Page Contents
May 9, 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
More pros of fulltime RV living
• You can travel internationally and not have to still be paying living expenses back home while you’re gone. Just put your RV in storage while you’re gone. In fact, most RV insurance policies allow you to drop your liability insurance when you’re not driving your RV and then reinstate the policy when you hit the road again.
• When I was between houses, condos and RVs, I spent six months living in Costa Rica. It was a fun and interesting experience. It was very inexpensive, but it wouldn’t have been so inexpensive if I had been paying for rent (or a mortgage payment), electricity, cable TV, Internet, taxes, etc., back home. When you’re living in an RV, you have the freedom to almost totally eliminate expenses back home while you travel abroad. Whether you ever do it or not doesn’t matter. Just having the freedom to do it is a good feeling.
• Having everything I need handy is one thing I really like. I know where all of my tools are. I know where my books and my clothes are. Nothing is in storage or somewhere out in the garage or somewhere up in the attic. It’s all right here.
• I like the idea of arranging my travels so that I can stop and see friends and family who live in different parts of the country. —From Secrets of RVing on Social Security: How to Enjoy the Motorhome and RV Lifestyle While Living on Your Social Security Income Available on Amazon.com
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Tonight, Thursday, May 9, watch electrical expert Mike Sokol on a live webcast at our Facebook Group RV Electricity. He will continue his show regarding RV campground pedestal hookups that he began Sunday, April 28, that was interrupted by a local Internet failure. Watch it here on May 9 starting at 9 p.m. Eastern (6 Pacific). (You need to be a member of the Facebook RV Electricity group to participate, but any Facebook member can watch.)
Then Mike will be back with another live webcast on the RV Electricity FB group on Sunday, May 12, at the same time, with great information about portable generators. You won’t want to miss it!
MORE QUICK TIPS
Campground etiquette: No corner cutting!
Remember when our parents told us to stay on the sidewalk and not to cut between people’s yards? Well, the same manners apply to campground or park sites. When RVers and campers pay their site fees, they’re essentially paying for their own little yard. Site cutting can be interpreted as intrusive, speculative and rude. It’s disrupting to pet owners, meal times, etc.
Typically, the unspoken rule is a site is from utility box to utility box. Do not park your vehicles in someone else’s site boxing them in. Also, you and your guests should not park vehicles that will stick out into the roadway making it difficult for incoming or outgoing RVs to navigate through the park. or park their RV, or prevent emergency vehicles necessary passage. —Courtesy suggestions from the folks at alwaysonliberty.com.
Mini finger hot pads great in the RV
Maybe being a man in the kitchen is the ultimate recipe for disaster but, hey, if you want to know how to burn your fingers with food, just ask me. That’s why I was kind of amazed to see that there are others out there who have my talent.
Enter these clever silicon pot holders. Not big, but just right to grab a heated dish out of the microwave or grab a hot pan handle – anything that’s light enough to lift with your fingers and thumb. And since they’re so small, they’re easy to slip in the drawer next to the stove and have ’em handy when you need ’em. Pinch a set of these “pinch grips” from Amazon for less than $8.00.
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
Storm headed toward your RV park? What do you do?
Where do you go when you’re in an RV park and a dangerous storm is headed your way — a tornado, hurricane or other dangerous weather? It’s a hopeless feeling when you have nowhere to go to protect yourself. Join our new Facebook group RV Parks with Storm Shelters to tell about such a park you know about, or to find one.
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
How to play piano
We know your fifth wheel is big, but maybe it’s not quite grand-piano big. Either way, though, if you or someone you know wants to learn how to play the piano, this site will teach you everything…for free!
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
New edition!
RV Camping in Corps of Engineers Parks
Many RVers consider Corps of Engineers campgrounds to be the best in the country. This guide is just for RVers — boat-in and tent-only sites are not included. Of all the public lands, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has some of the best parks and campgrounds available. In fact, it’s the largest federal provider of outdoor recreation in the nation. Learn more or order.
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
My wife is so frustrated with me. I’m always making wordplay jokes and it’s driving her crazy. One day she asked me, “Why don’t you write a book instead?” I got so excited and replied, “Why that’s a novel idea!”
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.
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
Took me a month to decide if the price was worth it for the strongback chair. Came yesterday and I love it. Wished it had 2 cup holders but I will survive. I am not a employee, just another camper who likes to sit outside. Thanks for the discount.
We have the max covers so unless there is a strong wind behind us, we travel with the vents open for fresh air. We have never had damage to our RVs
Before retiring, I was a licensed ins agent for a Medicare-related company. We did all our business on phone and web. Our IT Dept absolutely prohibited ? any unauthorized sites to be accessed on company computers—especially Facebook! They reported that 75%+ of malware & computer virus was carried & spread by & on Facebook – whether innocently or maliciously is immaterial. Besides — I’d rather LIVE my life than spend the time documenting it or reading about other peoples’ lives.
Before retiring, I was an email systems administrator and security analyst for a major state agency. I agree with the concept of Facebook displaying a large amount of malware carrying ads, etc. However, the greatest danger to computer, and real life security, is social engineering. Convincing people to click on links, wether it’s on Facebook or in an email, is what causes the vast majority of these problems. Don’t click on links that you don’t know the source of, and be very suspicious of those that you do.
Roof vents: I removed and replaced my standard vents with MaxxAir remote controlled vents. They have the cover built in and can be controlled while driving. They also have temperature settings and fans which can be reversed for in or out flow of air – or use like a ceiling fan with the vent cover closed. Solved all our problems with heavy vent covers and sudden rain showers etc.. and they QUIET too. Whisper Quiet and they are sleek and low profile too!
I agree with the campground etiquette but with the spots in the CG getting smaller and close together parking our toad is becoming a challenge. Our current CG takes us about 10min to get our toad angled in front of the motorhome so it doesn’t stick out in the street . I feel sorry for the people on our street with duallys. They are doing the best they can to get them off the street but no way could an emergency vehicle get down this street. We are packed in tight but this is a resort outside a national park
We now leave our roof vents open when traveling in warm and hot weather. I installed vent covers, before that we would close them when traveling or raining.
I agree with Tom. That was the first thing I added to the RV was vent cover on all Vents. All also have fans.
Campground etiquette, sounds like your preaching to the choir.
I have vent covers, so I can leave my vents open while traveling.
Campground etiquette. Recently we watched a guy wedge a too-large travel trailer into a too-small BLM campsite in Utah. During the backing circus, he blocked the only road in the campground for ten minutes, then he unhitched and parked his F-250 on the side of the same access road over night. When the family finally settled in I could see that their personal habits matched their camping habits. Yep, quite a slovenly bunch.
That is only topped by the two gals driving a Class A who blocked the access road in Kings Canyon NP last fall while they topped off their fresh water tank from the dishwashing sink next to the bathroom. Yep, I kid you not.
We travel with our roof vents open except in the winter. All our roof vents have covers so we do not worry about damage to the vents. The RV is several degrees cooler inside when we stop.
I really try hard to limit my comments to positive things. Unfortunately, I wish Mike Sokol would find a different PLATFORM to discuss his RV Electricity information.
I, along with many others, DO NOT USE Facebook (Fakebook) under any circumstances! And I’ll leave it at that!
Please Mike, try to find a different Forum to discuss RV Electricity. Thank You.
What do you suggest? WordPress doesn’t work well for this type of discussion since it’s too static and not really interactive except for “comments” which offer no great thread following options. Bulletin board forums have their own quirks since it’s nearly impossible to qualify the name of every single person who wants to join, which leads to all sorts of hate speech and verbal attacks without consequence. Note that you’ve already done a mild verbal attack on Facebook by calling them “Fakebook”. Facebook solves a lot of these content provider (me) problems, but is far from perfect. So what is your real name and do you think that your anonymity gives you the right to slander any company? If you would like to have an email discussion about this, then please send me an email (including your real name) to mike@rvtravel.com outlining any suggestions as for a better platform for me to consider, and I’ll answer you in kind. After a few cycles I’ll publish the entire unedited email conversation in my column in a few weeks for everyone to consider. Is that a deal?
Have to agree about FB. How about these options? Zoom, Webex, Gotomeeting, Anymeeting, EverWebinar, to name a few. Can us non users access your webinars after the fact?
Those are all video platforms. I’m primarily interested in an interactive bbs/forum that allows me to plug in live and produced videos. Right now I can do live video feeds on Facebook, Youtube, Periscope and Twitch simultaneously. My RV Electricity Group on Facebook is a just a simple way for me to organize and communicate with members. Without some sort of organizational engine I’m back to square one where my articles are one and done. Do you know I’ve had nearly 10,000 articles in publication over the last 35 years? And you can’t find 99% of them because the magazines, blogs and e-zines I wrote them for had no archiving system in place. The articles I’ve written for RVtravel are just the tip of the iceberg.
I’m another that will never use Facebook again. You should check out Zoom video conferencing, there are other good ones as well.
Not sure what the hate on for Facebook is all about, but it probably reaches the most viewers. I doubt any other platform you might use would reach even 10% of Facebook users. You can’t please everyone. Happy Trails
The “hate” for Facebook comes from its repeated security breaches and data harvesting, then selling of personal data. Many of us value our privacy and also do not want to use a platform that increases the likelihood of identity theft. 100% security and privacy on the internet is impossible but one can dramatically limit the potential for having one’s privacy and identity stolen by avoiding sites known for being insecure and not unnecessarily sharing personal data on the internet, such as actual name and home address, travel agendas, etc.
You can join facebook and put virtually no personal information for others to see. Just your name.
No, you just give them your email address which opens the door to them to access your email account and steal your data through that route. You don’t even have to log in; just opening up the site can open up a route for hackers, etc. to access your computer. Facebook is just one enormous cyber minefield.
I think the best I can do for now is to use Facebook for general organization, and live stream to Facebook and YouTube simultaneously. I don’t think it’s worth playing with Periscope and Twitch at this point. I’m going to try that tonight and see how it works.
Mike, Can we join in on Youtube?
I think so. That’s going to be my test tonight. I’ll probably try this on my NoShockZone channel on Youtube to experiment, and I have to change permissions and a bunch of other stuff on Youtube to make this work. I don’t want to blow up Chuck’s RVtravel channel on Youtube accidentally. That would be really bad. But once I know how this all works tonight, then I’ll try a new dual-stream including Chuck’s channel on Sunday night at 9pm eastern time. The Sunday night topic will be portable generators.
Mike, stay with Facebook. Like any social platform people can make judgements on what they want to read and block what they don’t.
I totally agree
Re Peter’s comment re Facebook, maybe our “disinclination” about Facebook has something to do with the 87 million folks whose private informtion was “shared” by Facebook.
Good grief Mike, take ‘Fakebook’ out of JTorsrud’s comment and it is very respectful. His comment about Facebook is no reflection on you, so why the personal attack? Slander? Real Name? Really? He just asked a simple question.
Also, RVtravel requesting to post personal identity information online may be unsafe and reckless for your customers.
You are very good at what you do and I suspect all readers thank you for your service.
George, remember I’m a professor and seminar instructor and have zero tolerance for anyone disrespecting my classroom. While “Fakebook” is only a mild slur, it was done so casually as to promote the use of it as normal. I simply won’t have that in my classroom (or this blog). But I do understand the massive breakdown in privacy that has occurred due to ALL social media. And I am frightened for a society whose children fail to learn for themselves, choosing to crowd-source their questions from social media rather than studying the problem and coming up with their own solutions. And please note that I’ve received a number of threatening private emails detailing how I’m helping to destroy society by promotion of “Fakebook.” So perhaps I overreacted a bit at the use of the term in his comment. But if anyone wants to have a real discussion on the best ways I can reach as many readers as possible with my electrical knowledge, then let me know. I have thousands of articles in publication from the Pro-Audio industry already, and certainly hundreds in publication for the RV industry, so you can see that I’m just getting started. But I think that understanding RV electricity is one of the most important topics for anyone with an RV, so I do what I can.
Some people wouldn’t be happy with egg in their beer and foam on the bottom!
Some people are not happy unless they are complaining. Probably not happy then either, misery loves company. Lets all find more reasons to dislike each other.
“I, along with many others, DO NOT USE Facebook (Fakebook) under any circumstances! And I’ll leave it at that!”
“Bingo”, JTorsrud! I totally agree with you!
Thank You Carl!
We use Facebook for everything from online chat, video calls (better than Skype), keeping track of events such as birthdays and even belonging to different groups for rving and our work. It makes for a great forum and easily controlled by an administrator. Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with family while on the road. Not sure why a lot of rvers don’t like using it. That would be an interesting topic to post.
We so agree
We leave our roof vents cracked open in hot weather, but only after I installed roof vent covers. Before that we traveled with them closed.
Air vent are covered and Unless I am using the ac or heater, they are open year round.