Issue 1053 • February 19, 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.
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QUICK TIPS
The best zester/grater for your RV kitchen
With veteran RVer Mike Sokol
I’m more than just a one-trick pony, so here’s a great (grate) cooking tip for you. While I’m not actually a chef or even a cook, my wife just retired from being a manager at a catering company that normally prepared food for 200 to 400 hungry people at a time, and occasionally a crowd of 5,000 REALLY hungry people. And my youngest son has a baking and pastry degree from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), which is America’s oldest cooking school. I have a degree in eating (just kidding), but I learn a lot from watching these two go at it in the kitchen. Little did I know there could be arguments over the best zester/grater. Then I just saw a grate-off on the Cook’s Country show, and everyone agreed this was the best all-around grater you could get for your kitchen. It’s from Microplane and you can check it out on Amazon.com.
DON’T WASTE IT!
If you’re planning to be on the road for a while, make sure you don’t waste or throw out the food in your fridge at home. Try making as many freezable meals (like soups!) in advance, so you can either take them with you in the RV or have them for when you return home. Give friends the produce you won’t use, or chop up fruits, veggies and herbs and freeze them for your return. Make juices and smoothies before you leave with fruit you can’t or don’t want to freeze. Americans waste about 150,000 pounds of food per day; that’s equal to about 1 lb. per person (mostly fresh produce). If you’d like to donate food, you can click here or here to find a food bank near you.
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MORE QUICK TIPS
Cheap tire tool can save you tons of trouble
Readying for the road, an RVer found one of his tires was a bit low. He had the tire checked at a shop and was “good to go.” Trouble was, two days later, the tire was “down” on air again. What gives? “When I removed the valve stem cap on one of the rear duals I felt a wisp of air coming from the valve stem. It was ever so slightly leaking … so slight that the valve cap had been holding back the pressure. Had this been a plastic valve stem cap under that amount of air pressure, it probably would not have held pressure.
Next, I checked the valve stem valve to ensure it was properly tightened. This was easily achieved with a very inexpensive 4-way tool. I tightened every valve stem valve on every tire we own. To my surprise, several were at least a quarter of a turn from being completely seated. Two were a half turn or more. Needless to say, a loose, leaking valve stem can cause a tire failure due to low pressure under load at highway speeds. So do yourself and your vehicles a favor – pick up one of these very inexpensive tools and make sure your valve cores are snugly seated in the valve stem. Make sure your valve stem caps or TPMS devices are also in good condition and on tight.” Thanks to usa-rvnomads.
Newbie RVer? What to do at the intersection
Remember that big white painted bar across the street at all stop signs. Surely you’ve noticed it, a large white stripe, about a foot and a half wide that crosses your lane, near the stop sign itself? You should always stop your RV at the white bar and don’t go past it just to get a better view around a corner. Those other vehicles at the intersection with you need that extra room to make their turn and avoid your RV.
—From The Ultimate RV Owners Reference.
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
On The Road Eats: Vegetarian Favorites
You certainly don’t have to be a vegetarian to appreciate these 16 best vegetarian comfort food stops around the country. Look at that artichoke grilled cheese! And a smoked coconut club sandwich?! Be right there!
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
PONDER THIS
“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” —Jon Krakauer
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LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
Q: Which U.S. state has the smallest soft drinks?
A: Minisoda.
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Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com. UPDATED HOURLY.
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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.
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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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This newsletter is copyright 2019 by RVtravel.com
My recurring dream is that one wall in my house is completely saturated with water. I ask myself, “how did I not notice this?” and “what can I do about this?” It’s probably due to my constant fear of water damage to my RV (Texas rains are incredibly huge and powerful), though my RV is never in the dream-it’s always my house.
The stop line at intersections is for your vehicle to NOT block the intersection for other large vehicles turning with the right away. Think tractor trailers, these need more room for the trailer to track. If you keep inching up they can not make the turn. Stay behind the line until its your turn.
Using an on-the-go TV antennae and a DVR, can you record your favorite programs while driving for later viewing?
Yes you can. There are specific products you can buy to act as a DVR for “Over the Air” TV shows such as a “Roku Ultra”. Another option is to replace your TV with a TV that has ROKU built in (a smart TV). One issue you will have if you drive is that you may lose the TV channel signal when you turn a corner and your antenna is no longer aimed the correct way.
I had a recurring dream that as I walked through my grandmothers dining room, a monster came through the window and grabbed me. Years later I mentioned that dream to my mother and she told me that when I was about two years old, I was walking through that dining room when the roller shade unexpectedly and noisily retracted, scaring me to hysterical tears. After that explanation, I never had that dream again.
Dreams don’t reoccur, they might recure but never reoccur
I looked it up, and here’s the definition of reoccur and recur. You’re welcome, Diane.
Reoccur and recur are verbs that share a common root word. While they are very close in meaning, they are not the same. Something that is recurring happens over and over again, possibly at regular intervals. In contrast, something that is reoccurring is simply happening again but not always repeatedly.
Thanks, Mike! 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Married to my first husband who was a very poor provider, I would dream of driving our mini van, our three daughters in the middle seat calmly watching me. The car was in a forest, stuck in reverse and the brakes didn’t work! I’d be looking backward frantically steering to dodge looming trees shoving the brakes as hard as I could to no avail. Scary!!! This would happen at least once a week. The week I divorced my husband the dreams stopped and haven’t returned. Very telling!!!
I had a dream , I was eating this giant marshmallow when I woke up my pillow
Was
Gone
Re: what to do at an intersection-
Sorry – the excerpt was pretty useless in terms of advice. Yes, it is good to remind all drivers of where the stop line actually is for stop signs and traffic lights. However, the correct process is to stop first by that line, and then gradually inch forward if better visibility is needed of the intersection. Another reason for stopping at the stop line is to avoid blocking the view of the intersection of other drivers next to you, should it be a multi-lane stop. Given the size of the RV being driven it’s pretty easy to block the side to side views of other drivers.
Regarding don’t waste food:
I think the author needs to check his math. Saying that Americans waste about one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of food per day, and then saying that equals about 1 pound per person = total US population of only 150,000. At last look the actual US population was many thousand times larger than that. Just sayin’ . . .
I have one of the valve stem tools and it is a quick way to troubleshoot/eliminate a leaking valve stem problem. I use it every time I put air in the tires of my rig and toad. I loosen the stem a bit, re-tighten it, then fill the tire.
I agree with Bill T. Since I am a tire freak and always check my tires both outgoing on a trip and incoming. One time coming home from a trip my tire pressure indicator suddenly indicated pressure leakage. I nflated the tire and went to have it checked out. It was a leaky valve. If I had one of those gadgets…I just bought one on Amazon… I would have save a few dollars and time spent that would have taken only a few minutes. I will also do what you do and loosen and retighten the valve on the next tire fill.
Don’t loosen the valve stem before you check it for tightness. That serves no purpose whatsoever.
I have this reoccurring dream I’ll be able to read something from RV Travel that is not filled with popup ads, misleading links and begging for money. I wake up just to discover it’s becoming just like the rest of them. The age of discerption is definitely upon us.
Ron, it sounds like you’re a prime candidate for NOT reading the RV Travel newsletter anymore. Problem solved. Not being familiar with the word “discerption”, I looked it up and don’t see how that fits in this discussion.
The level of education precedes him.
why do people want to pull us apart LOL
Easy solution, don’t read the newsletter.
Discerption? LOL!!!
Ya know back in the the day the valve cap itself was the tool . How convenient.
Now you are dating yourself. Back in the day most things were better.
Many years ago I would have a very specific reoccurring dream while living in Rochester NY. I no longer have that dream. It involved a plane on final approach to the airport crashing into the Genesee River.
Several years ago I did have a recurring dream that my dispatcher would not send me anywhere near the northeast, then I retired and no longer have that nightmare.
For several years I had recurring nightmares of dozing asleep at the wheel of my long-haul Freightliner, waking again and again to narrowly avoid disaster. Then I retired, and the nightmares continued for several years more. In truth, being constantly exhausted, being dispatched on too many back-to-back overnight runs in the Northeast and up and down the eastern seaboard without enough sleep was the nightmare.