Page Contents
March 25, 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
Need more countertop space? Add a yard!
There’s nothing worse than having to wrestle with cramped space in your RV. (Okay, so the whole grey-water/sewer smell thing might be pretty bad too!) Imagine meeting a few new people at your current campground and inviting them over for a tasty meal and perhaps an after-dinner drink. Not more than thirty minutes prior to their arrival the skies open up and the rains descend. While most other RVers would fret over where to put all the plates and dishes brought in from outside, you’ll hardly be breaking a sweat because your kitchen has a newly appointed, collapsible, and service-ready countertop. That’s right, add 36″ to your kitchen counter space in this unique, do-it-yourself project from doityourselfrv.com.
NOW YOU KNOW
What makes a manila envelope manila? The tan-colored folders are made from manila hemp (also known as Abacá), which comes from a species of an edible banana plant found in the Philippines. It’s not actually hemp, but because hemp fibers were so common when the pulp was first used, they called it that and named it after the capital of the Philippines, Manila. The history of the file folder dates back to the U.S. Civil War in which Lieutenant Joseph P. Meisburger’s right-hand man, Jeremiah T. Hoehn, invented it in a hurry as their squadron was being overrun and they were in dire need of something to carry the important files so as not to be left behind.
MORE QUICK TIPS
Sign hanger for your RV
Seems like some RVers just want to say “Howdy!” to their neighbors, so they like to hang an introductory name sign on the rig. Here’s one RVer’s approach. Using 4″-thick-wall PVC, a T-reducer to 2″, 2″ PVC for the “arms,” and a 90-degree elbow made for a sign hanger. The whole unit shoves down over his manual jack crank. You might need to modify sizes to fit over your electric jack, but the principle should still work. More on the rv.net forum. And for those not-so-neighborly, you could get a sign that reads, “Go Away!”
Illuminating idea for night work
Tired of fumbling with a flashlight when setting up camp after dark? How about adding flush-mount 12-volt lights at each stabilizer jack location and near the sewer hookup area?
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
iPhone Tips that’ll make you seem like a phone wizard
Even if you think you know how to use your iPhone really well, think again. You’ll surely learn something new from this list of 18 tips. Neat-o!
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
Did you purchase a lemon RV? Think you need a lawyer?
In this short video (recorded at a low bandwidth), Alan Warren of The RV Show USA lays it out there about the realities of filing a lawsuit against an RV manufacturer or sleazy RV dealer, and he gives some advice for those who have a sure-fire lemon RV. Watch the video.
The kids will beg-o for these Legos! We hate to break it to you, but you’re definitely going to have to buy one of these for the kids’ or grandkids’ birthday. These RV Lego sets are way too neat. Here’s the fifth wheel version, here’s the Class C and here’s the travel trailer. Totally awesome, right?
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
You are on a horse galloping at a constant speed. On your right side there’s a sharp drop off, and on your left side there’s an elephant traveling at the same speed as you. Directly in front of you is another galloping horse, but you can’t catch up to it. Behind you is a lion running, trying to catch up, but can’t.
What must you do to get yourself out of this dangerous situation?
Get off the carousel. You’ve had too much to drink.
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com. UPDATED HOURLY.
Did you miss the latest RV Travel Newsletter? If so, read it here.
Be RV fire safe! See what can happen if you aren’t: MotorhomesOnFire.com.
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RV Daily Tips Staff
Editor and Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Managing editor: Diane McGovern. Contributing writers: Russ De Maris, Bob Difley, Gary Bunzer, Roger Marble, Mike Sokol, Greg Illes, J.M. Montigel and Andrew Robinson. Advertising director: Emily Woodbury. 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
I have not seen a survey for a while. When I get to the comments and read them I wonder what I missed.
Hey, Chuck. The surveys are in every RV Daily Tips Newsletter, RV Travel Newsletter and RV Electricity Newsletter. Maybe you have popups blocked on your computer or whatever? Sorry you haven’t been able to see them — they’re there. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Bought some expensive perfume to impress a special guy on a date (decades ago). He didn’t comment on it so I finally asked him what he thought of it. “Oh, I can’t smell anything because of a high fever I had when I was a kid.” Wasted $80, if I remember correctly. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I put perfume on when we are going out all dressed up some place special. Or to the recreation hall at the RV resort for a night of entertainment. I wear it very sparingly as I too have some perfume allergies and so does my sister. When I am doing outside things like hiking, a Main Street events, etc. I do not wear perfume as it attracts the bees. Same thing with smelly shampoos and hair conditioners. Recently went to brunch with some friends and sat on a patio. The bees were so bad that we had to move inside. I asked “who’s wearing perfume?”
I’m the weirdo who loves just one perfume, I consider it my ‘signature’ fragrance. Unfortunately for me, the manufacturer discontinued it over 20 years ago and now I buy 1/2 empty bottles on ebay for ever increasing prices as the amount of stock available slowly dwindles.
I have 5 bottles set aside, I figure that should hold for a few years lol.
What “flavor” is that, squeakytiki? Just curious if I have some. —Diane at RVtravel.com
I have a rather different perspective on the perfume poll… and I’m glad someone brought up the “allergic” euphemism(?). A former inlaw was actually allergic — eyes watering across the room from perfume-wearer, and handshake distance dropped him like a stone, gasping on the ground with emergency inhalers and other meds. That is allergic. Very few people are that allergic, and you’re not allergic to your mother-in-laws cooking either.
I don’t lie about allergies — I’m actually not that political. Instead, I quite lovingly inform family and friends when they smell like a corpse that was bathed in onions before being dragged through raw sewage. No, my black tank really DOES smell better, so don’t insult sewage. But here’s the strange thing to me — most women insist they smell lovely. My son comes in the room after sports, smelling bad enough to gag me, and insists he JUST took a shower and *put on deoderant.* My wife says he smells nice. I can’t STAND it. Catch him between shower and Axe Body Stench and he smells as good as a teen ever smells. But is it really a preference? Everyone else says they smell pleasant, and way beyond “preferences,” they smell VILE to me. It seems obvious to me, quasi-scientifically, that I have a receptor they don’t. Many perfumes smell like you would expect (read the ingredients!) whale and ox urine to smell. Apparently, it doesn’t smell that way to most people. It IS a known danger that some people can’t smell LP oderizers AT ALL — maybe I have the reverse EXTREME sensitivity to some ingredients. I can’t conceive of someone willingly putting that on their body right after bathing their less-offensive natural body odor off.
SO… it’s easy to say “That’s just you, Mr. Wolfe, and you’re the oddball so tough noogies!” You’re probably right I’m an oddball. I’m also selective-hearing impaired (everything is mud, full range — not that I selectively hear my wife). But here’s the question: do others have the right to just not talk to me in meetings/parties/homes because I struggle? I have blind friends — do I have the right to leave skateboards and bananas in their path because they are the “abnormal” vision folks? Hopefully, you will object to at least the second one. So to return to perfume, if I didn’t like your hat preference, I can just look away — but if I gag on your perfume choice, I can’t just hold my breath for a few hours. Perfume is invasive of other’s right to occasionally need air. Carry your own little nosegay if you like the smell, but don’t leave a trail of reek in your path for the rest of us for whom it’s not just a “preference” level.
I LOVE perfume! But my friends and relatives don’t want me to use it, as they are “allergic”. So I wear it at home when I’m alone. BooHoo
The best leave here with a laugh in quite awhile!
Boy, I can’t REMEMBER the last time I slathered on “smell good” (as we used to call it when I was a kid). “They say” it attracts bugs. Good reason right there to bypass the stuff.
Entirely hearsay, but “I’ve been told” that flowery perfumes attract pollinators like bees (who are actually attracted to color not smell), and “musky” things draw mosquitoes looking for an animal-based meal (the same way Octenol works in bug traps, so maybe). I do know different people themselves seem to draw bugs very differently — my son will get 100 bites for every one of mine, and I have a friend who can walk through clouds of bugs without a single bite.
Quit using even aftershave only use it for bug bites ,
The survey shows 61% do not use cologne or perfume. How about the highly scented body washes.
They’re worse, especially in a closed place like a movie theater or restaurant.
Thanks Chuck for the iPhone link. It’s good to know for iPhone users.
Thanks for the “thanks,” Bill. That would be Emily who found that helpful link. She does an amazing job finding useful and interesting websites for our newsletters! Thanks, Emily! 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Living in a small town it makes it tough to find a place to try on mens cologne. You have a choice of Walgreens, CVS, Amazon, Walmart and Sears. No, wait they closed Sears down and opened FEMA. (Yeah, the disaster relief place). So, I don’t buy cologne. Some day I’ll get to a big town.