Books

We will have 10 cu.ft. of space for all our belongings and camping gear in the Renault.  I'm thinking of calling it "the falcon". . . ."the Millennium Falcon!"  I know, I know, it's been taken. . .but it fits so well.  We'll see.  10 ft. doesn't leave room for an extensive library, and we'll surely want to collect a few tomes along the way.  So what is most important?  Here's the current list:
1.  History's Timeline, a 40,000 Year Chronology of Civilization.  True to its name, the book crams into 250
     small pages of tables and short paragraphs, everything from the Etruscans to the current energy crisis.
     When we see a ruin attributed to the "Jacobite Rebellion" or a theatre dating from the "time of the 6th   
     crusade," I'd like to be able to read a bit about it, without hauling around a laptop and charger, and   
     looking for a WiFi spot.
2.  Europe Through the Backdoor, by Rick Steves.  My current copy is 2006.  I'll pick up a new one soon.
     His travel philosophy has always been mine . . .and as prices for all travel has risen, including rooms, he
     seems to have come around to giving camping the recognition it deserves.  I doubt he personally has
     done, or will do, a great deal of camping, but at least now he writes about it.
3.  Europe on a Shoestring, from Lonely Planet.  The days of "Europe on $5 a Day" are long gone.  In fact,
     we're thinking more along the lines of $50 a day after transportation.  The Shoestring book has 1300 thin
     pages, detailing a good bit of information on all 18 countries we plan to visit. . .and a great deal more.
4   Camping Europe , by Carol Mickelsen.  General touring information. and most importantly, a listing of
     campgrounds or "campings" as they're often called overseas.  I had a similar book 25 years ago that was
     set up for Eurail travel.  It described each rail station and the public buses and trolleys that would get you
     to the campground in that city or town.  It was the only book we carried.  Seemed to be published only
     that one year.
5. Europe Road Atlas, AAA,  Mine is 10 years old, so we'll have a crisp new copy as we begin this
    adventure.  It will be interesting to discover how much we'll use it, with the GPS along.  Between the two,
    we should be lost only half of the time!
These are the five books to which we've narrowed our choices.  Additionally we are each reading a novel of some kind, perhaps scripts for plays we're considering for the fall season at the university, and always a crossword book for those layovers, ferry crossings, and rainy days.  I haven't mentioned it to Jody just yet, but we probably won't have room for her beloved crossword dictionary.  Please don't tell her!