Trip/RV Journal

[rlchall]

Just started last May. Love the Journaling idea. Thinking I'd like old school paper and pencil w some real photos. Going to purchase a 3 ring binder today w photo display. Love the comment about viewing it at the HOME. Memories!!

[RiderBloke]

Another Electronic Journal for photos and very short descriptive passages is TripColor which can be shared with as few or as many as you like. I have used it a fair bit and despite some minor quirks, enjoy it and can access it from any electronic device. It can also be linked to one's FaceBook page if that is your bent.

[WrongWayRandall]

I keep a handwritten camping log that has various bits of detail in it (trip start/finish dates, truck mileage at start/finish, average MPG, weather conditions, traveling conditions or incidents, park name, reservation #, site details, etc.). I also hand write in a bound journal during the trip and make watercolor sketches in camp when the mood strikes.

At the end of the year we (read I) put all of our digital photos of our various trips into a book and get it printed from one of the online places. In that book are transcribed a lot of the details from the paper logs, as well as the journals. It's nice to be able to go back over the logs to see what we thought about various parks, and the book allows us to look at the pictures easily when the mood strikes. Before I did the book thing, the pictures just took up hard drive space and we almost never looked at them.

I have seen commercial travel logs and camping logs but I like just doing it myself. You can get you own pages bound at the UPS or FedEx store for little cost if you want something bound, or just keep loose pages like I do and put them in a ring binder for future reference. I made the template in Excel and printed off a stack, then when we setup a trip I write everything down and stick it in the camper so that I can update it as the trip progresses. I finish filling in the details at the end of the trip and file it away.

An alternative that I've been considering, and may do this year as a trial, is to use rubber cement and tip in all the paintings, notes, etc. into a spiral bound book (they have more room for added thickness.) Rubber cement is easy to work with, won't damage paper, and anything cemented in can be removed at a later time if you wish. As mentioned above, I like the look and feel of hand made things better than all-electronic stuff...

- Randy

[Witch Doctor]

My DW makes a binder for every trip. In the binder are real maps our reservations and notes about things on the trip. I guess you can call me old school, but she enjoy's it. So we now have a 3 ring binder for all our trips. Gas mile ledge and such and where we stopped. When MAMA is happy we are all happy. The excel spread sheet is a great idea, but we feel a journal is more personal.....