by Pamela Conley

Have you ever been tired of lugging that huge Campground and RV Park book with you on every trip? Have you had difficulty storing it? What about the late afternoons of balancing it precariously on your lap while searching through all of North America, Canada, and Mexico to find a campground for the night? Have you ever found yourself searching through 30 different maps in your glove compartment? Did you ever find that you forgot to bring along a particularly good camping recipe? Have you ever had a mechanical problem with your RV and found yourself searching for one of the ten manuals your RV came with?

If the answer is “yes” to any of these, now is the time to get organized and prepare your own personalized camping book for your next trip.

On your next shopping trip, buy a large three-ringed binder and several packages of assorted plastic three-ringed fillers. Find all the manuals and material that are pertinent to your camper and truck or RV. Prepare them by punching holes to fit the three-ring binder.

Now add all your favorite camping recipes in the plastic fillers. If necessary duplicate them, so these copies will have a permanent home in your camp book, just as they do in your recipe book at home.

Before your next trip, locate all the maps that will be necessary and place them in plastic fillers. Leave all unnecessary maps at home. Why take up glove compartment space with eastern state maps if your trip will only include three western states?

Next, get the big camp book out and locate all the states’ campgrounds and RV parks where you will be visiting. Tear them out of the book or make copies and place them in alphabetical order by state in the plastic fillers. When it is time to start looking for a campground or RV park, you will find this information so much easier and faster. If you are planning a trip to Mexico or Canada, and Fido wants to come along, you will need to have pet licenses and health certificates with you. Once again, they will be quickly accessible if needed, in your personalized camp book. The camp book can fit underneath the seat in the car or in the side compartment of the door.

For those who are just beginning the experience of living in an RV on the road, the front page of your camp book is a great location for a RV count down check list and other check lists of birds and mammals at your destinations. Traveling and camping can be fun, but when the refrigerator doesn’t work and the search is on to find the needed manual, you will be glad that you thought ahead and know where to look in your camp book. The camp book takes a lot of the stress out of traveling. And you will find it to be a valuable tool for staying organized while on the trip.