To blog or not to blog...

Ron & Alice · 12-09-2009, 06:36 PM

Ok, next question:
Who keeps a journal/blog? Is a 'puter blog' or paper? AND, do people really read them or care?

EMD_Driver · 12-09-2009, 06:46 PM

I'm sure Kitty and I could blog about our various "Sunline adventures" but we don't. She is keeping a log of pretty much everything though... Mileage on the TT and such...

Gary

**JohnB** · 12-09-2009, 07:01 PM

Hi Alice

We have 2 bloggers on SOC that I know of or that post they blog.

The EMAN's (Pat and Cindy) Screen Name: EMAN
Here is there web site: http://www.everymilesamemory.com/

The Steigers ( Tom and Jessie ) Screen Name: thesteigers
Here is there web site http://www.wearezinks.com/

Here is a blog post of theirs.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/ph...ghlight=#20361

There may be 1 or 2 more in the club but I do not recall.

Do folks read them? Yes, from time to time I do.

And every now and then both of them pop in here and post on some adventures they are up to. And we like to see what they are up to.

Pics' you have to take pics.....

If you do the puter thing, let us know so we can go see what Alice and Ron are up to.

Good Luck

John

PS We do keep a camping log book. Every site and park, mileage and nights of camping, and a site rating. Add extra stuff as it comes up. It is more to keep track of where we have been and track towing miles.

Honda03842 · 12-10-2009, 05:53 AM

We write a regular journal when we're traveling, usually at least weekly but frequently daily like when were in Labrador. It started for a few family and freinds but now has expanded to about 200 people.

Occasionally we receive a request for regional information; we just sent all our Labrador files to a person planning a trip.

I think the neatest part is that we get to re-live our trip by reading what we've written and that's pretty cool. In addition to reading what we wrote, it stimulates additional memories.

Each 'edition' is about 6 pages, for the last 5 years with pictures.

In addition we keep a hand written record of all the places we have camped; truly a great resource for return visits. Again this information serves as a memory trigger.

We do recognize that we will reach an age where travel will be more limited, memory weaker, and all this material will provide happy fodder for quiet time.

We are very happy that we have done this from day one, only wishing we had been even more thorough then we have.

For those that are reluctant to begin, even if only for personal use, one benefit is that it improves your writing skills.

Additionally the time spent writing, enhances the days activities.

Safe travels to all,

Honda03842 · 12-10-2009, 05:59 AM

I should have mentioned that our Journal is not a Blog. Probably because 10 years ago Blogs were not as easy as today and second it was ment for a few friends and family. In retrospect, it would have been better if it were a blog, more available. On the other hand I think it's more read by those whoe receive it because like the newspaper that comes to your home, it has a higher chance of being read versus having to go to the library to read the paper.

In the interest of open information, of being available to those that might want the information, the blog definitely has more long term value.

**Tweety** · 12-10-2009, 06:22 AM

I read Pat & Cindy's blog pretty regularly. (eman) I keep a paper diary of each trip we take with a review of the campground and which site we had or wish we had

and what we did in the area.

Poppy & Nana · 12-10-2009, 07:37 AM

Back in the 70's-80's when the girls where younger and we traveled, they were required (as summer homework) to write a page on what states we had visited, what they thought of the state, what we saw and other various bits of information......here 25-30 years latter with them being in their 40's they both still have their "diaries" and read them and think of the good times we had as a family camping. The oldest daughter now has her eldest son doing the same thing.......I guess when the 6 y/o really learns how to write he'll be made to do it to.

I "try" to keep a log of where we go etc. but have to admit I'm not as good at it as most people, but if a campground is not up to our standards...I make sure I make a note of that!!!!!

Ron & Alice · 12-10-2009, 03:45 PM

Thanks for the links John. I just quickly read Eman's site, and WoW! Talk about a lot of info, and good for them, doing it while they are still young enough. It's funny, we will be staying at 2 of the campgrounds they recommend, so I guess we have similar tastes. We hope to get organized for boondocking for next year, but right now we just want to get away from the snow however we can.

I think I plan on keeping a blog (mytripjournal.com) because I always did when we were boating for so many years. Mostly for me & the kids tho'. And I made myself an RV Travel Log to keep track of campgrounds, comments, etc. Like someone said, it helps later on to spark a few memories.

emam · 12-18-2009, 06:48 PM

Hey Ron & Alice, I thought I'd talk a bit about what we've done and why we did it....Thanks John B for the linkage and kind remarks...You too Pam

Cindy and I started our Blog because we had always kept trip journals of our past vacations and adventures. Our family was really worried that they wouldnt be able to keep in touch with us or know that we were safe when we'd be camping out in the boondocks.

So we thought we'd start a simple blog to update our travels for family and friends, and rather than write in a notebook each night, it would be much easier and safer to have a back-up for future generations of explorers to do it all on a laptop we would bring with us.

This sounded simple enough.

Who would have thought that after 3 full years on the road, we've met and been introduced to so many amazing people due to our blogs.

Our family rarely reads it, but this year alone we've had over 5 million hits. Not bad for two bartenders who wanted to take a break for a few years with no formal writing experience.

Without the blog, I think we wouldnt have met half the people we've met along the road, and wouldnt have experienced half the things we've done. Would we still have had fun? Heck yes, but the blog allowed us to connect with so many people who only get a chance to travel a few times each year and that felt great to share our experience with them.

So many times when we'd be talking about an area we were headed, we'd get flooded with emails from readers who would suggest out of the way places, or funky little bars, towns or roads that we probably would have passed right by.

Plus, Cindy and I are both avid photographers, so it gave us an opportunity to share plenty of our photos with others who might never get a chance to see a certain section of the Country. Are they the best photos out there, heavens no! But they're the best we could post to show what we saw while searching the backroads of North America.

I'll say right now, that once it gets going, it becomes very addictive and can sometimes be overwhelming. But the emails from the readers, the kind words of encouragement when we're both at each others throats and the great memories we'll have to hand down to younger generations who are thinking about traveling make us so glad we kept a very detailed blog of our entire adventure.

I'd recommend it to anyone who RV's or even travels more than the typical weekend or two each year. Heck, I follow along with a few friends who have small blogs who only go out for one 2 Week vacation each year just to pull ideas from and enjoy in their good times.

Sorry for the long post, but for us, it was a great idea to keep the blog and I'll never regret all the work that was put into it.

Have fun, and safe camping

Ron & Alice · 12-20-2009, 03:57 PM

Thanks for the encouragement Pat. I, too (Alice) have always kept a journal every trip we made, including the 8 years we spent boating in Fl. And last year, I kept a blog while we were in the Bahamas. But I do find that sometimes it is overwhelming, and then I begin to wonder if the work is worth it, especially if your family can't be bothered reading it, lol.

On the other hand, I used blogger.com and wasn't thrilled with it. It seemed to me that a whole bunch of space was wasted on each page, and didn't allow me to write too much. I mean, after all, who wants to read 3 pages/day when it is only space?? And I also love to share my photos, and it wasn't exactly user-friendly. I do not have the expertise to create my own website as you have done, so are you familiar with mytripjournal.com (I think that is what it is called)?

If I am going to do this, I will start Jan. 1, 2010 because we will leave around the 4th, barring any ridiculous snow fall. BTW, we will definitely stop in to see you & Cindy, probably late February...

emam · 12-21-2009, 11:04 AM

Hey Alice, I hear ya with those other blogs you mentioned. I had looked at them to begin with, but didnt like the same things you were talking about. Too much wasted space, and not enough user control

If I could recommend you find a Adult Education Center that is local or even if any of the College's offer a one day class on Front Page.

If you can type on Microsoft Word, then you can create a webpage in Front Page. That is once you learn the basics which is what one of those one day classes will teach you.

My cousin had taken one, and when I asked him about it, he suggested that I come over and we could sit down with his notes and go over building ours. We literally built it in a few hours with a bunch of time spent fooling around tinkering with different buttons and so on.

Once you get the hang of it, which is easy if you're even remotely computer savy, then its not hard at all.

I was joking about my family not keeping up on it, they do, just not as regular as many of our readers who are planning to do the same thing and use our blogs as cheat sheets to learn the in's and out's of daily life in an RV.

The part that becomes overwhelming is when you're too busy to keep up with everything you're doing. Right now we're working pretty non-stop to keep the work flowing on the Low-Key Hideaway and get it ready for season, so the blogs are lacking in attention paid to them. But when we're traveling, its pretty easy to just include it in your daily tasks.

Moving non-stop can make it hard to keep up with everything we see each day or encounter. One thing I've found is to keep a small notebook handy to jot down thoughts or things we see or names of people we meet along the way.

Then there are rainy days when its almost a blessing to keep the boredome at bay. Those are the days when it gets an overhaul and links get added, everything gets buttoned up and it becomes the pages you see on the site now.

I'd recommend starting your own site, and once you get it started, you'll have 100% control over its final look. Its alot easier than it sounds, and once you see that, you'll never look back

Ron & Alice · 12-21-2009, 04:04 PM

Ok, thanks Pat. I'll look into it, if not now - sometime while we are down South. We are running out of time here (2 weeks to go) and I am still fighting the flu, making it difficult to get anything done at all.

One thing I have always done is kept a notebook within reach in the boat/car/truck to make notes as we go along. Otherwise, at the end of the day, I forget what happened newsworthy, lol.