Page Contents
March 28, 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
Sanitation at the bath house
We all know that we should wear a pair of flip-flops when we take a shower in a public bathhouse. Using flip-flops is your first level of defense from contracting so many diseases and bacterial infections when you walk into a shower. Well, if you think back to your last camping vacation, you will probably remember that there were so many people using the showers and bathhouse sinks that you were often walking in standing water everywhere.
Always remember, any person, clean or not, may have just used the shower without flip-flops and then walked out, or just used a sink to brush their teeth just before you came in to do the same. The question you have to ask yourself, as you’re standing in this dirty water is: Did the people before you have on flip-flops themselves? Or even worse, did they not only not have on flip-flops, but did they have a foot infection of some kind? —From The Ultimate RV Owners Reference.
If you’re ever lost in the woods, use an acorn to whistle for help! Read about how to do so here.
Stay free on private property across America
Boondockers Welcome is a great alternative to expensive, crowded RV parks or even Walmart parking lots. With a membership, you can stay for free at more than 1,000 private property locations across America. And, wow, will you meet some great people! Learn more or sign up.
MORE QUICK TIPS
Slider fifth-wheel hitch mod increases safety, ease
If your fifth-wheel hitch is the “slider” variety, built for short bed trucks, you know that you’ll be jumping in and out of the truck to hit the slider release level when it’s time to make camp. One RVer, who always travels with a side-kick in the passenger seat, switched the slider lever so it’s controlled from the passenger side. Now the co-pilot jumps out and hits the lever when required, allowing the driver to stay in the seat, and not jumping out into traffic. May not work for all hitches, but if it works for yours…
Simple wiper-blade maintenance
To assist in keeping your wiper blades clean and in top operating condition periodically clean them with some windshield washer fluid. Tip from Mark Polk, RV Education 101.
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
Mountain Modern Life
RVing couple Lisa and Eric run this great site, where you’ll find tons of great DIY inspiration, design ideas, free printable templates, etc. Lots of fun stuff to scroll through here. Plus, you can take a tour of their beautiful farmhouse-style RV.
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
ATTENTION LOCALÂ AND REGIONAL RV BUSINESSES
We can now run very affordable localized banners on RVtravel.com in your town or in a designated area near you. For example, we can show them to readers within 200, 250, etc., miles of your business — but not elsewhere. So no wasted exposures or money. Advertise your RV show, repair shop or RV park. Contact Emily Woodbury at advertising@rvtravel.com to learn more.
Maintain those slide seals!
If you’ve heard a cracking or popping sound when extending your slide outs, it means your seals are sticking and/or drying out! Using a seal conditioner about every 8-12 weeks is recommended to avoid drying and cracking. Once they begin to wear and show damage, they are no longer working to their fullest capacity. We recommend using Thetford Premium RV Slide Out Rubber Seal Conditioner – it works like a charm.
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
There was a man who lived on a farm with his wife in the middle of nowhere. All they owned was a truck, a few cows, and an old bull. They didn’t have much, but they were happy.
One day, the farmer woke up and found that the bull had died. He went to his wife and said, “I take our money into the town and buy us a new bull. I know you need the truck here to keep the farm running, so when I get us a bull, I’ll send you a telegraph so you know when to pick us up.”
His wife went and got the money and then said goodbye.
The farmer arrived in town late that day and had to get a hotel room. The next morning he only had 401 dollars left. He went to the market and was able to buy a strong, young bull with the 400 dollars. It had been a long time since he had been to town, but as long as the telegraph prices hadn’t gone up, he should be able to send a full sentence to his wife with his dollar.
When he arrived at the post office, he said to the telegraph operator, “I need to send a message to my wife so she can pick me up. How much is a word?”
“Prices went up a few years ago,” replied the operator. “A word is 1 dollar.”
“Oh no,” said the farmer “I can only send one word!”
He thought for a little while and then said, “Ok, send my wife the word ‘comfortable.'”
“Comfortable? Are you sure?” asked the operator.
“My wife has a 4th-grade education,” the farmer replied. “When she reads she has to sound each word out syllable by syllable. So when she sees the word comfortable, she’ll read it as ‘come-for-ta-bull.'”
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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.
ADVERTISE on RVtravel.com and/or in this newsletter. Contact Emily Woodbury at advertising(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 guess I’m finding out what it is like to be the exception. I don’t use the park shower or bathroom, even when I’m boondocking I have enough capacity both fresh water and holding tanks to stay out 10 days. I have a toad (four-down), which I use for errands, exploring and discovering what’s out there and coming back to my rig when the day is over. At one point I almost bought a Jeep JL with a popup overhead bunk, so I could leave my rig in an RV park and go deep into the rougher areas.
The Jeep and overhead bunk is hardcore, Rory. I like it! Back when I was a tent camper I would have been all over this. But not now. I’m as spoiled as my wife is. Our Polaris RZR is our exploring vehicle. We sleep every night in our TT. Ha.
What the definition of a date. We do go to late breakfast or lunch at least once a month.
My husband and I do lunch dates about every 2 weeks. Our budget dictates that we mostly eat at home but we love seafood and find that “doing” lunch out rather than dinner saves us money and gives us a nice date out together.
Left off “Don’t have a partner.” as a selection…mark me there.
It’s sexist to not include single RVers. There are hundreds of single women and men out there so how would you like us to answer your poll?
I think you should lighten up, Beverly. Nobody is being “sexist”.
Hi, Beverly, Thanks for your comment. We’re sorry to have upset you, as we surely didn’t mean to be sexist (which, not sure how this is sexist since it has nothing to do with gender). This poll was aimed at people who have partners. We can’t include everyone in all of our polls, as much as we wish we could. We ask that you vote in the ones that you can, and still learn from the ones you can’t. Thanks! Happy travels! –Emily
Ditto that, Vanessa.
Maintaining a good PH in your body is the number one defender against skin diseases and molds.
Regarding using public bathhouses, this is useful info for anyone tent camping. But one of the many reasons we have our RV is that we always know who has used our shower and brushed their teeth in our sink. I’m always surprised at the number of folks parked in high dollar RV parks with their massive RVs marching over to the bathhouse. If they’re in a stick-built house, do they march over to their neighbors to shower?
I can’t believe the number of people who refuse to use the bathroom in their RV (pooh mostly but some not at all, don’t want to dump black tank!)…guess that space is just for storage.
We use our TT (Rockwood Signature 8310SS) for everything except showering, the bathroom has its own grey tank but our issue is fresh water, we’re either boondocking with no nearby water or staying in Provincial Parks with hydro hook-up only. This extends our fresh water so no uprooting the TT to refill the tank.
I was going to say the same comment and response… people are strange to NOT use their own bathroom after buying and hauling it, BUT I do sometimes shower at the bathhouse when conserving fresh/grey water. That said, most of the time I’m in a “dry” site with a water faucet “nearby” for fillups — my solution instead of a tank is many hundred feet of white hose I’ve accumulated at garage/estate sales. People think I’m strange for being able to reach the spigots, but then sheepishly borrow it
Hey, some days I just want a 20 minute hot shower, you know?
OUTDOOR MAT DOESN’T KILL GRASS. FYI: we use for our outdoor mat the fabric used for motor home windows. The mats the RV suppliers sell kill the grass when they are left down for a short while.. When we leave a community project after 3 weeks, the grass is green. A company in Center Hill, Fla makes shades, etc for RVs and sells remnants/seconds of the fabric in all colors or prepared mats in all colors. They ship. Beasley Mfg 352 793 5055 Hate to see dead grass when someone leaves.
Great Idea … I will contact Beasley soon as they do have a website showing what you mentioned.
I think “Over the Air” TV is, well, over the air TV, no matter what fantastic antenna you get. There are no leaks out of cables, or intercepted satellite signals. This great ‘technology’ may well enhance your over the air receiving capability, but no matter what, you’re only going to get whatever is going out “over the air”. Just my opinion, of course.
There’s a lot being transmitted over the air, much more than before the switch to digital TV. The best part is it’s free to receive.
{bleeped} about the bull hilarious