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.

[Lauren]

I guess it is my engineering thinking but I keep a detailed account of each trip which includes things like mileage, fuel, where stayed and those kinds of things and expenses. Very detailed for all trips.

DW Barbara keeps two journals - one of all the 175 different rv parks / campgrounds we have stayed at with comments and the other as a daily diary of things we did.

Fun, for the most part, to look back at all this; particularly hers. Mine is basically reference and used for future trips as well.

[Roy_Lynne]

DH keeps logs of mileage and stops along the way where we got gas but that is about all the journaling that we do

[mabynack]

I take a lot of photos and then use MS Movie Maker to put together a slide show when I get home. I'm usually the only one who ever looks at them, but I enjoy going through them every so often.

[RoyBell]

gcloss wrote:
When I purchased my 2nd pop-up in 1984, the salesman gave me a Camping Log book. Five RVs later, hundreds of nights camping are all in my log book.

I now look back though my logs of 31 years and can see when each of my kids first started camping when they were only 6 months old, places we have been, family members and friends who camped with us or had their own RVs. I cannot forget the 3 dogs we had through the years who all loved to come camping. My kids are now 23 & 29 and they still love to camp with us from time to time. It all goes in the log book.

The sad part is when we first started camping, we camped with in-laws and cousins almost every trip. Now 31 years later most are no longer with us, but lots and lots of great memories.

That is so awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[gcloss]

When I purchased my 2nd pop-up in 1984, the salesman gave me a Camping Log book. Five RVs later, hundreds of nights camping are all in my log book.

I now look back though my logs of 31 years and can see when each of my kids first started camping when they were only 6 months old, places we have been, family members and friends who camped with us or had their own RVs. I cannot forget the 3 dogs we had through the years who all loved to come camping. My kids are now 23 & 29 and they still love to camp with us from time to time. It all goes in the log book.

The sad part is when we first started camping, we camped with in-laws and cousins almost every trip. Now 31 years later most are no longer with us, but lots and lots of great memories.

[2gypsies1]

It depends on what kind of information you want to keep and how much time you want to devote to it. It can all be done easily on the computer. If you're interested in expenses, mileage, etc. perhaps a spreadsheet is all you need.

If you just want to 'talk' about your trip, jot down things as you're doing your daily travel and when you have time, elaborate more on them within a word processing document. You don't have to write about each and every day - just times when they were meaningful for you and you want to remember them.

I also kept a easy four column table document of campgrounds we stayed or of others' recommendations or places I read about. The columns were with headings of State, City (nearby), Campground Name and in the last column I gave my impression of it, would we return?, cost, ease of fitting our 40' in it, etc. - usually just 3 or 4 lines of text. I was able to sort this BIG list by the first three columns so it was easy to find things. We full-timed for 16 years and I made an entry for each place we stopped, including boondocking. Friends have asked me many times for information from it and sometimes I'd even print out a 'state' for them if that's where they were traveling. Many recommended that I sell my list. 🙂 To me, it was very valuable over the years as we returned to many of the same areas.

[profdant139]

If the journal is on a computer, it is very easy to edit it, especially with a global search and replace -- every time the ex is mentioned, delete her name and replace it with something else -- "Person X" or whatever.

If it is handwritten, you could try correction fluid -- remember Wite-Out??

[RoyBell]

No photos, only verbage.

[profdant139]

Roy, that's a tough question -- the real issue is what the NEW gf will think if you attach a log of your trips with her to those involving the ex! This is sort of like the problem that blended families have with family photo albums. Very tricky.

You could always use Photoshop to take the ex out of the photos . . . .

[RoyBell]

When I first got my pop up 6 years ago, the GF (at the time) and I kept logs of our trips. What happened, the drive down, etc.

Onto new GF of 3 years, we haven't kept a log of anything. I have kept some maps and little stuff like that from some of the sites, but nothing on record. We were talking at the last camping trip trying to remember all our trips in the 3 years and what happened. We remembered different things lol.

This leads me to the next question. Are logs/journals kept by vehicle, person, couple, etc? I always kept the log of the ex gf in the camper and every once in a while I will read it. She doesn't know it's there. I am sure she would be pissed if she caught wind of it though...however, it is part my memory of camping trips as well.

Now with the new camper, I guess we could start one...but I am debating putting our past trips in it. Thoughts? I could always continue on the old notebook that the ex gf started, but I don't think that would go over too well with her lol.

[obgraham]

I keep mine on an Excel sheet, and have often been accused of being OCD about it, though really I only keep basic data.

But it is amazing how often we wind up in the same area again, and it's handy to recall what worked for us previously.

[Parrothead_Mike]

I keep a basic daily journal. I usually write down which campground, campsite, and highlights of our stay. When we stay for more than one night I only make one entry for that specific stay. While in Florida for 3 months I keep it fairly short and only note interesting things we did during our stay. When we've done a long trip I will include miles traveled for the trip and occasionally for the day if it was a long haul. In the past I used to note good campsite numbers for a campground we'd likely return to in the journal, but now I just use the campground map, if there's one handy, and map the sites on it.

[vermilye]

I do both a Blog and an on line journal with more photographs (links are in my signature) as well as a spreadsheet of campground & fuel costs. I did everything on paper for years, but found that adding photos as I traveled was more useful for both myself & friends that wondered where I was. It is also easier to find a location doing a google search through a journal than trying to find it in a paper journal.

Keeping a blog on Blogspot isn't any more difficult that doing it on paper...

[profdant139]

Journalling is a great idea-- and that is exactly the reason we have a blog -- to remember stuff. Otherwise it all becomes a blur. With a narrative and pictures, it is amazing how much clearer our memories are, compared to the old days with no trailer and no internet.

Years ago, we did have photo albums, but they were so limited that they were almost useless. Now, with the blog, I can go back and add details, I can change the text, etc. We refer to it all the time when we are making travel plans.

If you have a minute, click on the "trips" link in my signature, and see if it is similar to what you have in mind.