I was looking at a topic about tire choices in the “Ask Howard” forum and several contributors mentioned the miles they had on their tires. That got me wondering how people track their travel miles on trailer RVs. Is it just log book tallies, or something more sophisticated like axle counters seen on tracker-trailer rigs? Just curious.
Steve
Second Chance said
11:16 AM Jun 2, 2017
I built a spreadsheet with columns for travel date, destination, trip miles, nights spent, and mileage on tires, bearings, suspension, and total rig miles (separately for all). I write comments on RV parks, etc., in the far right column. I copy formulas from the row above that calculate everything but the travel date, destination and miles which I enter manually. Everything else is calculated off the travel date and trip miles. Here are the numbers from the row for where we are currently staying (I've entered the next travel date to get the nights to calculate).
Date Destination/Event Travel Miles Nights Tires Bearings Susp. Tot Rig Miles 6/1/2017 Midway RV Park, NSA Mid-South Millington, TN 158.0 7 9,321.4 7,702.4 7,702.4 17,779.4
I periodically back up all critical files to an external hard drive and a paper copy of this can be printed out if needed.
Rob
PS - after posting, it's obvious that I couldn't get the column labels and data lined up on the forum... sorry.
-- Edited by Second Chance on Friday 2nd of June 2017 11:17:52 AM
LarryW21 said
11:34 AM Jun 2, 2017
I use a paper log that is kept in my TT maintenance/receipt file. Not modern or fancy but works for me.
RonC said
11:37 AM Jun 2, 2017
Rob, are you still in Midway RV park? So are we (in spot 39).
-- Edited by RonC on Friday 2nd of June 2017 07:18:26 PM
Barbaraok said
03:43 PM Jun 2, 2017
Remember for all RVs, it is TIME that is a real factor, not mileage. UV/Ozone are the enemies of tires and they need to be covered when not rolling down the road. We never worry about the miles on the tires, we watch them and replace at our target date (8 yrs) to replace them when passing through Oregon.
RonC said
05:02 PM Jun 2, 2017
Good point Barb, I personally use the same criteria (time) for wheel bearing repack and brake inspection. Annually, at morRyde in Elkhart,ID.
Neil and Connie said
06:44 PM Jun 2, 2017
I'm like Second Chance. I use Field Notes Notebooks…one per year…that Connie and I have dubbed "The Book of All Knowledge". In addition to carrying it just about everywhere for taking important notes…I have a page for each travel day with date, from/to, start miles, stop miles, destination address and GPS, and notes about pre-payments for the campground or places we have to stop if there are limited rest stops. Once we stop…that gets transferred to a spreadsheet with date/to/from/start miles/finish/miles. It's got formulas for total miles, total miles this year, average miles per trip and stuff like that and a notes section where I put in anything like maintenance, bearings, etc. I also keep a scanned copy of the invoice for any truck or trailer maintenance including truck mileage, RV towed mileage, and date so I've got all of that.
In addition…it's got a tab that has every campground we've ever stayed at…name, address, GPS, phone, reservation details, cost, number of nights, site number, info we might want to know later like "get site 30 as it's right on the river", etc. That keeps track of our total lodging cost and average cost per night…currently running at $30.62/night since July 2012. One of the nice things about this tab is if we're ever in an area again we already know a good campground.
Bill Napier's spreadsheets are…undoubtedly…even more detailed than mine. What can I say…we're both recovering engineers although he's an EE and I'm a ME.
I also have a text note with all of our tire manufacture dates and reminders in my calendar and reminder app for when they reach the magic 7 year old number. Nothing magic about that but one should really think about replacing RV tires when they get that old…even though our H rated Goodyear G114's will likely have plenty of tread left by that time.
We have a file server in our rig that keeps most of our data files…but important stuff including these spreadsheets I have in a shared DropBox folder where (a) Connie can get to them, (b) I can see them from my iPhone if I need to look up something, and (c) they get backed up to the cloud in addition to all my internal rig and truck backups…after I was a submariner and the budget guy I was the computer guy at the Pentagon and learned the benefits of good/multiple backups.
RonC said
07:30 PM Jun 2, 2017
Neil, forgive me ... Due to my perfect recall, I just commit everything to memory. When called upon to retrieve it I just ask Janice "what was the name of that last RV park we stayed at in Virginia?" BOOM!, perfect recall kicks in and I have my answer!
I did say forgive me, right?
-- Edited by RonC on Friday 2nd of June 2017 07:31:44 PM
-- Edited by RonC on Friday 2nd of June 2017 09:22:28 PM
Second Chance said
10:06 PM Jun 2, 2017
Neil and Connie wrote:
I'm like Second Chance...
Hold on a minute, there, Neil. That all sounds a LOT more OCD than me!
Rob
Neil and Connie said
01:51 PM Jun 3, 2017
No way that would work for us Ron…we been in so many campgrounds a lot of them just sorta run together…including this week. We're at the KOA in Goodland KS where we've been before…but we got here and said to ourselves "This isn't what we thought it was."…turned out that's another KOA up in Montana that we were remembering.
RonC said
04:00 PM Jun 3, 2017
Yeah ... just kidding of course. I figure in a few years I won't remember that I can't remember. 😜
Bill and Linda said
04:01 PM Jun 3, 2017
Neil and Connie wrote:
Bill Napier's spreadsheets are…undoubtedly…even more detailed than mine. What can I say…we're both recovering engineers although he's an EE and I'm a ME.
We're about the same as Neil. Linda and I share a lot of records and they are either on the PC's or in a book for the maintenance receipts. I do keep detailed maps of every trip and location - by Latitude and Longitude. Don't trust addresses. They are wrong a lot of the time. Every mile the trailer takes is recorded including maintenance items. I confirm each campground location by Lat / Long / Satellite prior to each move. The maps really come in handy when planning trips. We have spending records, etc. Naturally all records are double backed up on separate network drives. Does all this matter? Have no idea but it does come in handy when I can't remember stuff.
Neil and Connie said
05:57 PM Jun 3, 2017
Second Chance wrote:
Neil and Connie wrote:
I'm like Second Chance...
Hold on a minute, there, Neil. That all sounds a LOT more OCD than me!
Rob
I can absolutely, positively confirm that I do not have OCD. What I have is CDO. It's sorta like OCD except the letters are in the right damn order.
I'm what I call a "recovering engineer"…can't help myself with spreadsheets and numbers and data…
RonC said
12:38 PM Jun 4, 2017
Neil ... just MO, but I like your details ... between you and Bill I have really gone to school. Still not yet a graduate, but I'm enrolled. So in case you never hear this ... thanks for your willingness to share!!
The Bear II said
11:15 AM Jun 5, 2017
Our friends are long time full timers. From day one with their first RV when they were just part timers the kept a small notebook in their tow vehicle each year. In it they would write down miles traveled, fuel bought, gas mileage, any repairs or maintenance to tow vehicle or trailer, entry fees or campground fees. Plus they would list any highlights of the trip.
These notebooks at the end of the year were kept in the trailer for reference. Many an argument was settled by going back through one of these books.
They knew how many miles the tires on the trailer had traveled, how much they spent during the year for propane, quarts of oil used...it was very impressive. My DW and I do not have the discipline it takes to do something like that.
-- Edited by The Bear II on Monday 5th of June 2017 11:19:35 AM
Neil and Connie said
01:42 PM Jun 5, 2017
Thanks…(blushes). We try but Bill is the real long term RVer smart guy here…I'm getting there but still have lots I don't know about yet…but I have lots of friends who do.
Cookie Dough said
07:18 AM Jun 11, 2017
Thank you all, just when we're about to start living the dream, there's homework :/
Hit the open road, follow the weather, enjoy the journey, spend time together. We're gonna have a carefree lifestyle !
Now there's a list, Spreadsheets, Do I need to track average marshmallows consumed at campfire, burn time, # of logs used? wtf
However I do plan to keep a log/journal of maintenance, miles traveled, fuel, campgrounds and maybe even travel, non-travel days
Plus a note or two on the day's Fun
I tracked a whole lot of stuff over the years, sometimes it was helpful. Now as we are in our final stages of prep it's going to the shredder.
I had OCD, got medicine , now I'm just organized. However with age comes CRS, so of course I make notes ( to do list), stack them up, and after a few weeks review and realize I actually did it,
Didn't have to do it, and mostly ain't gonna do it. Just re write to a new list.
On a serious note, I get it, and Thank You to all who post. I have found a lot of information
Bill
On that list is to create a "signature", I'll just do it manually
Laurie and Bill
2002 Airstream Land Yacht 39ft diesel
Acme tow dolly, 2016 VW Jetta
Launch date 8-14-2017, leave NY mid Sept 2017
MAYBE2021 said
04:27 PM Jun 13, 2017
I'm really glad I asked this question. I enjoyed both the serious and silly replies.
And Bill, I too have started making lists evey time I take a trip..and I sometimes actually check it before I leave. I also have promised to create a signature file but haven't done so yet.
Steve
2017 Starcraft 26 AR One Max TT, TV 2004 Tundra SR5 Double cab 2wd 4.7L
I was looking at a topic about tire choices in the “Ask Howard” forum and several contributors mentioned the miles they had on their tires. That got me wondering how people track their travel miles on trailer RVs. Is it just log book tallies, or something more sophisticated like axle counters seen on tracker-trailer rigs? Just curious.
Steve
I built a spreadsheet with columns for travel date, destination, trip miles, nights spent, and mileage on tires, bearings, suspension, and total rig miles (separately for all). I write comments on RV parks, etc., in the far right column. I copy formulas from the row above that calculate everything but the travel date, destination and miles which I enter manually. Everything else is calculated off the travel date and trip miles. Here are the numbers from the row for where we are currently staying (I've entered the next travel date to get the nights to calculate).
Date Destination/Event Travel Miles Nights Tires Bearings Susp. Tot Rig Miles
6/1/2017 Midway RV Park, NSA Mid-South Millington, TN 158.0 7 9,321.4 7,702.4 7,702.4 17,779.4
I periodically back up all critical files to an external hard drive and a paper copy of this can be printed out if needed.
Rob
PS - after posting, it's obvious that I couldn't get the column labels and data lined up on the forum... sorry.
-- Edited by Second Chance on Friday 2nd of June 2017 11:17:52 AM
Rob, are you still in Midway RV park? So are we (in spot 39).
-- Edited by RonC on Friday 2nd of June 2017 07:18:26 PM
I'm like Second Chance. I use Field Notes Notebooks…one per year…that Connie and I have dubbed "The Book of All Knowledge". In addition to carrying it just about everywhere for taking important notes…I have a page for each travel day with date, from/to, start miles, stop miles, destination address and GPS, and notes about pre-payments for the campground or places we have to stop if there are limited rest stops. Once we stop…that gets transferred to a spreadsheet with date/to/from/start miles/finish/miles. It's got formulas for total miles, total miles this year, average miles per trip and stuff like that and a notes section where I put in anything like maintenance, bearings, etc. I also keep a scanned copy of the invoice for any truck or trailer maintenance including truck mileage, RV towed mileage, and date so I've got all of that.
In addition…it's got a tab that has every campground we've ever stayed at…name, address, GPS, phone, reservation details, cost, number of nights, site number, info we might want to know later like "get site 30 as it's right on the river", etc. That keeps track of our total lodging cost and average cost per night…currently running at $30.62/night since July 2012. One of the nice things about this tab is if we're ever in an area again we already know a good campground.
Bill Napier's spreadsheets are…undoubtedly…even more detailed than mine. What can I say…we're both recovering engineers although he's an EE and I'm a ME.
I also have a text note with all of our tire manufacture dates and reminders in my calendar and reminder app for when they reach the magic 7 year old number. Nothing magic about that but one should really think about replacing RV tires when they get that old…even though our H rated Goodyear G114's will likely have plenty of tread left by that time.
We have a file server in our rig that keeps most of our data files…but important stuff including these spreadsheets I have in a shared DropBox folder where (a) Connie can get to them, (b) I can see them from my iPhone if I need to look up something, and (c) they get backed up to the cloud in addition to all my internal rig and truck backups…after I was a submariner and the budget guy I was the computer guy at the Pentagon and learned the benefits of good/multiple backups.
Neil, forgive me ... Due to my perfect recall, I just commit everything to memory. When called upon to retrieve it I just ask Janice "what was the name of that last RV park we stayed at in Virginia?" BOOM!, perfect recall kicks in and I have my answer!
I did say forgive me, right?
-- Edited by RonC on Friday 2nd of June 2017 07:31:44 PM
-- Edited by RonC on Friday 2nd of June 2017 09:22:28 PM
Hold on a minute, there, Neil. That all sounds a LOT more OCD than me!
Rob
No way that would work for us Ron…we been in so many campgrounds a lot of them just sorta run together…including this week. We're at the KOA in Goodland KS where we've been before…but we got here and said to ourselves "This isn't what we thought it was."…turned out that's another KOA up in Montana that we were remembering.
We're about the same as Neil. Linda and I share a lot of records and they are either on the PC's or in a book for the maintenance receipts. I do keep detailed maps of every trip and location - by Latitude and Longitude. Don't trust addresses. They are wrong a lot of the time. Every mile the trailer takes is recorded including maintenance items. I confirm each campground location by Lat / Long / Satellite prior to each move. The maps really come in handy when planning trips. We have spending records, etc. Naturally all records are double backed up on separate network drives. Does all this matter? Have no idea but it does come in handy when I can't remember stuff.
I can absolutely, positively confirm that I do not have OCD. What I have is CDO. It's sorta like OCD except the letters are in the right damn order.
I'm what I call a "recovering engineer"…can't help myself with spreadsheets and numbers and data…
Our friends are long time full timers. From day one with their first RV when they were just part timers the kept a small notebook in their tow vehicle each year. In it they would write down miles traveled, fuel bought, gas mileage, any repairs or maintenance to tow vehicle or trailer, entry fees or campground fees. Plus they would list any highlights of the trip.
These notebooks at the end of the year were kept in the trailer for reference. Many an argument was settled by going back through one of these books.
They knew how many miles the tires on the trailer had traveled, how much they spent during the year for propane, quarts of oil used...it was very impressive. My DW and I do not have the discipline it takes to do something like that.
-- Edited by The Bear II on Monday 5th of June 2017 11:19:35 AM
Thanks…(blushes). We try but Bill is the real long term RVer smart guy here…I'm getting there but still have lots I don't know about yet…but I have lots of friends who do.
Hit the open road, follow the weather, enjoy the journey, spend time together. We're gonna have a carefree lifestyle !
Now there's a list, Spreadsheets, Do I need to track average marshmallows consumed at campfire, burn time, # of logs used? wtf
However I do plan to keep a log/journal of maintenance, miles traveled, fuel, campgrounds and maybe even travel, non-travel days
Plus a note or two on the day's Fun
I tracked a whole lot of stuff over the years, sometimes it was helpful. Now as we are in our final stages of prep it's going to the shredder.
I had OCD, got medicine , now I'm just organized. However with age comes CRS, so of course I make notes ( to do list), stack them up, and after a few weeks review and realize I actually did it,
Didn't have to do it, and mostly ain't gonna do it. Just re write to a new list.
On a serious note, I get it, and Thank You to all who post. I have found a lot of information
Bill
On that list is to create a "signature", I'll just do it manually
Laurie and Bill
2002 Airstream Land Yacht 39ft diesel
Acme tow dolly, 2016 VW Jetta
Launch date 8-14-2017, leave NY mid Sept 2017
And Bill, I too have started making lists evey time I take a trip..and I sometimes actually check it before I leave. I also have promised to create a signature file but haven't done so yet.
Steve
2017 Starcraft 26 AR One Max TT, TV 2004 Tundra SR5 Double cab 2wd 4.7L