Nothing's more American than a road trip to fun destinations across the country. But with so many amazing places to explore, it can be overwhelming for travelers to plan their ultimate getaway. That's why Valero has launched The All-American Road Trip, a website designed to excite the imagination and inspire vacationers to hit the road in pursuit of their dreams.
Conceived by digital agency Last Exit Group, The All-American Road Trip site conjures the spirit of the open road with powerful interactive elements, eye-catching graphics and thorough descriptions of destinations near and far. Along with detailed route maps, destination finders, driving directions and itinerary tools, visitors will find tips, tricks and time-savers to make planning any size trip easy and fun. Listings of local restaurants, hotels/motels, campsites, rest stops, and more are all at travelers' fingertips.
The All-American Road Trip's destination finder allows users to select a region of the United States and discover major cities, national parks and points of interest, including the locations of Valero stations and convenience stores along the way. With the itinerary maker, users can designate their point of origin and their chosen destination to generate customizable routes, directions, local features and helpful links. They can then print or save their map and itinerary or send it to their mobile phone for easy reference.
The All-American Road Trip maps are powered by Google Maps and populated with Yelp reviews for suggestions on local stops.
Thanks to The All-American Road Trip's seamless integration with Facebook, travelers can also post their itineraries for their friends to view and comment upon. And once they're out on the open road, they can instantly share their adventure with pictures and video on Facebook and Twitter. Friends can follow their progress across America via updates tagged by time and location.
"With money tight at home, more and more families and individuals are rediscovering the joys of the classic road trip," commented Dave Parker, SVP Marketing, Valero Energy Corp. "Americans have always enjoyed creating their own agendas and setting out on free-spirited adventures in the comfort of their own vehicles. The difference today is that with this new website, they can plan their whole trip out in advance and bring their friends, family, and fellow travelers into the experience with the site's social media integration."
Paul Newnes, Partner and Managing Director for Last Exit, said, "We're very excited about the functionality and immersive experience The All-American Road Trip site offers. It's a one-stop source where drivers can plan their trip from start to finish, with all the necessities of gas, food, lodging and entertainment provided to them in an appealing and engaging experience."
Furthering the experience, Facebook and Twitter pages are dedicated to The All-American Road Trip to promote the microsite and engage in conversation with fans. The social media platforms will be used as communication tools among users of the microsite — to share ideas and tips/suggestions on road trip planning, etc., to tell their favorite road trip story, or simply to find out more information about the All-American Road Trip microsite itself. Bringing the microsite into the social media realm creates a complete community to share what most people consider an ultimate experience.
We love our pets. And in the world of RVs, unlike cars and especially planes, pets are not a burden when traveling. In fact, that's a reason many of us choose the life of RVing is because we can make special memories with our pets on those trips wherever they may be.
Bringing our little furry friends with us, we want to know they are safe. Here is a new video that offers up some pretty creative ideas on keeping your pet safe as well as an efficient way to bring along their food and water supply. We know the video is motorhome-specific, but we still think you can come up with a few other ideas of your own tailored to your RVing needs.
Happy traveling!
Mistakes while traveling in your RV are bound to happen. When you're in unfamiliar territory, chances of mistakes naturally increase. That said, the results from a recent survey may still surprise you.
According to a survey of more than 1,000 RVers from across the nation to find out the most amusing mishaps experienced while traveling, The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies, discovered that a spouse is more likely to be accidentally left behind than the dog. It didn't mention anything about being intentionally left behind.
But wait, there's more.
The survey revealed the most common blunders made while traveling are:
• Driving away with the steps extended
• Backing into something
• Misjudging overhead or side clearance space
• Not connecting taillights correctly
• Running out of gas
Have you had a similar experience? Something better/worse? Do share.
We don't know if you saw it, but CNN had an interesting article on its website last week titled, "Is an RV right for you?"
The author of the article, George Bauer, works at CNN and is also the creator and host of "The Seasoned Traveler," which airs on U.S. public television stations and Travel Channel International. His background for writing the article was he had rented a class C RV for three vacations.
As the old adage goes, "Good publicity. Bad publicity. It's all publicity." Bauer was mostly fair in his assessment of the RVing industry as a whole, but he did get a little on the negative side when it comes to upkeep and getting around.
Bauer accurately detailed rising gasoline prices as being a major consideration when purchasing an RV, but he also said repairs, when needed, may take longer and cost much more than repairs on cars or trucks. As far as turnaround time on repairs, that really depends on the shop you work with. With regard to costs, like any car, the more expensive the vehicle, the more costly the repairs will generally be. You can't expect repairs on a Kia to be as expensive as those on a Cadillac. It's the nature of the beast.
He also talked about how the RV ride can be bumpy and uncomfortable, especially for those sitting at the dining table. We know he's referring to motorhomes and not truck campers, but it's worth mentioning that even motorhomes can ride uncomfortably. As far as campgrounds, he pointed out the variety across the nation with some 16,000 public and private campgrounds to choose from, but he also mentioned that in addition to some being very costly, during peak season, campsites can be crowded and noisy. While these campgrounds may have lots of campers, that's one of the best parts about camping — meeting all those campers around you and sharing stories about camping, about your family, and whatever else comes to mind. It's a unique experience that you can't find anywhere else such as a hotel.
Lastly, Bauer talkes about the challenges of backing into an RV campsite location. He compared it to putting a tractor-trailer in reverse. While again we know he's referring to motorhomes, we also know if someone ever has trouble at a campground, such as backing into a space, you can bet there will be more than a few campers around willing to offer their assistance. That's what campers do. That's what camping is all about.
To read the full article, click here.
All the time I hear people say something like, “I have never... been camping, towed a trailer, learned to back up a trailer, had an RV, been to Alaska, done anything like this before” or something along those lines. All that tells me is that a new adventure is about to begin and maybe, just maybe, we at Princess Craft will be fortunate enough to be part of that new adventure that will hopefully turn into a lifetime passion.
If you don’t know everything there is to know about an RV, truck camper or trailer, it's not a big deal. There are plenty of ways to learn. In fact, if you're reading this, you've already taken a step in the right direction and have started seeking out informaton online. There are a variety of different and most importantly, helpful resources available to you on the Internet.
Once you've determined you're really ready to pursue some sort of camping, one of the first things you need to do is to find a dealer. There are a variety of dealers around the nation. Some small. Some large. Some offering a specific line of vehicles. Others offering a great variety. What you really want to find is a dealer who is not only knowledgeable about his/her fleet and can answer those specific questions like “What does this button do?" but a dealer who can offer up suggestions about camping in your local area or at the very least, can point you in the right direction. Like anything else, tips and suggestions on good campgrounds will go a long way toward enhancing your camping experience.
After you've found the dealer and the vehicle, the next thing... just do it. I know, Nike has that motto all sewn up, but really, there is no way to experience the wonder of traveling until you get out and actually experience it firsthand. Don't get discouraged once you get out there and don’t know how everything works and how or where you're supposed to do what. No worries. You will never meet anyone more helpful than your neighbors at the RV park. It’s amazing. The very best of the best are all gathered together in campgrounds right alongside you and if you need anything, just ask. In the not-so-distant future you will be helping the guy next to you and wondering what all the worry was about. Don’t wait. Just do it. I promise, you will surprise yourself!
- PJ