You may be living in luxury in that 40 foot motor home or roughing it for a few weeks in a camper, but you can bring one of the comforts of home with you by having your photos scanned. Most people would never consider taking their photo albums in a recreational vehicle because of the storage requirements and the added possibility of damage while traveling. Now you don’t have to worry about storage or damage issues.

Wouldn’t it be great to take a complete set of all of your photos with you, neatly stored away on a DVD or two? Digitizing your ordinary photos is the way to make this possible. Whether you decide to purchase an inexpensive photo scanner and do it yourself or send your photos to a low cost scanning service. You can find excellent scanning services for as little as a nickel per scan.

Once you have scanned your photos you have permanently stopped them from the natural process of deterioration caused by aging and decay. Digitized photos are easily and inexpensively copied so you can put complete copies of your photos in different locations. This protects them from destruction by natural causes. It also allows you to give complete sets of all of your photos to family members.

Looking for something to do on those evenings “on the road”? Scanning our photos makes it possible to build a slideshow that you can watch on TV. Software like Pro Show Gold by Photodex makes it easy to add text to your images, and add your favorite music. If you don’t feel that talented, there are many services that will create a slideshow for you to meet your needs.

A great way to show off your scanned images is to load them into a digital picture frame. Some of the better frames come with slideshow capabilities, and can play music. The good news is that the price of digital frames is coming down, so be sure to shop wisely. Memory cards for storing your slideshows or digital photos have really come down in price. For a few bucks you can store all of your photos in the picture frame. So if you’re traveling to see family or meeting new friends on the trail, having your photos on a digital picture frame will be great.

If you have more than a few photos, scanning them yourself can end up as one of those unfinished projects. Photo scanning can be incredibly boring. So think about using one of the photo scanning services found online. You should first try to get an idea of what your needs are, and then shop carefully. Don’t pay extra to have your photos scanned at more than 300 dpi, because in the vast majority of cases it does not produce better images. Search “Photo Scanning Recommendations” by this author for more information on how to choose a photo scanning service.

So now you’re in business. You’re rolling down the highway, your family’s precious memories are not only protected from damage and destruction, but wherever you go you have that little piece of home with you. You can add new digital pictures you are taking to your collection, but now they won’t be in two different forms. They will all be digitized, easy to store, easy to duplicate, and easy to view and enjoy. Happy Motoring!