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May 2, 2020
Non-Members (advertising supported) edition

Editor’s corner

With Chuck Woodbury

If you are of a certain advanced age, you remember Gene Autry, the “Singing Cowboy.” In the 1940s and ’50s, he was one of the most popular Western TV actors along with Roy Rogers and William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy). He later became a successful businessman and the owner of the California Angels baseball team. Gene died in 1998.

For the younger readers in our audience, I offer this bit of advice from Gene, which he called the “Cowboy Code.” It provides an insight into the popular culture of the day when many Baby Boomers, myself included, were growing up — when young boys envisioned themselves cowboys like Gene — the “good guys.” I can’t imagine something as “corny” as this becoming popular today.

Now, here, to brighten your day in this difficult time, is Gene Autry’s Cowboy Code:

• The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.
• He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.
• He must always tell the truth.
• He must be gentle with children, the elderly and animals.
• He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.
• He must help people in distress.
• He must be a good worker.
• He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.
• He must respect women, parents, and his nation’s laws.
• The Cowboy is a patriot.

I don’t believe in my life I ever had heroes quite as god-like or important as those cowboy TV stars. It was a simpler time, for sure — an era now remembered with great fondness by all little cowboys of yesteryear.

Hear Gene Autry sing “Back in the Saddle Again“

Run 2 air conditioners on 30 amps, or one unit with a small generator

👍 We don’t come across too many products that we go nuts over, but the SoftStartRV from Network RV is a game changer. With the inexpensive SoftStartRV you can run two air conditioners on a 30-amp hookup or run a single unit with the power from a small portable generator. We love this device and believe it will keep a lot more RVers cooler this summer than ever before. Read more.

Our new directory of RV parks with storm shelters

👍 When you’re on the road with your RV and the weather report is showing a tornado headed your way, it can be a terrifying feeling to be stuck in an RV park with nowhere to hide. With that in mind, our ace editor Diane McGovern has put together a directory of RV parks that have storm shelters right on their property or a quick walk away. Bookmark this, and if you know of a park not on the list, please let us know so we can add it.

NEW TRUCK COLUMNIST
👍 I am happy to announce that veteran journalist James Raia, the editor of the The Weekly Driver Website and Podcast, is now reporting news about pickup trucks for our Sunday RV Travel Newsletter. He’s focusing on trucks that are especially popular with RVers. A recent survey in RV Travel revealed that 81 percent of our readers own a pickup truck.

GARY BUNZER UPDATE
Here is the obituary of our dear friend and columnist Gary Bunzer, the RV Doctor, with information about the two charities where you can make a memorial donation. Personally, we are still in disbelief that Gary is gone. Read the more than 300 comments left by our readers in our original story about his passing from COVID-19.

TOMORROW’S NEWSLETTER
There is a whole lot of coronavirus news as it impacts RVers. We’ll have a rundown of the important news that may affect your RVing life and travels.

Brain Teaser

What do the following words have in common?

• Assess • Banana • Dresser • Grammar • Potato • Revive • Uneven • Voodoo
(Answer in tomorrow’s Sunday News newsletter.)

Last week’s Tip of the Day in RV Daily Tips Newsletters

• Want a new faucet on your galley sink? Read this first.
• Tools for RVers: Two handy screwdrivers.
• RV Education 101: Keep track of detector expiration dates.
• How to keep your RV absorption fridge running efficiently.
• Yikes! A holding tank pyramid!

Watch out for mice in your spring RV cleaning

With RVers hopeful that spring and summer travel will get a green light – even if on a limited basis – their thoughts may have turned to getting the rig ready to roll. Trouble is, not only do we like our RVs, sometimes rodents like our RVs too. Not surprisingly, we may find our prized motorhome or trailer has become the wintering grounds of the cagey mouse. Here’s what to do about them while staying safe from potential Hantavirus.

Husband says “No” to danger; wife says, “Let’s go!”

By Tom Mitchell
“Is it true that in every relationship, one partner is more wild and adventurous than the other? If true, I’m not that person. I suffer from Acrophobia, an irrational fear of heights…  And I swim like a rock. So, I’m not the guy that says let’s go swimming in the ocean or let’s get on a roller coaster. Nope.” Read about Tom’s harrowing experience at the ocean thanks to his adventurous wife. (Includes a poll.)

Can your pet give you COVID-19?

If you are self-quarantining in an RV park, chances are you see a lot of other RVers walking by with their pets, almost always dogs. You might wonder if the coronavirus can spread from domestic animals to humans. Find out what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about this.

This is by far the craziest U-turn in history

UPDATE SATURDAY MORNING. THIS VIDEO IS FAKE. It’s funny, but it’s not real. One of our writers got duped on this. We apologize for our mistake. Watch it here.

SUPPORT QUALITY RV JOURNALISM
This newsletter, and the 400 others about RVing we publish every year, would not be possible without the financial support of our voluntary subscribers, our members. Now, in the most challenging time of our lifetimes, your help is needed more than ever for us to be your #1 source of news, information and advice about RVing. Every contribution, large or small, will make a difference. Learn more or donate. Help us be the best we can be. Thank you!

Last year at this time, these were the most popular articles

• Stop RV refrigerator fires before they start 
• Why one couple quit full-time RVing
• How RV manufacturers hide shortcuts from you
• How to prepare for boondocking

Reader Poll

Will you have trouble making your RV loan payment this month?

Please let us know. After you click your response, you’ll see how others have responded. Feel free to leave a comment. We’ll post the final results in next week’s newsletter. CLICK HERE. 

For peace of mind, use a backflow preventer
Backflow happens when a fresh water system gets “cross-connected” with a source of bad water or other contaminants. You don’t want that! Prevent this from happening by using a backflow preventer. Here’s an affordable one. Use it and rest easier. (You can read more about backflow prevention here.)

Readers tell us (What we learned about you last week)

We analyze what we learned about you and fellow RVers from our reader polls and your comments.

• How often do you go for a walk?
• For grandparents, how many grandchildren do you have?
• Are you doing your major grocery shopping online to be delivered to you?

Rain coming? Shut off that cruise control!

Everyone’s heard the story of the man driving his motorhome down that long, lonesome highway. Feeling the pull of a “call of nature,” the story goes, he sets the cruise control, climbs out from behind the wheel and heads off for the bathroom. It’s a silly tale, but one that does have a bit of moral to it. Besides “Don’t drink too much coffee before you hit the road,” there’s the corollary: There are times when you should not use cruise control. One of those times may not be what you think: in the rain. This is important.

Do you keep a travel log?

Do you keep a log in your RV? Before you respond, “Yeah, several, in basement storage for when we want a nice campfire” — Beware, we’re talking paper, not wood, here. But enough beating around the tree. Many RVers have found keeping a travel log is not only fun, it can be beneficial when you “come back this way again.” Read more.

Sewer hoses: Lacking honor but we all gotta have one

Sometimes things that have “a purpose lacking honor,” such as sewer hoses, are still necessary. Read about Russ De Maris’ unfortunate (and disgusting) “learning experience” before you make your next sewer hose purchase. We originally posted this in September, 2016. Read more.

Video: Roger “Hurricane” Wilson shares a catchy tune about RVing

Popular travel bloggers Gone with the Wynns shared this video of Roger “Hurricane” Wilson singing his tune “Home Sweet Home in My RV” in Bar Harbor, Maine. Wilson performs across the U.S., often at live events in campgrounds and RV parks. He’s a fan-favorite of many RVers. Watch the video.

Now is a good time to clean out your water heater!
Have you ever seen the sediment in your water heater? You don’t want to. Camco’s water tank rinser is an easy-to-use gadget that is a must-have for RVers. The tank rinser will get out all the yucky sediment that’s been sitting at the bottom of your water heater and, most importantly, will extend the life of it too. Read the many positive reviews, and get one for yourself here.

RV Electricity Basics. Part One

VIDEO: In a series of videos, RV electricity expert Mike Sokol covers the basics of electricity for RV owners. In this first 27-minute installment he discusses volts, amps, watts and how to use a digital meter to measure them for your RV. Watch it here.

How to deal with unwanted noise in the campground

In this day and age of RV parks with tightly packed campsites, unwanted noise can be irritating or, worse, keep you awake at night. Here from RVtravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury are a few ways to get rid of unwanted noise or at least mask it. We originally told you about this in September, 2016. Read more.

Popular articles from last week

• RVelectricity – What’s all the noise about generators?
• Who is responsible for educating the RV park idiots?
• Dometic’s new compressor-run refrigerator. Is it right for you?
• This campground is top secret. Do you know where it is?
• Keep “virus-safe” at the fuel pump.
• Campground Chatter with Janet Groene, April 25, 2020.
• It’s a tank. It’s a trailer. It’s Aussie RV innovation.
• Yikes! A holding tank pyramid!
• Wind storm uproots trees, crushes RVs. See video (may be disturbing!).
• Many places you can shop for huge savings right now.
• RV Education 101: Establishing your RV’s pivot point.
• Building an RV park: We’re still waiting!

Easily repair a tear in your RV’s awning
Left on their own, small vinyl RV awning tears can get bigger. Fixing a small tear in an area, barring a person’s physical limitations, is easy. You may already have what you need for a fix. It’s called “RV GOOP” and is made by the same outfit that developed “GOOP” for shoe repairs. Read more about it here.

Resources

Our Facebook and RVillage Groups: RV Horror Stories • RV Advice • RV Parks with Storm Shelters • RV Buying Advice • Northwest RV Camping • Southwest RV Camping • Free Campgrounds • Budget RV Travel • RV Videos • RV Coronavirus News • plus Texas RV Camping and Florida RV camping. And please join our group on RVillage (like Facebook except just for RVers).

Where to complain about bad RVs, dealers, service, RV parks. This is an ever-expanding list of resources where you can report, share or discuss your problems with RV manufacturers or dealers.

Best Club for RVers: Escapees. Click here to learn more or join. Endorsed by RVtravel.com.

The RV Show USA
Listen each Wednesday evening on Facebook or YouTube for the live taping of America’s only syndicated radio program about RVing.

Directory of RV parks with storm shelters
In case you’re on the road with your RV and the weather report is showing a tornado headed your way, have this list handy.

RV Clubs
Check out our Directory of RV Clubs and Organizations.

What does financing an RV for 20 years REALLY mean?
In case you missed this article the first time around, here it is again. Important! Click here.

Save bandwidth while watching YouTube videos
How to watch YouTube videos using very little bandwidth.

Stuck with a lemon RV? Contact Ron Burdge, America’s premier RV lemon law attorney.

Hot off the press! Sign up for our RV Daily Tips Newsletter! 
Every Monday through Friday you get a short, informational email from us delivered straight to your inbox. Inside each issue you’ll find: quick RV tips, popular articles, reader polls, RV thoughts, helpful resources, a website of the day, RV clubs and organizations, trivia, jokes and more! If you don’t like it, you can easily unsubscribe, but we doubt you’ll want to. Read Friday’s issue here and then sign up here.

RV Education 101

Maintain water level in RV lead acid battery

By Mark Polk
If you have lead acid RV batteries, you need to check the water (electrolyte) levels in the batteries periodically. Hot weather, over-charging and high usage can deplete the electrolyte levels in the battery cells. Learn more.

RV Electricity

Preliminary report on Vitrifrigo Swing Compressor Refrigerator

by Mike Sokol
After a few false starts and stops I’ve finally finished my first series of tests on an 8-cubic-foot Vitrifrigo DP2600 swing compressor refrigerator powered by a single 100 amp-hour Ion-Ready Lithium battery from Briter technologies. And the run times using the refrigerator’s built-in 12-volt connection are quite a bit longer than using a 100 amp-hour battery to power a 1,000-watt inverter which powers a residential refrigerator with a conventional compressor. Here (in Mike’s report) are the basic numbers.

This week’s J.A.M. (Just Ask Mike) Session:

Solar battery tender? Yep! How to easily maintain the health of RV house batteries when the RV is parked somewhere remote without a nearby electrical outlet.

Sign up for Mike’s popular and informative RV Electricity group on Facebook.

Be like Mike! Use this 3-light and digital voltage tester!
Mike Sokol says: “I found this nifty tester online and have been using it in a variety of voltage checking situations. It performs all of the 3-light tests for outlet polarity, open ground, open neutral, etc., as well as being a 3-digit digital voltage indicator. In addition, it performs a standard 5 mA GFCI safety test – which you should be performing on all of your GFCI outlets once a month (or at least once a camping season).” Read more about it here.

RV Tire Safety

Is moisture in tires a bad thing? What about in RV tires?

with RV tire expert Roger Marble
The question of nitrogen being used to inflate a tire has been covered in a few of my blog posts and on some other posts on the internet. It is often mentioned that the nitrogen used to inflate tires is “dry” and so that is considered a positive, but I don’t recall anyone getting too specific on why “dry” is better than “wet.” Roger explains here.

RV Short Stop

Public parks reopening gradually

By Julianne G. Crane
Most of us are ready to get back to camping, especially in our favorite public park. … Many state and national parks are open for day use, but not overnight camping; others are completely closed. Trying to find information on which public park is open can be tedious and requires contacting each individual park to be certain if the gate will be open when you arrive with your RV. Here are a few places to start your research.

RV Fire Safety

Check radiator and heater hoses monthly

A pinhole-size leak in a radiator or heater hose can spray antifreeze on hot engine parts. Antifreeze contains ethylene glycol concentrate and water. When the water boils off, the remaining ethylene glycol can self-ignite at 782 degrees F. During your monthly fire inspection, check all hoses for firmness, clamp tightness and signs of leaking.

Let your drill clean your RV, really!
This is neat! This 4-piece cleaning brush attachment connects right to your drill – no more scrubbing! Deep-clean any surface with hardly any effort. The drill brushes are perfect for grout lines, corners, tiles, tubs, showers, carpets, wooden furniture, windows, shower doors, siding, linoleum, stoves, counters, fiberglass, grills, marble, and more. You can even wash your dishes! Learn more or order here.

Traveling with a Pet

Do you sleep at night with a pet on your bed?

Please let us know. After you click your response, you’ll see how others have responded. Feel free to leave a comment. CLICK HERE.

RV Parts and Accessories
Everything you need for your RV (and probably a whole lot more). Click here.

Time for a DIY project in the RV?

Here are some ideas…
• Add another room to your RV with this brilliant mod
• Make your own custom sink-matched cutting board
• Keep the weather out – with putty tape
• Replacing your RV skylight
• Screen door mod provides better view

Pop Quiz

Where was this photo taken? Take your best guess

Here is your geography quiz for today. Where was the photo taken? Do you recognize it? It certainly doesn’t look very hospitable, does it? Click here to see a bigger photo and take your best guess.

Reader letters

Dear editor,
Here in northwest Oregon we are surviving, but getting restless. Many of the residents at the RV park here in Salem have been let go from jobs. To further the depression and money issues creating much stress, the managers are raising our rent as well as enforcing a larger late fee, and they will not accept partial payments. This is a horribly immoral and inhumane thing to do to other humans in our upside-down world.

The few of us here do not have combined resources to protect ourselves and the rest of this community against this resort as they have deaf ears.

I just needed to get this off my heart as it is weighing heavily on my spirit, and ask for uplifting prayers to help us stay strong, healthy and safe financially as well as emotionally as the two of us persevere. Thank you to all those who are working endlessly to keep us safe. —Terri Hansen

Dear Terri,
The very best to you. It’s a difficult time for many now, and we suspect the owners of your RV park are struggling along with millions of others.

Dear editor,
We have a June trip planned and made all our reservations months ago. Would you please ask Chuck if he thinks things will be opened up so we can take our June trip. Our 42-day plan is to go to New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, & Utah. Does Chuck think we will be able to take our trip or does he think we should cancel all our reservations? His thoughts would be much appreciated. — John & Lana Stahl

Dear John and Lana,
From Chuck: If I were you I’d cancel my reservations. I doubt very much that many of the places you would want to visit would be open. I know that’s not good news, but if I were in your shoes that’s what I would do without question. Hopefully things will be better next year. 

Dear editor,
How about when it’s time to smog ur RV where can I go to get repairs done or help with it? I’m needing only 3 hosed to pass. —Sylvia H.

Dear Sylvia,
You didn’t tell us where you live, and so it might be difficult for us to recommend a shop for you. Have you ever heard of the search engine called Google? Perhaps go there, type in “RV repair,” or “RV smog” to find what you are looking for.

Museum of the Week

ESSE Purse Museum

Little Rock, Arkansas

If you’re in need of a new purse, a visit to this museum just for the gift shop might be in order. This fascinating little museum tells the story of style through purses, and also gives a glimpse into women’s fashion history throughout the 20th century. The museum has a stunning collection of bags, and walks you through each decade showing different styles and trends. You can find more info on the museum website here.

Hold the door open, will ya?
Reader Cliff Thomson recommended this product and we think it’s a great idea. He wrote: “We got tired of the hook breaking on our front door and on the front cargo door on our fifth wheel. So we bought two magnetic door holders from Amazon. Last week the door stayed open in a 35 mph wind. Since the magnet is spring-loaded a push will release it.”

Trivia

The oceans cover 71 percent of the Earth’s surface and contain 97 percent of the Earth’s water. Less than 1 percent of that is fresh water, and 2 to 3 percent is contained in glaciers and ice caps. From MarineBio Conservation Society

Bumper sticker of the week

“5/4 of all people have trouble with fractions.” Thanks to George Bliss!

Have you seen a funny bumper sticker? Send it to diane(at)RVtravel.com

Joke of the Week

Fred Brown is on his deathbed, the end near. His nurse, wife, daughter and two sons are at his side. He asks for two witnesses as he records his last wishes. “My son Bernie, you take the Mayfair houses. My daughter Sybil, you take the apartments in the East End. Jamie, my son, you take the offices at City Center. Sarah, my dear wife, please take all the residential buildings along the river.” The nurse and witnesses are blown away by the man’s words. The nurse says, “Mrs. Brown, your husband must have been a brilliant businessman to have accumulated all that property.” The wife replies, “Property? Oh, no … he has a paper route!”

Coronavirus pledge: “I need to practice social distancing from the refrigerator.”

Worth Pondering

“Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat.” —Steve Jobs

Did you miss last week’s RV Travel?

Read it here | Back issues

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RV Travel staff

CONTACT US at editor@RVtravel.com

Editor and Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Managing editor: Diane McGovern. Senior editors: Emily Woodbury, Russ and Tiña De Maris. Contributing writers: Mike Sokol, Richard Mallery, Roger Marble, Janet Groene, Julianne Crane, Chris Guld, Machelle James, Bob Difley, J.M. Montigel and Andrew Robinson. Advertising director: Jessica Sarvis. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.

FOREVER IN OUR MEMORIES — OUR STAFF MEMBER IN HEAVEN, Gary Bunzer, the RV Doctor.

Honorary Correspondents: Loyal readers who regularly email us leads about news stories and other information and resources that aid our own news-gathering efforts.
• Mike Sherman • George Bliss • Tom and Lois Speirs • Alan Warren • Steve Barnes + others who we will add later. 

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Everything in this newsletter is true to the best of our knowledge. But we occasionally get something wrong. We’re just human! So don’t go spending $10,000 on something we said was good simply because we said so, or fixing something according to what we suggested (check with your own technician first). Maybe we made a mistake. Tips and/or comments in this newsletter are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of RVtravel.com or this newsletter.

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