Keeping a Journal

[Margos_]

Rather new to RVing, only 2 years but was wondering how people journal each trip. I'm not talking about blogs but personal logs on milages, site info or whatever info you might want to remember. What layout do you use.

[Margos_]

Make it simple and make it easy or it won't happen enough to be valuable to anybody.


Very true. I must be overthinking it. Thanks

[Margos_]

Dog Folks wrote:
This appears to fit what you are looking for and what we used for years before going full time.


http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/campers-daily-log-binder/2152

Hope this helps.

Thanks, it is kinda what I am looking for. Its a start.

[Matt_Colie]

Margos,

Make it simple and make it easy or it won't happen enough to be valuable to anybody.

I have been a navigator all my life. Log books are a feature of that life. These days, I keep it on a laptop and store it either in a flashdrive or in my DropBox. (Not in the unit HDD - that lesson learned.) I do it in what ever text editor (word processor) I like today and Start each day with departure time, weather and planned destination. My wife drives a lot, so I keep it up during the day's travel and at EOD (End Of Day) I log the time and indicated miles.

These are simple and I frequently pass the file to someone with questions about an area that we have traveled.

Matt

[kyhawk]

We journal in a small spiral notebook when we take an extended trip with lots of driving. I keep track of route, mileage, stops, weather, and anything interesting that happens. It varies from a page per day to sometimes a few sentences.

[rockhillmanor]

Like a good little Full time RV'er I started out daily journaling.

Thought it also would be a good selling point when it came time to sell the RV. Maintenance, mileage etc.

That lasted about one week.

[Selkie]

I use a spiral notebook I keep next to the driver's seat. Each day I list across the top of the page: gas, mileage, food, and lodging. I leave space at the bottom of the page for comments. This method works great when you are traveling with a friend and sharing expenses-just initial who paid for what. My travel buddy and I enjoyed reading our log years later remembering the trip.

[bee_46]

We usually take a notebook and keep track of expenses for each day, fuel, campgound, food, etc. We also track the mileage for each day. On the back of the page I jot down what we saw and things we did. Only do it for long camping trips, not weekend trips.

[Dave_and_Sue]

My wife uses a spiral notebook and writes down everything,and I mean everything we do and see.Mileage,time we get some where on and on.Don't mind it and it does help keep the memories going after the trip.

[BillMFl]

I use the small camping world log book. It keeps a daily log of start/stop times and mileage. Where you stayed, etc. Record fuel and tolls, etc. Its small and fits easy in my dash bin. I also collect the rv park brochures if I like the place. Got a file full of them.

[Crowe]

For every vacation, flying or driving, I keep an Excel spreadsheet that includes all expenses, where we stayed, a list of "must sees" as well as comments on them, and details like cancellation policies. I also keep an electronic journal. I used to use paper but I can't write well anymore and I find it's much easier to collect my thoughts as I type.

[louiskathy]

I use MS office ... outlook contacts and outlook calendar.
Make a journal entry each day... put the rv campground info in the contacts.
... make a category for each state.

Make as many categories as you wish... Xmas list, new friends, old friends, electronics... repairs ... etc

I have categories for my charge cards, medical doctors, recipes, appliances, ... ANYTHING I want to track... medications/suppliments ...

And you can keep it all backed up on a travel drive or in the sky on icloud.

(I don't keep anything on paper anymore.)

[wecamp04]

we have from our very first trip in out new tt where we camped what we did some pictures from each trip now that the kids are grown they like looking though it makes for good campfire stories

[bluie5]

DW keeps a notebook of where we stayed, the dates and what we did. Each trip also has a campsite picture after we're done setting up. It's neat to look back on from when we started camping with our pop-up and mini-van and progressed to what we have now.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

FWIW: Our RV Journaling came into being when our sales rep presented us with a beautiful journal with a metal plate on the outside front inscribed with our names, year and model. Inside the front cover he placed a photo he took of us and our youngest standing besides our new beast. Very thoughtful gesture and we've used it to log every trip whether a weekend or 8+ weeks ever since. Just a basic diary where we document where we went, stayed, thoughts and worth going back or not. We also for each trip keep a financial scrap piece of paper and log of mileage start and end each day and at the end of our combined trip do a brief conclusion of "must go back", "waste of time/money locations/attractions",, mileage, Nos nights boon docking versus CG's and costings for trip. Having hit well over 40+ states, inc Alaska & Hawaii (not by RV the latter obviously!) albeit in vacation mode, it will serve us well when we slow down and smell the roses heading into FT in about 2 years now.

So we keep it very basic, and at the end of every year since 2002 add up how many nights we spent in the RV so one day when we sell/trade it we can calculate on the depreciation what it cost us per night average (LOL).

Do whatever makes sense to you and is easiest to ensure it doesn't become a chore to keep up to date. I'm an excel spreadsheet person for most areas of our lives but for our travels, just love grabbing the journal and updating quickly and it's easy to throw the receipts as we travel in the back of it until I update every couple of days or so whilst travelling.

[cruiserjs]

Absolutely - keep a journal (any how that works for you!) You will be surprised at how many arguments/discussions of where/when were we, in the future!! At least once a week for us. Our RV adventures and journal started in 1961!!