We hit the road a few weeks ago for a two-night trip to the Red Coconut RV Resort in Fort Myers Beach. We weren’t five miles down the road when I realized I’d forgotten my iPad and cigars.
I didn’t double back. But the realization got me thinking about what else I might have forgotten that trip (nothing important, thankfully) and on past trips (various clothes and food stuffs, our Snap & Zap towing mirrors, even the anti-sway bar – total freshman fail).
I also realized it was time for a pre-departure checklist. Or two.
I no longer forget essential RV accessories, like mirrors or stabilization devices, or to check the lights and hitch connection. Besides, our Ford F150 tow package includes a full pre-departure checklist on the screen – that is, if I remember to open the screen and take a peek first.
It’s the now creature comforts and personal items I tend to overlook in the haste to hit the road.
How can I be less forgetful in the future?
Lists – and list management – are the answer. Camping and backpacking site REI has a family camping checklist, though that’s more for its tenting and “roughing it” crew. So I posed the question to RV Tips Facebook page: How do others remember more and forget less?
The kind folk offered up a few solutions that make memorable the mental inventory we all should make of what we want to take. For me, it includes electronic devices and cables, and creature comforts, like those cigars, my spirits, even my pillow. My wife spends hours on the road or at the campsite knitting. If left behind, count on a U-ie to fetch it.
When headed to a music festival, supplies can include tapestries and string and clips to hang them, camp lamps and lasers, hats and bandannas, and assorted lights for wandering through the darkness.
That said, among the more noteworthy responses, readers said they…
- Create and constantly update a list. It may be called up on the smartphone or tablet, or printed and taped to a door of their home so they see it – and check off items – each time they walk out to the RV before leaving.
- Tap tech and apps. This can range from creating a spreadsheet on Microsoft Excel, or using Google Docs, Google Keep, a free app called Wunderlist to maintain checklists and shopping lists, and the Android/Google app Smart Checklist. Open, update, share – with ease.
- Keep separate lists for separate categories. How many lists you create is up to you. But categories can include clothing, toiletries / medications, foods (perishable and non-perishable shopping lists), even pet food, toys, or the crate/cage, fence, or leash.
- Separate checklists for the travel trailer and the tow vehicle. The latter might include the GPS and charger, and a collapsible cooler with drinks, fruit, and snacks. We keep a pre-departure checklist in a plastic sleeve that we run through when hitching and unhitching, including to check brake lights, whether stabilizers are up, the antenna is down, the TV secured, and the vehicle in tow mode. Also, to check fluid levels and air pressure.
- Box, bin, or bag it. The reason I forgot my iPad and smokes was I decided not to bring my laptop. Without the laptop bag I would otherwise have brought, I had no mental tickler to bring those items. So it could spur recall to put a box, tote, or reusable grocery bag where you gather your belongings. Most of my festival gear sits packed in a bin from the last festival, awaiting our next event.
- Checklists also include To Dos for the home: Lock doors, turn on/off lights, water the plants, adjust the thermostat, cancel newspaper, or hold the mail.
- Be the Good Sam of your rig. Print lists for each adult and the kids (maybe double check how well the kids gathered their stuff). If newbies or guests are traveling with you, share a list with them, as well.
With thoughtfully drafted and well maintained list, you won’t find yourself considering a U-ie to fetch something forgotten, no matter how far down the road you’ve driven.