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Documenting Your Travels

| Updated Feb 25, 2014

We drove through rain and snow today to reach the Beckley, WV travel plaza.  We’d had enough of driving for the day, so we picked a large safe place to park for the night. We hung the blanket between the front and rear, so the cab area is visible to folks passing by but not the back, and put Reflectix to blackout the other windows.

We plugged the MiFi,  the Wilson Dual band Amplifier (to get 6 bars instead of 2 on the MiFi), and the laptop into our 12 volt DC outlets, set the furnace to 65 degrees and got to work recreating a post we wrote for Mike 10 days ago, but it vanished into cyberspace. Interestingly our power usage was 0.8 amps until we plugged in the laptop.  When the laptop is plugged in it increases the load to 3.2 amps. Perhaps our new laptop will use less power?

state-stickers-usa
The typical RV travel map

Today on the road we passed a Class C with one of those large state maps on the side. It was about half filled in. We always thought that was a neat idea – and a good conversation starter – if only those maps were not so big and ugly. The current fad is to have state stickers for the maps that look like the license plates or an image  that clutters up the map. We looked around a few years back and nobody was selling maps in a smaller size or with solid color states. Occasionally we stayed in places we didn’t want to advertise that our parked Roadtrek was a camper.

Business Card (Medium)Then one day we spotted a touring motorcycle with a small size state map on the saddlebag.  Ah, that size would be perfect for a Class B.  And the states were solid colors. We did a bit of Googling and found twowheelvinyl.com. It offered a nice variety of USA or USA & Canada maps.  They were available in reflective or non-reflective with white, black, silver, and gray outline adhesive backed vinyl.

 

USA & Canada - Non-Reflective (Medium)
USA & Canada – Black Outline, Non-Reflective

Perfect, we thought. But did we really want to put something like that permanently on our Roadtrek? Then Roger thought of the ideal solution. He stopped at a sign shop and bought a scrap of white magnetic vinyl used for removable signs on cars. We could put up our map on our RV only when we wanted to display it.  We ordered the USA/Canada map with the black border in non-reflective. Then just for fun we ordered the USA only version in reflective to hang on our tandem bicycle to display our tours on it.

State Stickes on RT - close up (Medium)
Our 1st year with Red Rover – have since filled in all east of the Mississippi, plus Ontario, PEI, Nova Scotia

We are quite pleased with the way our map turned out. Many times it has prompted conversations with other travelers about places they have also been or inquires about places they want to go.  Best of all, we only mount it on the side of our Roadtrek when we want to display it.  Those  with Roadtrek 200s or other fiberglass body RVs may need a different solution than ‘ a magnetic sign.

US Map - Reflective (Medium)
Our Bicycle Travels Map

Here what our bicycle travel map looks like.  It is the reflective material and we put it on a piece of marine board and used zip ties to attach it to seat bag loops.   The inclusion of  Canada made it too big for use on a bicycle, however, we have toured in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.

 

Either map is a way to show off your travels and remind yourself of the good times you have enjoyed in many different places.

 

 

Mike Wendland

Published on 2014-02-25

Mike Wendland is a multiple Emmy-award-winning Journalist, Podcaster, YouTuber, and Blogger, who has traveled with his wife, Jennifer, all over North America in an RV, sharing adventures and reviewing RV, Camping, Outdoor, Travel and Tech Gear for the past 12 years. They are leading industry experts in RV living and have written 18 travel books.

4 Responses to “Documenting Your Travels”

March 10, 2016at11:38 pm, Nicole-Helene Vallee said:

Thanks for posting that link. We’ve been looking for something just like this for years!

February 25, 2014at7:01 pm, Lynn said:

Nancy,
We use Reflectix cut to fit the windows. It not only keeps light out, it keeps heat in or out as well. There are photos of it in our post titled Winter Roadtreking. Reflectix can be found in rolls in the insulation section in Lowes or Home Depot. It is also available at Camping World. It looks like bubble wrap between two layers of aluminum foil. Reflectix in the RVers best friend.

February 25, 2014at9:29 am, nancy beaster said:

What do you put on the windows to block out the light and where do you get it?

February 25, 2014at8:38 am, Laura H P said:

Thanks for the link. This looks like a perfect size. Happy travels to you both!

Comments are closed.

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