Whether on our guided Route 66 car caravans or our other trips, folks often worry about getting separated from the group. Here's some tips and tricks to keep that from happening!
Our guided caravans are a lot of fun. Whether it's our guided Route 66 car caravan or the Fall Colors of New England Caravan or any of the several we offer, you may be asking yourself the same question... How do I stay with the group? Don't worry! We do a lot of things to help keep everyone on the same page.
This article will focus on what Two Lane America does to keep everyone together and what you can do to be best prepared for one of our caravans.
What we do...
Provide Itinerary Book
Provide two-way radios
Send GPS links as often as we can
Hold drivers meetings most mornings
Assist with setting up phones/cars
Of course, we'll provide a lot more details about all of these at each trip's welcome dinner.
So as you can see, we do a lot to try and keep everyone on the same path. In our years of doing this, it's been extremely rare someone gets totally "lost." Sometimes, folks need to make a stop, etc., but someone just leaving the pack because they're lost is very rare.
That being said, there are a few things you can do to prepare for navigating on your caravan...
Make sure at least one person in your vehicle has a good, working smartphone.
In theory, you can do one of our trips without smartphones, but it's a lot easier if someone has at least 1!
Download Google Maps app to your smartphones.
Many of you may already have Google Maps, but if not, go ahead and download it. (Available in all app stores) Some of you may use other apps such as Waze, etc., but this is our preferred method so having it and being familiar with it will help you greatly! We encourage anyone in your vehicle with a smartphone to have Google Maps just in case you encounter phone issues.
Pair your phone with the car you plan on using and practice using Google Maps through your car screen
Depending on the year and model of your car, most of you will be able to pair your smartphone to your car's infotainment system using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Once paired, it'll make navigating to each stop a breeze.
Download WhatsApp Messenger to your smartphone
Similar to a group text, we'll create a WhatsApp group chat for each departure. Once again, we HIGHLY encourage every person with a smartphone to have this app. It makes sharing GPS links, photos, dinner recommendations, etc. really easy. It's available in all the app stores.
Overall, we feel confident you'll have no trouble at all! Of course, we'll also be there on day 1 to assist people with setting things up on the tech side. Whether you're on our Guided Route 66 Car Caravan or any of our others offered, you'll get from A-to-B with as little hassle as possible.