Best reference books related to RVing?

Greetings,

Being new to RVing, can I get some recommendation with best reference books vis-a-vis RVing?  i.e., campgrounds, routes, best deals, repair manual, e.t.c.... :  tks,

First off, THIS FORUM is one of the best resources you will find anywhere.  And it covers all those topics.   

There are different books out there for everything you mentioned, but a few that are probably recommended more than others.  For campground directories look for ones published by Woodall's or Good Sam.  For routes I often see the Trucker's Atlas referred to.  Repair manuals may be specific to the RV that you have, but a few overall guides are the "RV Repair and Maintenance Guide" by Bob Livingston, and/or the "Woodall's RV Owner's Handbook".  Both available new or used for very low prices on Amazon.com or Half.com (where I buy most of my books, music, & movies).  I have both of those that I bought when I was a brand-new RV owner myself but I seriously have barely cracked the cover on either one of them.  The RV folks and RV information online here are more current, helpful, and fun than any book I could read! 

In case you haven't seen it, here's one place to look: http://rvbookstore.com/Index.aspx

Various RVer organizations have lots of info, too, such as Escapees and Good Sam.

elee325 said:

Greetings,

Being new to RVing, can I get some recommendation with best reference books vis-a-vis RVing?  i.e., campgrounds, routes, best deals, repair manual, e.t.c.... :  tks,

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1.  Trailer Life Campground Directory or Woodalls Campground Directory.  Both of these publications serve the same purpose:  locating, evaluating and rating RV campgrounds.  They are updated yearly.  Buy one or the other and keep it up to date.

2. The Mountain Directory.  Published in  East  and West editions, this is the guide to roads on which you might well not want to take your RV.  It gives short narratives of the miseries of some surprisingly miserable roads for truckers and RVers like I-8 approaching San Diego.  Out west in particular, even interstates can get steep and difficult much less the state routes.  Invaluable, especially in the West.

Tks all for your recommendations.  I will look up every one of those books carefully.  8)

I'll add the Next Exit.

It has all the services on every exit on every Interstate in the US, and parts of Canada.  And everything that is RV friendly is printed in RED. 

Available at Most truck stops, book stores, and Amazon.com

Barb

I agree about the repair manuals as stated above.  I have two and have never consulted them.  Looking up my questions on these forums seems to be much more efficient.

For campground books, though, I like to have that in book form.  My favorite is a Moon book by Tom Stienstra called West Coast RV Camping.  This might not be helpful for your area, however there may be a Rocky Mountain edition.  I have several of these types of books for backpacking, hiking, visiting National Parks, etc.  Campground guide books written in this type of format make especially quick work of finding a suitable campground at the last minute.  A map page shows at a glance where each campground is located. 

The last Woodall's campground book I looked at only listed city names with campground listings below.  The problem I have with that is you need to know the area very well or keep consulting a map as you need to know what cities you might pass along your route.  Woodall's nicely rates the campgrounds, however, without a map that numbers the campgrounds make things cumbersome for me.

I also love the Ten Minute Tech books available.  They are a compilation of the reader handy hints and ideas that are sent in to Trailer Life and Motorhome magazine.  You might want to just check that out at the library, though, because many of the ideas are kind of cheesy or have you drilling tons of holes on the inside and outside walls of the RV--not my type of thing.  It is fun to read, though, and is my favorite section in the magazines.

Best of luck