Issue 1002 • November 8, 2018
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QUICK TIPS
The “battery charge” level meter that most RV manufacturers provide on your RV’s control panel (alongside the water and holding tank level meters) is almost worthless and often leads to a false sense of security. Add a genuine panel voltmeter or use a digital voltmeter from your toolkit to learn the actual reading.
ATTENTION PROSPECTIVE RV BUYERS:
Join our new Facebook group, RV Advice, where prospective RV buyers can ask veteran RVers what they think of an RV they’re considering buying. Click here to join.
Camp free at farms and wineries
HURRY. JOIN NOW: A new annual membership is going up Jan. 1 from $49 to $79. As a Harvest Hosts member you can stay overnight free at more than 600 wineries, farms, breweries and other attractions! Beautiful locations. Learn more here.
Today’s brain teaser (answer below): Which vehicle is spelled the same way forwards and backwards?
MORE QUICK TIPS
More on sewer hose stink
Paul Rider has another thought on smelly sewer hoses, responding to a suggestion that it should be stored in a storage box. “Rather than taking up a lot of room with a large container that gets stinky, I put end caps on my slinkys so they are sealed when not in use. My motorhome has a storage tube for one, and I carry two others in a cross-body storage area in rain gutter type supports. Keep the stinky in the slinky!” Thanks, Paul for clearing the air on this one!
Too tight in the galley?
If kitchen space is spare, double up! A blender can be used for a lot of different food processing operations. Baking cakes? You don’t have to use the pan specified by the recipe, increase or decrease baking time to fit the pan. Do you really need an “electric” skillet? Maybe a larger skillet on the stovetop will work just as well. We find a “stick” blender works great for most blender jobs and takes up much less space. We use ours to mix cakes, whip up smoothies, and chop veggies. This is the one we use.
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
Stinky holding tank odors? Here’s the solution
Eliminate disgusting tank odors for less than $1 per treatment with formaldehyde-free Unique RV Digest-It. Unique’s highly concentrated, non-toxic blend of tank cleaning microbes maintains clean sensors, eliminates odors and liquefies the solids in your tank, ensuring no backups. All without harsh chemicals or dangerous ingredients. Try it once and you’ll be shocked at how clean your tank can be! Learn more or order.
WEBSITE OF THE DAY:
RV Service Reviews
This site allows you to see reviews from people (like you!) who have recently taken their RVs to a certain shop for repairs across the country. Read reviews of people who have had great experiences somewhere, and those who have, well, not.
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
PRODUCT OF THE DAY: This is the perfect gift for red-wine drinkers. Ha!
Answer to today’s brain teaser: Racecar
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LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
Every year TV show host Jimmy Kimmel does a segment after Halloween called, “Hey Jimmy Kimmel, I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy” and it’s downright hilarious. Here’s the video from this year (click on the image to play) and here are the ones from prior years.
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RV Daily Tips Staff
Editor and Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Managing editor: Diane McGovern. Staff writer: Emily Woodbury. Contributing writers: Russ De Maris, Bob Difley, Gary Bunzer, Roger Marble, Mike Sokol, Greg Illes, J.M. Montigel and Andrew Robinson. Advertising coordinator: Gail Meyring. Marketing director: Jessica Sarvis. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.
ADVERTISE on RVtravel.com and/or in this newsletter. Contact Gail Meyring at Gail(at)RVtravel.com .
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This country is so consumed with this absolute polarization can we talk about anything without pulling in the hate hostility????
All those night shows are funny whether it is a righty or or a lefty. Now give me some feedback on this one. I am mostly in the middle and have a useless left hand and am totally right handed. Does that make me a far rightest??? Absolutely..if I was told that I had to write with my left hand or die….I guess I would have to die. I am not ambidextrous. On another note I think that we need focus on the right stuff like helping those in California. I can’t imaging losing everything my home, my pets, my horses, my animals. God bless California. :(….
Wow. I guess I am in the bottom for the first time RV. I believe I was 42 when we bought the pop up. 55 now and in TT. Gotta love moving up. But that is it. I am happy with the what we have now. As for the video? I loved it. Needed that laugh.
Oh, for Pete’s sake! This was a video about kids’ reactions to Halloween candy being “eaten” by their parents. It had absolutely nothing to do with politics. (The parents didn’t just eat the blue-wrapped or the red-wrapped candies, for example. That might have been viewed as “political.”) Are you saying that anyone who publicly expresses their political views are 100% off limits for us to post anything from, even when it doesn’t relate to politics? Get a grip, folks. Just sayin’. –Diane at RVtravel.com
I have our main bunch of sewer stuff in a rather large Rubbermaid container in our pickup bed. Elbows, connectors, extra hose, etc. But, I still have an emergency hose stored in our trailer bumper. Long ago I learned to stick a length of plastic rain gutter in first, with the hose sliding in on top of it. My 15 year old “emergency” hose is still working fine.
Ok. I was feeling low because we are right next to the huge fire in Paradise CA . We are on a fire watch in Chico. But when I saw the candy video I had to laugh out loud. Yes you can call me Buzz, my mom did.??
Good luck with the fire, Buzz. Scary stuff! Aren’t those kids just too cute? ” … But I love you anyway.” Awww. 😀 —Diane [old enough to be your mom] at RVtravel.com
Hey folks……slinkys stored where vibration can wear through the rubbed side while driving……..and create pin holes…….I lay mine down on cheap fabric door mats from the dollar store. My last RV had the rear bumper storage and laying slinky in there vibrating wore pin holes as well……of course, I was a Deplorable person long before it became cool!……ha ha!
Oh…..I’m in bed long before those guys come on air…….don’t like today’s offensive humor anyway……creates division and hatred! Not how I want to live….life’s too short! Blessings!
Editors admonish no politics, then post a Kimmel bit? Massive and complete hypocrisy
Kimmel didn’t do a “bit” at all. Did you even bother to watch it???
What a bunch of “snowflakes” you all are!
So a kayak isn’t a vehicle?
Geez Chuck, you attract a rough crowd here. I thought that Kimmel clip was great! Why do these folks feel the need to make EVERYTHING political? I suppose they are all out burning their Beatles albums right now! 😉
Oh, for Pete’s sake! This was a video about kids’ reactions to Halloween candy being “eaten” by their parents. It had absolutely nothing to do with politics. (The parents didn’t just eat the blue-wrapped or the red-wrapped candies, for example. That might have been viewed as “political.”) Are you saying that anyone who publicly expresses their political views are 100% off limits for us to post anything from, even when it doesn’t relate to politics? Get a grip, folks. Just sayin’. –Diane at RVtravel.com
I’m afraid to say anything. Boo! If you don’t like what your reading, don’t! I chose not to look at the Kimmel thing and I’m liberal. Chuck and family keep up the good work even if I choose to skip articles once in awhile. ?P.S. if you can’t tell I support what was posted today.
You missed a very cute and frequently funny video, Buzz. (Can I call you “Buzz”? 😉 ) I love watching little kids and animals — since they’re usually spontaneous and you never know what they’re going to say or do. And I used to love watching Art Linkletter’s “Kids say the darndest things!” What a kick! Have a good evening. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Tom, I am going to watch the comments more closely. There are so many people out there including, sad to say, some of our readers, who just jump on anything that could possibly be interpreted as political and go off on a rant. I have no use for these people, and I can tell you we are going to be more diligent in deleting any of their comments that don’t add something intelligent and constructive to the discussion. Such an angry world, what a shame!
A few days ago editors admonished people here for making a ‘simple’ sports question, political. We were told this is no place for politics after many raised the issue of football players behavior (editors removed those comments). THEN, today we see a clips from the Jimmie Kimmel show, who is one of the most vocal self described liberal pundits on TV and offensive to many subscribers. Coincidence? Perhaps not. Editors, please put a little more thought in what to post, if you really do not want political feedback.
I’ve always thought Jimmy Kimmel’s Halloween candy bit was just plain mean. Not funny!
BTW, Jimmy Fallon replaced Jay Leno, not Kimmel. Different network.
Ok thanks don’t like either of them !
That was a totally funny and harmless video Jimmy Kimmel put together and you shared. But you can swipe right past it simply if you don’t like it or stop and take a few minutes to let everyone know you don’t know how to do that by giving us your opinion….makes perfect sense !
Omg. Please. The editors posted a funny Kimmel clip. I guess I give you all props for not explicitly bringing politics into this, but it’s evident that’s where it’s stemming from. I don’t want to see that crap on this page, where I come to get away from it. Keep it in your pipe would ya? – a paying member of RV Travel and someone who doesn’t fit the “mold” of the majority of RVers.
Congrats on issue 1000 – that is ‘staying’ power. Always learn something new with each issue. Thanks.
Kimmel might be funny, but those clips were!
On the survey of when we bought our first RV, we were about 30 years of age. Now we are are 76, full-timers and on the move regularly. It keeps us going.
How about a civic for a palindrome vehicle?
It isn’t just the battery meter that’s useless. It’s that whole ‘suite’ of light meters. In fact, using the term “meters” is giving them way too much credit. Of all the lights on that panel though, the battery indicator is probably the one most accurate. I’ve found through testing (when I’ve had way too much time on my hands) that once the battery lights drop to three, it’s about 11.7, which is serious battery usage.
Tha information on the stinky sewer hose is good information. However it is based on someone who does not leave their stinky elbows and 45 and 90 degree connections attached to the deer hose. I use cap plugs on my sewer hose with 90 and 45 degree components still attached ( components are still stinky too) then I coil everything up and place it in a heavy duty plastic bag and place in my storage compartment. The end cap plugs illustrated with stinky hose article will not work with the elbow attached. I ordered a different end cap from a company called Cap Plugs. Their end cap fits over the end of the elbow. Just have to measure you elbow OD and order the necessary cap plug.
If you like mean and nasty, Kimmel is your man. But he is not funny.