Thanks, Campendium (and Jen!)

June 3 - I've been a big fan of Campendium since I first ran across signs of it last November when I was staying at Government Wash. Brian and Leigh of Aluminarium have been developing the site for the past two years and opened it to the public this year. I really appreciate the robust database they've built inclusive of everything from boondocking locations to state & national park campgrounds to classy, high-end RV Resorts. No more needing to look at a bunch of different sources to find something that fits your taste.

While they have a robust database, many of the locations don't have pictures or reviews yet. They're dependent on users paying it forward by leaving reviews of the places they stay. A couple months ago a retired bomb tech donated funds to encourage more people to do reviews on Campendium.

I noted early on that the Alaska portion of their database wasn't as robust as the lower 48, so I put some effort into documenting some of the (primarily public) campgrounds while I was on the Kenai Peninsula with our Alaska contingent. I wasn't intentionally stuffing the ballot box, but it was really nice to get an e-mail from Leigh saying that our name came up in a week's random drawing.

The gift card was immediately applied to the newest travel tool - maybe that's a bit of a stretch. My old hand-held Garmin GPS died a cruel death when it fell out of my shirt pocket and down a cliff on a hike on Cedar Mesa in April. Its replacement is pants pocket sized, but supports downloads from Geocaching.com, including the description and hints. I'm sure it will get a workout when Spencer joins us in early July.

A super big THANKS to Jen for her funding, and to Brian and Leigh for all their hard work building a tremendous resource - Campendium!