My wife is given the credit for this suggestion

Index cards are great for the next trip; reason being, plenty of locations have special needs. For example: Camping and fishing in Northern PA will require steel tent spikes because the plastic spikes break amongst the river stone. Hereby the card is noted and placed in the card index box/roller dex.

Since my attention is usually placed towards catching the trophy Trout. Sweety has me place the index cards (yes more than one hundred things to remember) in my wallet because she knows that filling up with fuel is my last stop before heading out. Hence, reality hits when I pay for the fuel and I review the things we need/want to make our adventure a success.

On a similar note, ask for the gift of "Emergency Exit" tool. This tool fits in the auto glove box or rolls up nicely in the tent bag. Either way, you will never forget the spike driver on your next trip.
Meanwhile, taking out those spikes will be easy when using boot string wrapped around the spike head and attached to a stick for pulling power.

All in all, the notion of having an article regarding "trip planning" should be a goal for our writers amongst FAOL. Especially when the excitement of trophy Trout has most of us thinking three steps ahead and forgeting the air pump for the float tube.