Do you "Log It"

[bobsals]

For about the last 7 years, we have been logging each trip we take with the RV. Bought a "Campers Log Book" at Campers World and record pretty much everything we do, everywhere we go, and everything we eat, where we eat and even what we had and how we liked it. That way we can look back at each trip and see what worked and what didn't. It is a lot of work to keep up the book, but it has been invaluable many times. I am writing this to see if anyone else does this and how you record your experiences. We thought about just inputing the information on the computer, but it is nice to have a hard copy in a handbook to just "flip through" and reminisce while we sit and have coffee in the morning.

[Lee F.]

We do the same, record everything in a log book. Dates, roads traveled, miles, time on the road, stops, resteraunts, campgrounds, etc, etc. It comes in handy all the time when we travel through the same areas and it's fun to look back at some of the things that happened on past trips.

Bob, We're almost neighbors. We live in Adirondack NY, about 80 miles north of you, on the East shore of Schroon Lake.

[lasater]

Ihave trouble just keeping up with the checkbook. No way I'd spend the time to keep a log.

But, I bet you really have some interesting notes there.

[Recumbent]

To log or not to log, that is the question. So far we have taken 6 trips in the Monty traveling 2500 miles and staying a total of 32 nights in 4 states since August of 2010 when we picked up the 2010 324RLQ at Ringold, GA. All that is from memory with no written log being kept other than photographs. For many years I have been required to kept a log on the job, and have logged all rainfall, snowfall,the shifting of cattle to new pastures, and drought conditions at the farm/stick house in addition to the weight-in weight-out of all stocker calves, market prices and on-and-on. I retired June 30th from the non-farm job and have leased-out the farm starting 9-1. There could be value I'll be missing, but I think for me its memory or nothing in the future.

[HamRad]

As nice as it would be to keep a complete log as some do it is a lot of work. We started trying to keep such a log but quickly gave it up. We simply try to remember what we did when and enjoy our surroundings. We have traveled just enough now that we get our trips all mixed up. It makes for an interesting conversation at times when we are trying to remember the various things we've done! Needless to say a "log" would certainly help us keep our trips and experiences straight in our minds but would take away a lot of the enjoyment. With a "log" we'd actually know what happened --- with only our memories to look back on we tend to have a lot more fun! Not knowing exactly what happened on previous trips we get to enjoy things for the "first" time even if we've already been there and done that!

Enjoy your experiences whether you just remember them or write them down. Either way it is a great trip! Dennis and Mary Kay

[Cyrus]

I worked with computers in someway for many years even before PC's so I still like to use a PC & spreedsheets to track all our camping data IE, mileage, campgrouds, length of time and notes about everything related to truck, camper & trips. Comes in handy when I can't remember where & when we have traveled & things done to camper and truck.
I have determined that with the two of us I need to dump tanks every 4-5 days. I track tire pressure so I see when something might be going wrong with tires before the problem leaves me on the road, so far that has actually worked. Had trouble with tires and valve steems but was able to check it out and fix before I could not get off the road.
I guess whatevery works for you is good!

[klash]

We have been doing this since 1984, and we are about to start volume 8. I use the little black note books with the loose leaf pages. So our travelogue library covers 7 trucks, 7 trailers, 8 trips around the continent, 6 clock wise, 2 counter clock wise, 10 Canadian provinces, and 39 of the US states, and over 250,000 miles. At 72, we aren't finished yet.
Matter of fact I pulled out the old books last nite and we were laughing at some of the trips in the old days when we had a 18.5 foot fifth wheel, single axle, and REALLY expensive campgrounds were about $12 to $14, and gas and diesel wee about $.175 a gallon.
Some old friends came to visit us where we are camping right now, and we were laughing as I read about a weekend trip we took with them back in 1986 when we were still working, they had a van, and it rained so hard they buried the van right to the bottom of the doors in the mud. The campground owner had to pull them out with his big truck, and they were not impressed with the "outdoor" lifestyles. It was shortly after that our friends wife told him it would be her or the RV. Fortunately he choice the former, but I think I could still seem of the "gypsy wander lust" in his eyes when he was here checking out our Monty.
To log it or not, that is the question. Some rely on their photos and what has been retained in their minds. Trust me, as we get older the old the old type photos will fade, and so will the events we thought would stay in our mind forever. I also write short interesting articles for a Canadian RV magazine, so I don't really mind writing, it helps to keep our minds healthy.

[jpkelpe]

I keep a list of all camgrounds, names, place and cost along with any other note of interest, ie, never stay here again, etc. Paul keeps a diary of camping trips

[Cyrus]

I have tracked all my hobbies just like I do the camping so I can relive the good & bad days. I have a habit of quitting and then picking the hobbies up again, old info still there even if the mind is not. The big fish, reasons not to go back or try something again, if you know what I mean.

[TLightning]

We keep a log, too.

[richfaa]

we logged everything we did on the job for 37 1/2 years. We log nothing. We know were we went few others care.

[Jdrobone]

Only thing I save is mileage and dates, to and fro. That's how I know my 2010 3400 purchased Nov. 2009 has 12435 miles on it!
Lemme see, that's 20 months, avg 621/mon. hmmmmmm just like a lot of the numbers coming out of DC these day - totally meaningless.
Jerry

[exav8tr]

We have fulltimed for 4 years and visited 46 states (or is it 57?), we started out logging, but gave it up as we were always sightseeing and didn't have time to log. DW does do the Good Sam Travelog and we send it to family and friends. They enjoy seeing the places we have been and things we have done. We will always treasure those times and we revisit them often on the www. As far as gas and mileage, we alwasy figured it was what it was and if we worried about it we would probably give up travelling. As a former commercial pilot, I did have to log all my flights, take offs and landings, times and fuel ups, etc, etc, etc , that was enough for me......

[mhs4771]

I'm with Jerry, keeping track for miles traveled and days spent in the Monty. Since purchased new in Nov '09 we have logged 15248 Miles and 161 nights in the Monty.

[richfaa]

Holey Moley.. I have no idea how many days we spent in the Montana other than it has been a lot. truck one had 25k on it when we traded for truck two and it has 40K on it and it is a rare occassion to see the truck without the Montana behind it.have no idea how far we pulled the Montana but two trucks have 65K on them pulling it and at least 85/ 90% of the time the Montana is in tow.I do know that last winter in Florida I put 850 miles on the truck in 6 months, Lets see 5 years on the road and 6 winters in warm weather for 6 months. That would be over 1000 days in the Montana and that does not include our summer travels which adds up to at least two months every summer.. MG..I did not realize we were gone that much..

[DonandJudy_12]

My DW keeps a log of our daily activities- Where we park overnite and long term, where we ate out, where we shopped, what sightseeing was done, what friends old and new we had contact with, the weather and travel conditions- I maintain a ledger showing expenses incurred- We refer to our records frequently to see if we want to repeat a particular event or revisit some attraction- We enjoy looking back- Sometimes we need the logs to overcome a "senior moment"- JHMO- Don

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

I haven't kept a formal log, but last night Wayne and I decided we wished we had been keeping better records, for campground reminders, if nothing else. We've traveled from Montana to Oregon and back to Montana, from Montana to Texas and now back again, and to and from points in between this summer. Along the way, we've discovered some neat little RV parks to spend the night in when traveling was the goal, not R&R, and also discovered some not-so-nice parks that were advertised as "resorts" or as having "full amenities" but were far short of what we'd even call "last minute, desperate stops because we were tired." Being able to remember which 4- and 5-star places were actually 1-star or less places would be nice!

So, last night we sat down and listed the places we've stayed over the last 2 months and made short remarks for each, such as "advertised wifi available, but was not," "campground sites not marked or assigned, just 'first come, first choice,'" "$12 per person charge for any visitor, any age, to come to the site," "didn't look like much from the ad, but turned out to be a great overnight stop," etc. At least we now have a start for planning another trip. (That visitor thing really got us because we were seeing people we hadn't seen in years, people who also wanted to see our 5th-wheel, and the campground managers said we'd have to pay $12 per person for them to come in and see us if they stayed more than 15 minutes. Campground patrols on golf carts were everywhere, looking for people who dared overstay their 15 minutes. Awful!)

By the way, we're currently at Jim & Mary's RV Park just outside of Missoula. We discovered this place from fellow MOCers who gave it high marks recently. The sites are nice and wide with lots of trees, and the place is very attractive with obvious attention to cleanliness, landscaping, and other aesthetics. Jim & Mary no longer own the park, but the new owners are working hard to preserve the great reputation that the previous owners established. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, we'd give Jim & Mary's a solid 5.

Carolyn

[Parts Ed]

57 states....

How many more months do we have???