Record Keeping On the Road

[dirigible25]

Our logs/journals have dual purposes, one to entertain and the second to maintain a record of the good, the bad and the ugly so we don't have experience them again if we don't want to. Part of the records are of course directed toward maintenance issues, and the other as a fun sort of thing, such as can you believe how cheap diesel was back in the day...

We have a combination of excel spread sheets, google earth photos of camp grounds with actual spot we stayed in, (except some forest service campgrounds where there are so many trees we could only find the amphitheater near where we actually were parked), as well as written logs. These are nice to share with one another, let alone when it comes to recommending a campground or RV park to someone else.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by donreitz

I’ve noticed from their responses that some forum members seem to keep good track of their travels. They can tell you how many days their Airstream has been on the road, how many total miles they’ve traveled, and so forth.

I’ve never been much inclined to keeping records while traveling, but it sounds like a good idea. As we get closer to retirement and to making longer trips, I’d like to start keeping better track of our time on the road.

All this is just to ask, if you keep records of your trips, why do you do it, how do you do it, and what information do you collect?
Thanks,
Don

Just keep track of trips, mileage, maint and destination with this from the AS store.
Just had to replace the flimsy binding with key-chain split rings.

The log we kept with our 63 Safari is fun to reminisce with....

Bob

[donreitz]

Thanks for all the responses. I guess I’m inclined toward Doug K’s view in that the whole point of camping is getting out and doing things rather than spending time compulsively keeping records. However, I see the attraction of having information available from past trips to help plan future ones. I have a spiral-bound notebook stuck in the driver’s door pocket of the truck. On our next trip I’ll see if I’m disciplined enough to keep some basic information about miles traveled, maintenance problems, campgrounds, quality of local restaurants, and so forth. I may fill the notebook or I may throw it out as a waste of time. We’ll see.

Also, a hat tip to cwf for the link to Moleskine and its iPad app. This looks like fun.

Your comments are appreciated.
Don