"RV Parky" app: Parks, petrol, pastimes and more

If you're an Android or Apple traveling RV fan, here's an app you may really find useful on your next road trip: RV Parky. Far more than an RV park locator, Parky points you to all sorts of RV "wants and needs."

• Rest areas
• National, state and municipal Parks
• Military campgrounds
• Casinos
• Walmarts
• Cabela's
• Cracker Barrels
• Camping Worlds
• Flying J's
• Pilot Travel Plazas
• TA Travel Centers (and of course, a whole lot more). 

Click a button on RV Parky and you'll be presented with a heads-up map of where you are and what's nearby. Planning a bit into the future? Key in the name of a city and state, or a zip code, and RV Parky will give you a centered map with the same information. Hover your pointer over an icon and you'll get a brief description of the facility. You can also switch to a list view for ease and detail.

A filter system allows you to drill down to your specific needs, of leave things wide-open. For example, we seldom look for privately owned RV parks, but are interested in public campgrounds. A quick click in the filter system presents us with icons for the public campgrounds without the clutter of places we don't want.

Find a spot you want more information on? Click the icon for a detailed list of information, reviews, and hot links (where available) to Internet sites. Users are encouraged to write reviews, add their own photos, and make corrections where they think necessary. One thing we found to watch for: Sometimes the campground price ranges seemed a bit "off." By clicking for more details, you'll often find a phone number to the facility. If you're concerned about costs, call ahead and verify to make sure the latest prices are on your app.

Of course, you'll need clear Internet access; so if your travels take you away from Internet access, do your research before you hit the "Internet dry zone." You'll appreciate no advertisements, and the app itself is free. Lenny, the apps creator, is a fulltime RVer who says he just likes to give back to the RVing community. If you like his app, find it useful, you might consider giving him a contribution to encourage him in his fine work.

Lenny recommends you obtain your copy of RV Parky direct from the Google Play Store or from Apple Apps. That way, you'll be sure you get the latest update, and can be sure that your app will be malware free.

We'll be fully road-testing our download in a few weeks, and we'll post future updates.