Issue 1039 • January 24, 2019
Welcome to another fabulous edition of RV Travel’s Daily Tips newsletter. Here, you’ll find helpful RV-related, and small-space living, tips from the pros, travel advice, 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.
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. Thanks.
U.S. shoppers: Shop at Amazon.com
Canadian shoppers: Shop at Amazon.ca
QUICK TIPS
Don’t use wheel chocks as speed bumps
Ray over at loveyourrv.com set out a list of “dumb things” he’s done. Here’s one many of us can relate to – and a suggestion to stop it. “I have a mental chock block. This became comical. I must have run over our first set of chocks five to six times and eventually lost one. With one squashed chock left, I sheepishly had to head to the RV parts store and buy a couple more. Next time out I ran over them! Finally I came up with a system that works for me. I use the two new chocks to secure the trailer then place the squashed one on the dash board. Hey, whatever works?”
Include metric when measuring your RV’s height
After reading an earlier tip recommending all RVers know the height of their rig, reader Bill Lampkin added this sage advice: “Make sure to note the height you measured in feet and inches (USA) AND in meters (Canada, Mexico). To convert feet to meters multiply by 0.3048. You only have to calculate this number once if you post it on your windshield. If you see a sign in Canada that says 3.8 meters, you might be in trouble if your rig is 13’ or taller! (13’ is 3.96m).” Thanks, Bill, for the “double” long and short of it!
BONUS TIP
Even though it isn’t beach season yet, many RVers head to warmer, sunnier places during the winter. Make aloe vera ice cubes for quickly relieving sunburn pain. Keep them in your freezer, bring a few in a cooler to the beach or in the car on your day trip. Read more about them here.
2019 guide to Firearm Laws now available
If you travel with a firearm, you need this to avoid breaking state laws. This details the firearm laws of all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, and how to prepare, carry, and transport your weapons. What’s legal in one state may be a felony in another! Essential for RVers who cross state lines. Learn more or order.
MORE QUICK TIPS
No room for shower goop? Hang it all!
Seems like there’s just too many things to take in the shower. Shampoo, conditioner, liquid body lotions, notions and potions. Where do you put it all when you trek off to the campground shower, or even in your own rig if space is at a premium? Here’s one possibility, a portable shower lanyard. Hangs around your neck or the showerhead. Teeny bottles have pre-printed labels to help ID what’s inside, and special thick-layered caps prevent goop leakage. You can buy a four-pack here.
Add extra battery capacity to your RV
This will allow you to go farther off the grid to those hard to get to spots, for longer periods of time.
–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
The Krazy Coupon Lady
If you like coupons, well, really if you just like a good deal, you should follow The Krazy Coupon Lady’s site (she has two million followers, if that tells you anything about her expertise). She gives you every great deal currently going on, from grocery stores, clothing places, and shopping malls … you name it, she’s got a deal for you.
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
I went to a job interview at IKEA today. When I got there, the interviewer said, “Welcome! Come in and make a seat.”
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com.
Did you miss the latest RV Travel Newsletter? If so, read it here.
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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 .
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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This newsletter is copyright 2019 by RVtravel.com
I do enjoy a good cigar once in a while but I answered “none of the above”
Hello Chuck. Hello Diane. Ey usually send RVTravel $20. a year, but this year Ey sent $40. To show in a small way how much Ey appreciate the whole staff. You and and entire staff crank out a really fun and informative newsletter. On the road 4 years and having a great time burnin’ diesel and using paper plates. 2015 F350 diesel, 4by, duelly, with a Fox on top.
Ey will have reached my destination when my foot hits the accelerator.
Loneoutdoorsman
Hey, Loneoutdoorsman (and I know who you are — Had any good bearclaws lately?) — Thank you sooooo much for your very kind words, and for your donation(s). We appreciate it, and you, so much! We all love what we do, and are in the process of expanding and bringing you even more interesting/informative/fun features and are excited about what’s coming up! So, stay tuned! And continue to enjoy your travels! Take care. 😀 —Diane (aka Mountain Mama) at RVtravel.com
I started smoking at age 14 [1959] when I had a “sleepover” with a fellow classmate. I quit at age 28 when I learned that men who smoke frequently have a low sperm count. Quitting worked because six months later my wife became pregnant. Don’t miss smoking a bit and wish that I had never started. That’s why I selected the “other” reply to the survey.
Chuck, you may want to delete this, but it needs to be said.
With all the information about how dangerous it is to smoke, I have absolutely no sympathy for those who get cancer or heart disease from smoking. Anyone who smokes today is a complete fool. Raise the price to $100 per cigarette/cigar with 99.9999% tax to pay for health treatments to those who get cancer and/or heart disease from 2nd hand smoke. You smoke around me and I’ll call you a fool to your face!!!
Ron, a complete fool? Complete? I agree with you that’s it’s foolish to smoke, but to label someone who does so a complete fool is a monumental exaggeration. I won’t delete your comment, but it’s needlessly rude. Thank goodness not everybody feels so little sympathy for those who suffer. Remember, many older Americans were never even aware that smoking was bad. As late as the ’50s, maybe even ’60s, smoking was not considered dangerous. In the ’40s, it was promoted as healthy. You feel no sympathy for those who bought into all that? You should keep those sentiments to yourself.
Why add another battery/more weight for longer off grid power? I have an older RV with just one battery for the camper and one for the engine. I’ve changed all my lighting to LED bulbs and also have a 12 volt TV. I find that running the engine for ten minutes ever other day replenishes my battery. If you use more, run it once a day. The cost of the fuel used is minimal and it’s one less thing to have to maintain. Just don’t let the battery voltage drop under 11.9 volts before charging it. It’s a good idea to fully charge the battery as soon as practical as a partially discharged battery will deteriorate.
I read and enjoy the newsletter. I guess I am one of the freebies — I contribute whenever I can (not very often) and use the link when I buy something from Amazon. I am living with (suffering with?) the dumbest possible way to own an RV according to Chuck (I never claimed to be the brightest bulb in the marquee), but I am living the lifestyle and loving it. We all have to live with the choices we make, and while I might have done things in a more financially clever way, I don’t worry about such things when we are enjoying our Cuba Libres in a beautiful, natural setting.
Regarding the measurements of the rig: I made an insert for a clip on name tag holder that has the rig height and width in feet, total inches, and meters. it also has a reminder to engage the TOW mode on the truck. We clip it on to the dashboard cover. its been a handy reminder.
Thanks again for another great newsletter.
It seems that this newsletter is becoming an advertising arm for Amazon as everyone who submits a helpful tip has a link for Amazon to solve your problem. I started to notice this after you updated your site, it was small then, but it’s steadily increasing. Plus you have their ads, personally I subscribed to get unbiased information not an ad on every item. Just saying!
For us cheapskates that don’t pay for the newsletter, that’s how RVT pays their bills, so I don’t mind the Amazon links in moderation. Where people post $3 solutions that get replaced by $30 Amazon links, RVT deviates from serving us cheapskates. Take it on faith that most solutions posted have much cheaper options…
That’s probably true of everything, Wolfe. There are almost always cheaper options. But not everyone is a member of Mensa like you and knows how to make or do everything. Gloating that you are a cheapskate who does not pay for the newsletter is offensive to my staff and me considering you spend more time than 90 percent of our readers on the site. There is no need to pay to read our newsletters, absolutely not, but please don’t belittle my staff or those who do support us. That’s just a cheap shot at the hard work we do to be as informative and helpful as we can be. Wolfe, about 15 people overall earn at least a part-time income from the work they do on this website. If someone wants to help support our efforts, we appreciate it. Some people give us a one-time donation of $5 — not much considering they can read more than 250 newsletters we produce a year, most with original content, not just material lifted (aggregated) from elsewhere. I apologize if I am overreacting.
Gotcha, Bob. Although, FYI: We did a survey awhile back and found that just over half our audience buy their RV parts and accessories from Amazon. Camping World was in far second place, along with dealer stores. Another survey showed that 3/4 of our readers either have or have access to an Amazon Prime account. But because the money we earn from Amazon comes with absolutely no strings attached (as it can with paid advertising where you’d better not write a bad review of the advertiser’s service or product), it is a very convenient way for us to earn money to help pay our bills. But I agree that we can overdo it at times, and we do need to be more careful.
I agree with both of your statements Chuck. Only issue for some is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is seen by many as a larger threat to Americans than Marcus Lemonis. Both CEO’s companies may be great and a super resource for RV customers, yet only one gets your disdain. Make no mistake, if you were as critical of Bezos as you are of Lemonis, Amazon would not be supporting you. Long and short of it is sometimes it is best to keep personal views out of articles.
Amazon does not sell shoddy RVs to gullible new RVers with deceptive hard sales techniques and questionable tactics, then refuse to stand behind their products.
Amazon stands behind products with return policies.
The only thing I was saying is every time ther is a helpful tip it’s an ad for Amazon, before you changed the newsletter there were more information articles and less tips, now I have to hunt for information. By the way I am a paying member because I think the info is worth paying for, and I do shop online for what I need though I’ll admit most of the time it’s ebay because amazon charges tax and eBay doesn’t.
Thanks, Bob. We’re going to be doing something about getting things back on an even keel as far as ads versus tips versus articles. Hang in there! Good changes are on the way! And thank you very much for your support. We appreciate it more than we can say — but we’ll try to show you with our actions (and upgrades). 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Bob p, we paid attention to your comment and realize we were overdoing it. We’ve cut back on the Amazon ads.
I agree!!! Chuck constantly bemoans Marcus Lemonis for using us to pay for his big book with tons of ads or what not when this site is doing the same. 8 ads on some of your pages..what’s good for the goose is good for the gander…I say to each his own. And if you aren’t smart enough to know how financing works then you shouldn’t make large purchases like an inexpensive RV. We all have free will. It’s good to let people know to read and research before buying so you don’t get stuck with huge payoff if you need to sell.
Well the obvious solution to the height measurement is never leave this beautiful country, you could spend 2 lifetimes and never see it all.
Alaska is part of this beautiful country and in order to take a RV trip there you must travel through beautiful Canada. We took that trip before and you obviously don’t know what your missing.
What Tony said.
If I have to go through a foreign country to go somewhere as far as I’m concerned it’s not worth the trouble. When I was driving truck my company sent me to Canada twice, each time I had to pay a $5 ransome to get back into this country, now it takes a passport, didn’t need one in 1968 to go to Vietnam and I’m not going to get one now. Got shot at there and didn’t like it, can get shot at here but, the possibility of getting shot at in a foreign country is greater than here and here I can shoot back!
Chocks forever… Harbor Freight has Black Hard Rubber Chocks you won’t crush and will be hard to drive over and will last forever.
Glad you mentioned that
Thanks
Make sure to read the one star reviews on the off gassing odor of those chocks.
Geez, Darrel… stop sniffing your chockblocks! I use those rubber chocks, and the Sniff-‘O’-Beijing odor hasn’t bothered me. 🙂
Stop and smell the roses, not nasty off gassing chocks inside your RV. I also detest tobacco smoke, so no lit cigarettes in my bays either.