Page Contents
May 7, 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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FEATURED TIP
Get a grip, don’t slip…
With veteran RVer Mike Sokol
I just thought of this while navigating the dark stairs in my basement the other day. I use non-skid safety tape all the time for production stages, so why not for RV steps. I have seen a few modern RVs with this, so perhaps you already have it on yours. But if you don’t, then this will really help you see the steps in the dark, and keep you from slipping at the same time. This one includes a peel-off back and is weather rated for all surfaces, so it should work great on your RV steps, or even at your sticks-and-bricks home. You can buy some here.
TAKE A NAP! But only for 15 minutes! A nap should be about 15 to 30-minutes in duration. If you nap longer than 30 minutes your body lapses into a deep sleep. Deep sleep is difficult to wake from and if interrupted or just completed, can leave you feeling terribly groggy.
MORE QUICK TIPS
Got Michelins? Take advantage of a safety offer
If your RV rides the road on Michelin tires, you can do more to beef up your safety. Here’s an offer from the company: “Michelin cares about you and your tires. When your tires are registered, we are able to provide important product-related information to you if it is ever necessary…. You can register your tires and view our privacy policy at this page. They add that your information will be kept safe and never sold.
Put your beer in “suspended animation”
Like a good cold bottle of beer? Or a good cold bottle of soda? Horsing them out of those nasty cardboard cartons is a hassle – and it takes up so much space. Put the bottles loose in your RV fridge – well, who knows if they’ll jump out when you open the door. Solve the whole problem and free up shelf space with BottleLoft, magnetic bottle hangers, that stick to the top of your fridge. Find a set on Amazon for less than $30.
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
Ouch! Poison Oak is all over California. Read more about this here and learn how to stay away from this poisonous, itchy plant.
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
Drone Blog
Everything you ever wanted to know about drones, and more! How are drones changing the shipping industry? How are they changing manufacturing? Drone search and rescue? As we said, there’s everything drone-related on this site.
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
Make the whole RV park laugh
You’ll want this shirt if you’re on a family vacation, this one if you own (or are buying) a Class C, this shirt if you haven’t mastered backing up yet, and this one you’ll want just because. It made us laugh out loud.
REMEMBER THIS FOR TOMORROW’S CONTEST: The correct answer is “radioactive material.” Tomorrow’s prize: a very cool solar powered weather radio.
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
I can’t take my dog to the park anymore because the ducks keep attacking him.
Guess that’s what I get for buying a purebread dog. (okay, time to groan!).
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.
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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. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. 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
Question, I am a solo RVer. When ready to take off in my trailable Mini Lite, I want to check the brake lights on the back of my rig to make sure they work. I have no one to step on the car brakes while I check. Any solutions to this problem? Please don’t tell me to get a partner. Thx
Turn on your 4-way emergency flashers. If they use the same “red” lights as your brake lights…. then they work. If your flashers use your amber color lights, then cut a piece of wooden dowel just long enough to fit between your brake paddle and the driver’s seat. Wedge the dowel between and bump the seat forward to activate the brake lights.
Yes Carol I am a retired mechanic and I had to check brake lights many times a day, they make brake depresses tools. Just go in to the local auto parts store and ask them about the tool, you can also check online. I hope this helps you with your problem.
I never got an allowance….if I wanted money I had to polish my dad’s Chrysler Imperial. And I mean polish, he got me a rotary tool to do a good job. I was actually happy to get my first part time job, it paid better than my dad and was an easier job.
As far as the information in this newsletter is concerned, yes, there is a lot of basic information. But I assume a significant number of subscribers are newbies. When I was just starting, I found that information useful. Now that I have a few years of experience, I just say, “yeah, I know that” and move on. The longer you are on the road, the harder it gets to come across new information, but the new stuff is just as important as the basic stuff was when you were just starting. I keep reading this newsletter because it still has content that interests me. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Gene! And thank you for being a long-time reader (and donor)! We’re very happy that you’re still with us, and that you “get” why there is basic, or even rerun, information. But then there are those who just don’t “get it” and complain. Whew! We’re very glad they’re in the minority (but we appreciate them, just the same)! We do have lots of new features, and we’re adding more all of the time. We’re getting thousands of new readers every month (Thank you all!), and presumably some of them are newbie RVers. We try to have at least a little bit of useful/interesting information for RVers of every level. Have a good afternoon/evening, Gene! 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I was given a quarter a week for maybe a year after my dad landed a decent job back in ’66. Then I rode my bike to work pumping gas until I was able to get a car.
We weren’t given an allowance. I started working when I was 11 years old cutting grass, shoveling snow, odd jobs in the neighborhood. At 15 years old I took care of 35 horses and an elephant at the Kansas City zoo. I was told never to ask for or borrow money from anyone. My dad loaned me $250 when I was 18, I had to sign a promissory note and make monthly payments. Last time I asked him for money.
I painted my steps with a pickup bed liner, similar to Rhino lining. Works great as a slip free surface, very durable as well.
re. “Take a Nap”
I never nap over 15 minutes – my wife’s screaming at me while the RV is on cruise control wakes me up every time !!
😀 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I don’t remember a allowance, although I worked on our family farm as soon as I was old enough to steer a pickup or tractor sitting on grandpa’s lap. Always had what we needed and don’t remember wanting anything. My reward was getting to go swimming at our hometown swimming pool.
My brother and I would receive our small allowance Saturday mornings and our parents would get it back during the Saturday night poker games. It was always our choice if we wanted to participate, but by doing so it would mean we were broke for the next week.
Allowance when I was a child was 10 to 25 cents a week in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, nowhere near what kids demand today.
I approach this newsletter as I do RV adventures. If I like it I stay and if I don’t I move on.
Excellent! Thanks, Robin! (And we hope you stay.) 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
It would be interesting to know the ages of those who responded to the question of the day. I wonder if those who didn’t get an allowance, is an older crowd.
71 years old got a 1.00 a week and we also had a poker game on Saturday night broke sunday
Chores yes, allowance nope. Food on the table and roof over my head. Chores included mow grass, rake lawn of leaves in fall, shovel snow on our sidewalks and of the elderly on the same block. Got a job delivering newspapers at 14 and had to put 50% of in a savings account in bank. I think this made a good foundation for savings as I got older and started working different jobs.
Allowance? In the mid-50’s, my folks gave me an allowance of 15 cents a week, every Saturday morning. The amount was chosen because our small-town movie theater played a kids’ matinee every Saturday afternoon. Admission was 12 cents, leaving 3 cents that I could pool with a friend to get a 5 cent bag of popcorn. The theater was more than a mile from my house, and like every other kid in town, I was allowed to ride my bike there. As for chores, every kid had them. Mow the lawn, shovel snow, help my Dad in the garden, clear the dishes (and wash them a couple times a week). Every kid had things he or she was expected to do, and none of them was described as “chores”.
I got a nickel for each year old. Had many chores to do for that ‘allowance’. Dry dishes, vacuum, dust, keep my room ready for inspection(military brat) later rake leaves, mow grass (push mower) wash car.
Once a month my mother would make a trip to the city for grocery’s. She would give us kids anywhere from a nickel to a quarter depending on what she had to give. Some trips there was nothing.
I think I got $.75 a week when I became a teenager, parents didn’t make enough money for allowances before then, I worked at my chores for that. I think today’s young people who are “given” an allowance are getting the wrong training. Their parents are not requiring them to do anything to earn the money therefore they don’t learn that you must “work” in order to get paid. That’s why as they become adults they think everything should be given to them. The allowance inspired me to caddy at the golf course at 14, and that inspired me to get job stocking shelves in a grocery store. The small allowance was the first step on the ladder of success.
No allowance, wages. I grew up in a FL Tourist Camp in family biz you work as soon as you are old enough.
Can’t imagine how the suspended bottle idea could work in an RV. We have barely enough room between shelves for bottles to stand upright, but letting them dangle from magnets might result in an interesting wind chime effect.
And a huge mess, leaking all over your floor, when they come crashing down!
I gotta agree this looks CRAZY in an RV. I have 200lb pull RE magnets and I still wouldn’t trust them to hold onto the ferrous bottlecap well enough to keep the beer from detaching, and as noted even without actually falling the bottles would bash against one another.
Yep, hanging beer bottles seems dumb – OH! thanks for tip – I think they will work great to keep some of the wrenches I keep in my outside storage that I want handy for my different hook-ups. Now I won’t have to scrounge around to find them. Keep sending me dumb tips.
No allowance. Mowed lawns, rake leaves, shoveled snow then eventually got a newspaper route.