Issue 1016 • December 11, 2018
Welcome to another fabulous edition of RVtravel’s Daily Tips newsletter. Here, you’ll find helpful RV-related, and small-space living, tips from the pros, travel advice, road trip stops, a handy website of the day, our favorite RVing-related products, and of course, a good laugh. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate your readership.
FREE Holiday Shipping for everyone at Amazon.com
If you shop at Amazon, would you use one of the links below to do your shopping? The link in the blue bar above also works. We get a tiny commission on what you buy. Even though our commission is small, at the end of the month it adds up, which helps fund this newsletter and our projects. Thanks.
U.S. shoppers: Shop at Amazon.com
Canadian shoppers: Shop at Amazon.ca
QUICK TIPS
Bring in da funk, bring in da noise…
By Mike SokolÂ
If you don’t like the idea of wearing headphones to get some sleep in a noisy campground, there’s a simpler alternative: white noise. So what the heck is it, and what does it do? Well, if you remember old-time radio tuners without a mute function, when you tuned between stations you would hear a kind of whooshing hiss. You could get the same thing on old analog television sets when you turned to a channel that was empty. The beauty of this random “white” noise is that it tends to mask other noises so you don’t notice them, and a constant noise kicks in a chemical process in the brain that tends to relax us. It’s a two-fer deal that can help you sleep even if there are jackhammers going on outside. In case you’re interested, I teach this in my day job as an adjunct professor of sound production. There’s also pink noise, violet noise and brown noise – but that’s beyond the scope of this course.
Cleaning awnings
Never use oil-based or abrasive cleaners on awning fabrics. Clean and thoroughly rinse both sides of the awning fabric. Carefully follow all awning and cleaner manufacturer directions for the type of fabric you have. Tip from Mark Polk, RV Education 101.
Well, now you know!
French entertainer Michel Lotito (1950-2007), also known as Monsieur Mangetout (“Mr. Eat-All”), ate an entire airplane (yes, you read that right), 15 bicycles, several shopping carts, televisions, and plenty of other glass, metal and rubber objects over his 57-year lifespan. He would disassemble all these bizarre “entrees,” cut them into tiny pieces, eat them, and wash everything down with mineral oil and water. It’s said he ate nearly 2.5 lbs. of this stuff every day. He was awarded a brass plaque by the Guinness Book of World Records but, yup, he ate that too. He suffered from an eating disorder known as pica. Read the Wikipedia page about this metal-moshing (er, noshing) man here.
MORE QUICK TIPS
Great RV office remodel
A couple with a 2005 Allegro approached the folks at Truline Custom RV about a serious remodel project they needed. From the simple “take out the old vacuum tube screen TV and replace it with a flat panel,” to a complete flooring revamp, they got it done. Along the way, the remodelers also created a new dining room mod. You can eat here, true enough, but when the work needs to be done, the “dining table” slides open to reveal a storage space for the business laptops, which can be pulled out and put to work. The table slides all along the base cabinetry, allowing the dining/workroom to be configured as needed. Let your imagination (or theirs) run wild, and it can probably be done.
Driving in the fog?
High beams don’t do a darn thing when traveling in fog. I usually try to find a safe place to park and call it a night. RV’s are too big to be driving around blindly.
–From RV Living Full Time: 100+ Amazing Tips, Secrets, Hacks & Resources to Motorhome Living
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
Can you identify these National Parks from a photo?
Take the lengthy quiz and see how many National Parks you can identify from just one photo. Challenge the spouse, or impress yourself and see how many you get right!
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
A colander from outer space? You heard it here first…
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com.Â
Did you miss the latest RV Travel Newsletter? If so, read it here.
Become a Member!
This newsletter is brought to you Monday through Thursday by RVtravel.com and is funded primarily through voluntary subscription contributions from our readers. Thank you! IF YOU APPRECIATE THIS NEWSLETTER and others from RVtravel.com, will you please consider pledging your support? Even a single contribution of $10 or $20 is appreciated. Many readers set up an ongoing contribution, typically $5 to $10 a month. Your contributions make it possible for us to produce more than 250 highly informative newsletters every month. Learn more or contribute.
Join us: Facebook • Twitter • YouTube.
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 .
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.
Mail us at 9792 Edmonds Way, #265, Edmonds, WA 98020.
This newsletter is copyright 2018 by RVtravel.com
Running a portable fan works well as white noise too. I did this for many years when working night shift and having to sleep during the day. Of course you need electrical hook-ups to do this.
When my children were tiny I made a cassette tape recording of a clothes dryer running, which played for 45 minutes then faded out. Worked great every time.
Depending upon the amount of fog density, just reducing your speed and using your dims will be sufficient. This answer is commonly found on most written driving tests.
That bumper sticker reminds me of the time we left a campground after a 1 night stay. We were going to be in the road for 5 hours so not wanting to carry the extra weight I opened the fresh water valve to drain the tank and we hit the road. I few miles down the road a guy on a motorcycle gets along side of me matching my speed. I look over and he wipes his face guard on his helmet shakes his head disapprovingly and speeds off. I just laughed.
To this day I wonder if he thought he was getting covered in sewage.
Not funny. I have driven my old BMW as many as 18k miles in one year and you don’t want to know what I have had splattered on my face shield by other vehicles. Especially bad in wind storms, wind comes from all directions, some of the crap gets in your mouth. If I saw you laff I might have knocked your side view mirror with my fist.
BTW, I was able to put my comment here with no problem, but when I wanted to hit the “+” sign to agree with Dr4Film it told me I had to login. Where do I go to “login”, even after posting these two comments?
Since the staff didn’t respond to your question, here’s what you need to do. Click on RV Forums and off to the right you can log in there with your Used ID and Password.
If you DO have to drive in thick fog (on a freeway), never NEVER drive in the hammer lane (the left or passing lane) because that’s where the “big strapper truck drivers” drive – and haul butt.
I am betting that 50% or more of the “slightly overweight” category is really considered very overweight. What’s missing is an obese category but maybe you were trying to be “kind”. I consider slightly as being between 5-10 pounds over your ideal weight. BTW, I selected very overweight, 5 ft 9 and 225 lb’s.
I don’t care about the scale so much, but rate my health by what i can do. Can I split a cord of wood without feeling ill? Can I hike 8mi/3000′ vertical in an afternoon? Charts say i’m morbidly obese, but until recently I could do all those. How hard I now breathe when i make myself do them tells me I need to do them more.
I was 275 with diabetes and high blod pressure a year ago. I could barely walk half a mile. Today I am 173 and walking 1o to 20 miles a day. Also climb trails in excess of 2500 foot elevaton gains. Diabetes and high blood pressure are gone. Even though I am about 10 pounds overweught, I feel great!
Very FAT.