First Trip

Spring is just beautiful in Florida,March might be my favorite time of year down there because it's definitely spring, and on your way down as you get closer to Florida you start to see the inklings of spring as well, Your going to love your GPSr.

My recommendation is also keep a map in the glove compartment. It sure don't hurt a thing.

As suggested by BobDee, even though we have 2 GPSs'
in the vehicle it is useful to carry a paper map of each state you will be traveling through. The paper maps are useful in getting a broader look at the areas surounding your drive.
We have done 6 trips in excess of 7000 miles in the past 2 1/2 years using a GPSr and it made the trips so easy. (Twice thru St. Louis - another trip thru St. Louis coming in May on a 6800 mile trip)

Don't forget to load up the "Rest Areas Combined" POI file. My Better Half really likes that file. (not to mention the fact that I use it too).

I hope you have a Great Trip and "Welcome to Florida"

The Yahoo!/Google/MapQuest trip guide isn't a bad choice to have along with the GPS. It will give you an overview of the trip, or segments if you break it up. Having some trip planning software such as DeLorme's or Microsoft's is also very handy. You can then plan the trip putting in meal and fuel breaks as well as seeing what lodging is available. Printing these out and having them with you is very handy.

On a recent trip across the country we used printouts from mapping software as the main plan and only had the GPS route us going through some of the major cities. We loaded the Rest Area POI for information on highway stops and welcome centers. Very useful. Also loaded several of the Truck Stop POI for fuel stop information.

My main suggestion is be prudent on having the GPS route you as just displaying your current position is often more informative - and if you turn off for a stop, you don't have to listen to "Recalculating."

Good luck, enjoy the trip.

Major highway work on I-64/US 40 just west of downtown St. Louis. Totally closed for about 3 miles. Doubt that will be reflected on ANY GPS device.....unless you have a traffic receiver.

Will work a bypass with Via Points !!!!!

Heading from KCK to Indianapolis

Really handy to know ahead of time.

Thanks Again

Try http://www.thenewi64.org/

aready downloaded the Rest Areas. and i will take a paper map along too. we are going to stay in Miami for 2 days, then taking a cruise to Cozumel for 4 days then heading back to St. Louis.
thanks to all the replies.
Bob