Blog copyright Janet Groene 2024. To donate ini support of of this free weekly blog, use your PayPal account to janetgroene at yahoo.com
In Praise of Print...
Highways for the Heart
Part of the fun of RV-ing is sharing your travels with loved ones far away. You can snap a picture now and have it on your sister’s desktop or smart phone a minute later. Make up a family newsletter and, with one click of the icon, you e-mail it to two dozen people. You might turn your memoirs into a travel diary, a book, blog or e-book. Better still, make it a journal, diary or a family newsletter or hard copy book sent via snail mail.
How can you use today’s high-tech communications to take friends and family along for the ride?
You can post a blog, Facebook page, or website and hope others will flock to it. However, that’s no help to Uncle Mike or Granny, who don’t use the new electronics. Although snail mail is more work, hard copy is taken to heart much more. It can be passed around, read at leisure, scrap-booked, savored and kept for years.
Whether you use digital or print, you can create a real legacy in the form of a newsletter, journal or diary.
☐ Decide if your site will be public, private, password protected or interactive. Will you publish comments? Approve them first? Will it be a simple letter snail-mailed to the home folks, online news for all friends and family, totally public or a public website with password?
☐ Use color, links, clip art and photos but keep electronic files brief or they clog inboxes. Liven up hard copy with colored papers. If you don’t make prints of your photos, many gift shops will sell post cards for 50 cents or less.
☐ If others travel with you, get them involved in your weekly or monthly newsletter, perhaps with a Kids’ Korner or From the Passenger Seat. Use quotes and funny stories.
☐ Think before you ink. If you’re going through a very tough time, wait until you’re able to keep it brief and in context. Don’t write things you’ll regret later. Sleep on it overnight, then boil it down to a punchy, readable version.
☐ Don’t over-do it with personal news. Your friends, who have never met your children, don’t care that your son-in-law got promoted or your grand-daughter graduated from kindergarten.
☐ Put yourself in the picture. Your friends can find photos of the Grand Canyon in a book. Show what you saw and did and experienced there. Convey enthusiasm with good writing and evocative words, not punctuation fireworks. Keep it light and airy with generous margins and crisp, large type.
☐ Flesh out the family newsletter with a cherished family recipe, a poem, a puzzle, a family trivia quiz. Bring the reader/viewer into the story with comments such as “When you come here next year, Mary, don’t miss the little bistro on Oak Street” or “Mom, I think of you and Pop when you came here on your honeymoon. ”
☐ One way to personalize a family newsletter is with a monthly calendar. upcoming family birthdays, anniversaries and significant dates such as “Granny would have been 90 today.”
☐ Start the next issue right after sending the last. Add to the file until you’ve reached a goal of so-many words or pages, then send it.
☐ Come up with a catchy name for your blog or newsletter, such as Jenny’s Journeys or Robbin on the Road.
☐ Include your contact information in each issue. Stay-at-homes need constant reminders that your only address is a forwarding service in Cincinnati even though they know you are actually in Southeast Alaska. Be careful about giving out temporary phone numbers or addresses. Sure as shootin', your addled aunt will write them down and use them forever.
Just in time for Mother's Day....
For yourself or a gift, Janet Groene's timeless RV cookbook is packed with shortcuts, tips and 270 easy, delicious recipes to cook inside the camper or outside on the campfire or grill. https://amzn.to/3nNndWY
CAMPGROUNDS GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS
This is late breaking news gathered from local sources. It may be premature or incomplete. Check it out for yourself. No endorsement of any campground is implied.
* Newly opened last fall in Fort Smith Arkansas, the 27-acre Riverfront RV Resort has 100 RV sites with full hookups. The park has a swimming pool, dog park, pickleball court, walking trail, playground, WiFi, gated entry and private boat ramp on the Arkansas River. See FortSmithRiverfrontRVResort.com/
* Camping at Martha Creek Provincial Park, British Columbia has been added to the reservations system at BCParks. In a new loop the park has added 32 campsites. Facilities include gray water disposal, pit toilets, potable water and a recycling center. The park now has 108 campsites, of which 83 can be reserved. See https://camping.bcparks.ca
* Bigwind Lake Park in Bracebridge, Ontario is still a day use park but watch for the news as it develops into a fabulous provincial park with 250 RV campsites. For updates go to https://www.ontario.ca/page/new-operating-provincial-park-bigwind-lake-provincial-park.
*2024 is the 50th year for Rocky Gap State Park in Flintstone, Maryland. Celebrations will pop up through most of July. Day trippers will get in free July 15-19 and RV campers will have a front row seat at the special celebrations that continue later. On July 20, take a ranger-led hike to the Mountaintop. Also that day, Primitive Technologist Roy Brown will lead demonstrations of Native American activities, and storytelling. On July 24, a one-hour paddleboarding program goes on at park's Boathouse. For reservations in the 243-site campground call (888)-432-(2267. For park information and schedules for programs call (301) 722-1480.
* Camp the Adirondacks under a new flag when the North Pole Campground & Resort in Wilmington,, New York opens as a KOA. The resort also has a separate motel, which will open as usual. The destination has a camp store, liquor store, cabins, RV and tent campsites. Under the KOA banner the campground will have 5 RV sites plus a swimming pool, pickleball, playground and more features typical of KOA parks. Get updates on the changes at the KOA website.
* The annual Ribstock Festival will be held June 28, 2024 - June 29, 2024 at the Caseville, Michigan County Park. In addition to the best ribs in town, the fun will include a sand castle building contest on the beach, classic cars, softball tournaments, dances, live music, entertainments and a kids’ section. Campsite reservations are already sold out, but you can get on the wait list at https://huroncountyparks.com/ribstock-festival/
* Through May 7, bring your little ones for Toddler Tuesdays at Crowder State Park, Trenton, Missouri. Meet at the Camp Grand River Recreation Hall at 9 a.m. for hour-long sessions with themes such as nature, crafts, reading and nature walks. For more information, call the park office at 660-359-6473. These events are free and open to the public, and there is no need to register.
* With the 100th anniversary of Route 66 coming in 2026, tourism sites along the entire route are spiffing up for a big influx of tourists. One of the new campgrounds will be a $300,000 park in Livings, Illinois, 40 miles northeast of St. Louis. The little town is known for its huge Pink Elephant statue and antique mall. The new campground will adjoin the mall.
* Pucker up for the annual Rhubarb Festival at Sylvan Park and Riverview Campgrounds, Lanesboro, Minnesota on June 1. Feast on rhubarb pies, muffins, tarts, jam and much more. The festival will have live music, children’s activities, foot races, brews, vendors, food and plenty of hometown hospitality. The park has two campgrounds, some with full hookups, two scenic ponds for trout fishing,, picnic areas, a playground, golf and a swimming pool. Call the campground at (507) 467-3722.
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