Do You Keep an RVing Log or Diary?

[dcmac214]

A question out of semi-idle curiosity.
How many of you keep a store-bought log book like this?

We only have a sort of running diary on the tablet where we record the dates, where we were, who was with us (Gkids, friends), memorable moments. Done with just the bare fact info, with hardly a complete sentence. Anything more is way too anal and detailed for us.

[valhalla360]

One thing with our excel sheet is it's not just historical. We actually go out into the future...often as much as a year. The future stuff is often very changeable but it gives us an idea of where we want to go and when.

Some stuff like doctors appointments, business trips and air flights can get locked in quite a ways out.

Day to day we usually rough in about a week or two out but if something tickles our fancy, we don't hesitate to change it.

[Roy_Lynne]

We use to blog and that was cool because we could share it with any family that might be interested. DH keeps a mileage log to keep track of the gas I guess.

[2gypsies1]

Paythebill wrote:
For those that do keep a log of their travels and the campgrounds they stayed at, are there any computer based/laptop programs available to download or purchase?

I started our project 25 years ago before I became a little more proficient with computers. 🙂 I just use a simple word processing document. I set up a file in column format with the first column being the state abbreviation. Then the next column is the nearby city, then one for the abbreviation of boondocking, campgrounds or just siteseeing spots and another for the longer section of description. With these columns I can easily do a sort by state, city, etc.

The same thing can be done with a spreadsheet program.

[Matt_Colie]

Well, I do keep a running log. But then, I am the end of generations of watermen and it may just be congenital. I also like it because with the years of traveling, it has all become a vast blur.

"Was that on the Blue Ridge Tour or was it the Natchez Trace?"
"No, it was either the Great River Road or the Circle of Lake Michigan."

Yes, we have thousands of images recorded, but they really can't tell you much years later. Some even have Lat/long in the Exif Data, but if it is a place you been near several times and the actual location is not specific, that is not much help. Even the date is not all that valuable.

Matt

[thestoloffs]

Paythebill wrote:
For those that do keep a log of their travels and the campgrounds they stayed at, are there any computer based/laptop programs available to download or purchase?

"Many moons ago", an active RVer named Mickey Ivey created & sold an Access-based application called RVer's Notebook. It was a comprehensive way to collect daily travels, campground information, vehicle & "house" maintenance info, and RV-related expense data. The beauty of it was that any data contained in 1 module of the app was automatically available to all other modules, including posting campground charges, auto tolls, service costs, etc. to the expense ledger.

Sadly, when Mickey died suddenly, his widow couldn't continue his company, and the program lost effectiveness when Microsoft made major changes to Access.

[mockturtle]

A photo won't tell me that the road in was full of potholes, the sewer access was twenty feet behind the site or that the office was closed until noon.

[bukhrn]

Not anymore, I did when we first started out, that lasted for about a year, many times we'd get caught up in the actual travel, or full days of sight seeing and forget to make entries, so it just became a waste of time. And as Sound Guy said, 30 years from now, who'll care.

[MDKMDK]

SoundGuy wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:
So many times one of us has said "Where was it we _________"? The journal answers those types of questions.

SoundGuy wrote:
So do digital cameras, pretty well all of which also shoot outstanding quality video. K.I.S.S. :W

valhalla360 wrote:
Unless you spend a lot of time cataloging and naming the pictures, it's really an inconvenient method. It's kind of like going to the library and just randomly walking up to the shelf to find a book.

I don't find that to be the case at all ... I just dump anything I shoot into iPhoto and can find anything in an instant. I can edit as much or as little as I want, ditching obvious bad shots, cleaning up really good ones, even dumping them into albums if I feel like it. Most times I don't bother and just leave pics & videos sorted by date ... good enough. :B

In keeping with digital format I also recently captured 50 hrs of 8 mm video tape as .mp4 files so they'll be easy to view or even reconvert years from now long after 8 mm equipment has become extinct. K.I.S.S. :B

Agreed.
As mentioned earlier, and along the k.i.s.s. line of thought, I have all of our trip photos organized into folders with the "where and when" as part of the folder names for general identification and chronological sorting.
I have also collated the entire 10 years of travel pics, as both the screen saver input, and my wallpaper changer input, on our laptops. It's a nice way to randomly review where we've been and what we've done, without having to be a travelling data entry clerk.
I'm not saying other methods of recording your travels are wrong, just that I prefer the photo-memories approach, to that of writing journals, since we always take pictures, anyway. For us, it's just simpler.
YMMV, as they say.:C

[Paythebill]

For those that do keep a log of their travels and the campgrounds they stayed at, are there any computer based/laptop programs available to download or purchase?

[pasusan]

To plan our trips I use Excel spreadsheets with driving times, campground reservations, sites to see, even meals to make. After the trip I move it to the Done Ones folder.

To look back on our trips we look at our photo albums that we keep on Google Photos (which are also used to share with friends and family).

To look back on gas prices, CG costs and such - it is all logged in Quicken and we can run reports.

[Trekkar]

I keep a simple Excel spreadsheet with basic information: Location, campground, how we rate it, prime sites, etc. Nice to know if you want to return or not at a later date.

[SoundGuy]

troubledwaters wrote:
So many times one of us has said "Where was it we _________"? The journal answers those types of questions.

SoundGuy wrote:
So do digital cameras, pretty well all of which also shoot outstanding quality video. K.I.S.S. :W

valhalla360 wrote:
Unless you spend a lot of time cataloging and naming the pictures, it's really an inconvenient method. It's kind of like going to the library and just randomly walking up to the shelf to find a book.

I don't find that to be the case at all ... I just dump anything I shoot into iPhoto and can find anything in an instant. I can edit as much or as little as I want, ditching obvious bad shots, cleaning up really good ones, even dumping them into albums if I feel like it. Most times I don't bother and just leave pics & videos sorted by date ... good enough. :B

In keeping with digital format I also recently captured 50 hrs of 8 mm video tape as .mp4 files so they'll be easy to view or even reconvert years from now long after 8 mm equipment has become extinct. K.I.S.S. :B

[valhalla360]

SoundGuy wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:
So many times one of us has said "Where was it we _________"? The journal answers those types of questions.

So do digital cameras, pretty well all of which also shoot outstanding quality video. K.I.S.S. :W

Unless you spend a lot of time cataloging and naming the pictures, it's really an inconvenient method. It's kind of like going to the library and just randomly walking up to the shelf to find a book.

Libraries have a filing system for this very reason.

We keep our primary route and info on a simple excel sheet with one row per day. It goes back to 2007. Very convenient for when we return to an area, we can check where we stayed, how much it cost and there were any issues of note.

We also have a KMZ file with GoogleEarth Placemarks showing where we stayed on a map. We set up a standard for icons and colors:
- Blue: This is a paid place that we stayed.
- Green: This is a free place that we stayed.
- Red: This is a place we researched and planned to stay at but didn't wind up staying there.
- The little bus Icon: Camping Sites
- The Sailboat Icon: Marinas
- The Anchor Icon: Anchorages
- The Bed Icon: Hotels
- The House Icon: Airbnb style apartments.
- The Yen Icon: Chinese Food (yeah we like chinese food a bit too much)

We do have a blog but unless there is something of particular interest, we don't post what we had for dinner and similar minutia.

The pictures are sorted by year and sometimes major destination. By picking out the dates from the excel, we easily search for pictures related to a destination.

Sounds more complicated than it is once you get it going.

[azdryheat]

We bought an RV diary two years ago. It has yet to be written in.