Country Discoveries

[Wallo]

A few years back, there was a magazine called "Country Discoveries", and has been out of print for a long time. I subscribed to it and planned a cross country trip around info found in some of the articles. The magazine had a section called "Compass Points" with letters written by travelers who had a good meal at a roadside diner, visited a unique shop in a small town along the way. Others contributed articles about places they visited, including pictures, or articles/pictures about their travels in antique trailers to rallies with info. The magazine articles were broken down into sections of the country.

The point I'm trying to get to, is it would be nice if FGRV could add a section under Trip Reports that is set up like the Rallies with the State designated. Something like this:

Country Discoveries
AK
Put your report under the state. Include the town/city you were at, the
name of the restaurant (include the type of meal/dessert you enjoyed)
/store/shop, some history if relevant, what made it unique, and hours
days open, any other information you want to include what you liked,
made you smile, made the place stand out in your mind.
AL

If separating by state, RVer's could check for interesting places to go, see, or do if they are planning a trip to/thru that state. People could post their little items about where they were, what they saw and if they had a good, reasonable meal somewhere. We do it for camping reports. I'm planning another cross country trip this summer and would like to find recommendations along the way to break up the long drive. I'm sure many RVer's keep little notebooks about their travels.

Is this something the rest of the forum would be interested in and contribute to?

Thanks,

[John Linck]

Great idea. Here is a similar, but urban resource.

This Is the Williamsburg of Your City: A Map of Hip America

Who could be hipper than fiberglass RVers?

[Carol H]

Alice I like that idea!

[Steve Outlaw]

I think that is a super idea. How could it be sorted according to state without having a separate thread for each? If all the postings for a given state were not right together, it would be too difficult to see what information was available for it.

[Bobbie Mayer]

It would also be very nice to note parking- can you pull in with your trailer or is this a side trip after you reach the campground and unhitch?

[Wallo]

How could it be sorted according to state without having a separate thread for each? If all the postings for a given state were not right together, it would be too difficult to see what information was available for it.

have no idea how this forum is set up or it's capabilities. If I did, I would be willing to set it up, and the offer stands if someone could give me directions. Or if someone else has a suggestion of how to do this, let's hear it.

[Wallo]

Looking at the RALLYS section, I noticed "STICKIES". Would it be possible to make a STICKIE for each state and people can post into those? Just a thought.

I hope DonnaD sees this, that lady has the solution to everything!

[theresa p]

i'm adding in my two thumbs up! alice, that's a great idea.

i know that i appreciate finding out about a restaurant/tourist site/park that has
been given a recommendation by another traveller....and the idea re: parking that bobbie mentionned is another aspect that i'd like to have added....

[Jon Vermilye]

A great idea, and I do miss the magazine!

[Robin G]

Hmmmm, I am gonna be a stick in the mud and say, Ugh I can't see it being much more than yet another opinion based topic/topics....

Now if travelers kept to helpful info with a lil personal opinion then it would be wonderful... But I can see the 10 page dissertation for many a trip report. eye Sorry, just my opinion. We do have a sub forum about campground reports, perhaps it could include "trip" info.

[Wallo]

Robin - I understand your concerns. But in all fairness, there are probably some subjects that subscribers of this forum pass by because of lack of interest on their part. But, the subjects are available to people who do have an interest. Think of it like a library....you may enjoy books from the Mystery section, but ignore those from the Science and Technology section.

The idea is not to bore people to death, but to provide first hand information about what FGRVer's have experienced in their travels and where. It's like sitting around a pot luck talking to people and they tell you about a neat little town they stopped in and how much they enjoyed it. Only this would be organized by state in one place. When planning a trip you could access it to find things along the way one may want to experience.

[Mary F]

The way I see it, Alice, what you're describing is not all that different from our Camping, Campout Reports forum. The problem is, there is no organization of the archive, so browsing the old reports is time consuming (and frustrating). The only way currently to get to the old information is to search the forum, which is of course, useful. Enhancing the organization to facilitate browsing would also be very useful... and I have an idea.

Rally postings have a two character prefix that makes them retrievable by state or Canadian province. Maybe something like this could be added in the camping reports forum as well. We'll look into it. It's not quite as straightforward as with the Rally listings, but it might work. At least it's a start...

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Wallo]

Thanks Mary. In Msg. #7 I wondered if Stickies, with the two character prefix for states and provinces as threads be added where it would be the most logical. It appears that additions can be made to "Stickies" and the stickies have a unique thread name. Of course, what I have envisioned, and what is possible could be very difficult to do since I have no idea what is involved. Thanks for looking into it.

[Robin G]

Originally Posted by Wallo

Only this would be organized by state in one place. When planning a trip you could access it to find things along the way one may want to experience.

Completely understand what your wanting. I think it's a great idea. And of course we all have the ability to scroll on by, but just think it could be an excess of personal opinions rather than facts.

[Mary F]

Well, imagine 4 or 5 screens of stuck threads, which is what would happen if there were 50 or 60 of them.

Stickies work when they are very few in number. Three or four in a forum, max.

Look at the Rallies forum index, where you can specify the state/province at the top and it will just pull up those listed with that prefix.

The problems with doing something similar to the Camping/Campout Reports will be how to determine the prefix, what to do about trips that cover more than one area, and possibly how to assign codes retroactively.

I realize you and I are really talking about two different things: I want to impose browsing order on a forum we already use, hoping it will become something similar to what you're after, which is travel descriptions and information organized by location.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Wallo

.....I hope DonnaD sees this, that lady has the solution to everything!

You give me too much credit. HOWEVER, I think it starts with the Title. If folks would have meaningful titles it helps the readership and makes it easy to search.

Something like:

Oregon, a trip to the coast

or

Arizona, things to do around Sedona

[Dave and Kathie]

Here is a very cool - fairly new magazine that might be just the ticket for what you're looking for!

American Road® Magazine

Kathie

[Robin G]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

If folks would have meaningful titles it helps the readership and makes it easy to search.

Something like:

Oregon, a trip to the coast

or

Arizona, things to do around Sedona

Now that would work!

[Wallo]

Mary - I see what you are talking about. Learned something new today about searching in RALLIES with two letter state/province. That would be good. Would have to depend on the writers to separate their experiences by state. Some may not, but nothing is perfect.

Those who remember Country Discoveries, may recall that the travelers wrote mainly about memorable stops, good, small mom and pop restaurants with good home cooking/desserts, stores with unique items not found commercially, annual town festivals (garlic festival) that they stumbled across, or just a pretty area a bit off the beaten path or small town Americana. Stuff that you don't find in AAA Guides or Chamber of Commerce packets. Letters were not lengthy, only describing the one memory, what/why they liked it, and where it was located. Letters were not negative. (That's easy to do with a magazine, but not so much on a forum such as this). But, the people here don't do much trash talking. I hope you, and the members here think it would be worthwhile, interesting, willing to contribute, and worth the effort to add to the forum.

Kathie - The magazine is similar, just more commercial than Country Discoveries. I'll try a subscription for a year and see how it works out. Thanks for the tip!

[Dave and Kathie]

Originally Posted by Wallo

Kathie - The magazine is similar, just more commercial than Country Discoveries. I'll try a subscription for a year and see how it works out. Thanks for the tip!

I know what you mean - much more commercial. Look at this one - looks like a reincarnation of Country Discoveries....

Country Magazine — Country Photos, Stories and Friendly Neighbors