops as you want. I miss it much, I wish they would bring it back in some form. 

Google is limited to 10 stops, and it will often re-route you around the things you were trying to visit.  I have tried to use it for some group drives I have planned, but it kinda sucks. You can't start an stop the navigation, its hard to re-route and you have to "cheat" the system to get it to do what you want. 

I have not found any way to do this successfully in another mapping program, I wish someone would add this functionality. 

Thanks all.  I'm going to keep beating on Google Maps a bit and see if I can trick it into doing what I want by adding in destinations at small towns along Route 50.  I was hoping to be able to just do A to B and drag the route to suit, but the Google Overlord isn't permitting that.  Apparently there is a 10 or 25 drag/drop reroute and/or waypoint limit in both Google Maps and Google MyMaps...allegedly there's a way around that in MyMaps using layers, but need to play more with that.  Breaking the trip up into chunks is also probably a way to get it done.  I was hoping for one easy "master route", but that technology may not be available in the Year of the Tiger.

Paper maps/atlases (aka analog route planner) are definitely part of the plan.  Need to see how interested Mrs Rotaryracer is in reading old school maps versus "the box" telling me where to go.  I do still have a AAA membership, so will avail myself of their maps and such, assuming they still do that.

The EV thing is still a long shot, as it would necessitate a return drive to the East Coast (not the worst thing, but time to do so may be an issue).  I've been thinking about moving to a BEV at some point, and this was would add an interesting challenge.  I played around with ABRP just trying the Delta, UT to Fallon, NV route to see what would happen and it *may* theoretically be possible, but looks like it would be highly dependent on which car and odds are good it's coasting in on electrofumes.  There were some notes around "thou shall not exceed 60 mph for X miles" to be able to make it to the next charger.  The more likely plan is grab a one-way ICE powered rental from Budget and leave it at the airport (SFO or otherwise) once we get to CA.

Have you priced a one way car rental?  They are typically not like the $35 per day local rates.  Pricing can be outrageous. 

In reply to John Welsh :

Yeah, the price is nutty....to the point that buying something Challenge-friendly and walking away from it in California would be slightly cheaper.  I'm trying to rationalize the cost by telling myself I'm paying for the reliability of a nearly-new appliance and the opportunity to leave it behind after we're done.  I've also kicked around putting that $2-3K towards owning something, but then it needs to come back with me.

Just for giggles, I wanted to see how much it would cost to do the trip in a convertible (because why not).  Hertz was the only one I could find that would rent a convertible one-way, and they wanted ELEVEN THOUSAND FREEDOM DOLLARS for the privilege.  For that much money, I better get the title when I'm done.

I used to use Google Maps, before they resticted the number of stops/adjustments you could make, and would then export it as some kind of file and use a standalone GPS to load the file and run navigation. 

Now that Google took away the near-unlimited stops feature, I use Furkot (website) to plan the trips (it uses Google Maps, but allows a lot more customization, and can even suggest fuel/hotel stops once you add your daily driving parameters). Unfortunately it costs $15/year now to export files. I export .trp files and use CoPilot (mobile app) to navigate from my phone, which of course also costs money now... It was a one-time $10 purchase back when I bought it, but now it's a yearly/monthly subscription.

So that is an option, if you're willing to pay $25ish to be able to have your fully custom route and still use digital navigation.

Going cross-country like this, I tend to use an old Garmin for city-to-city (doesn't need a cell signal, which is useful in my part of the country) and then go to a phone or updated in-car nav to deal with cities which are more likely to have changed and where live traffic is handy. And I get the overall shape of the trip from paper maps first.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Spot on.  My hope is to figure out some way to plot the trip into (insert technology here) that will allow an export into a Garmin-friendly format.  With luck, this will keep the GPS slavishly tied to US-50 versus continually trying to route us a better way.  Hearing the word "Recalculating..." 18,000,000 times over 3,000 miles could get old.  :)

Playing with ABRP (and using a Hyundai Ioniq 5 AWD as the test gerbil), it appears the 410 miles of Loneliest Road can be done with two charges.  What would need to be planned is when/where is the top-off in Delta, UT (or before).  I was hoping if I had the whole route in one happily exportable format, I could import into ABRP and it would spit out the charging strategy...but apparently it doesn't do that.

One thing to remember about road-tripping an EV is that you should be able to start the day with a full charge. The magic overnight refueling is a nice perk.

Take a look at Plugshare if you want to get an idea of charger availability. You can filter by type, as there's no point in looking at Tesla chargers (for example) if you're in an Ioniq or Level 2 chargers if you're not planning an overnight stop.

In your situation and with my current tech stack, I'd just set the Garmin to take me to Fallon as I left Delta. No chance of a recalculation and it's only a change every few hours so there's no reason to get complicated about it.

What about going north across the Salt Flats, then dropping down to 50 from Wendover? I don't know the road at all, but Bonneville seems like a good bucket list must-see.

I use furkot for these types of trips.  Takes some getting used to, and it's much easier to setup the trip on a computer, but I've used it to plan multi-week trips with many stops.  You can save and edit trips, share from computer to phone, and save an offline file to your device.  You can export your trip to another program, but I've never tried that functionality, you may have to pay for that.

Here is my last trip to blue ridge parkway.    Blue are points of interest, yellow are overnight stays, gray are skipped stops.