Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Welcome to another edition of RV Travel’s Daily Tips newsletter. Here you’ll find helpful RV-related and living tips from the pros, travel advice, a handy website of the day, tips on our favorite RVing-related products and, of course, a good laugh. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate you. Please tell your friends about us.
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Today’s thought
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Fluffernutter Day. What’s that? Click here to drool.
Tip of the Day
Generator fumes: Send them sky high
I
f you have a generator on your RV, sometimes it’s hard to get away from its exhaust fumes or your neighbor’s when it’s parked close by.
Here’s a way to send the gas away from the coach. A kit is available that packs up in a bag when not in use that will extend the exhaust above the top of an RV. You simply put the kit together, attach one end to the exhaust tube, attach a couple of suction cups and apply the tube to the outside of your coach. So instead of the exhaust hanging around your coach, it’s blown sky high. When it’s time to leave your campsite simply bag up the exhaust gear and go. The kits are available at most RV supply stores and at Amazon.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Airstream tribute video is inspiring
You must watch this wonderful four-minute mini-documentary about the trailer and its history. Even if you are not an Airstream owner, the video will delight you. Yes, it’s about Airstream in particular, but no matter what RV you own or hope to own, the video is inspiring. Watch the video.
Reader poll
Like RV books? So do we! That’s why we’ve compiled our favorite books about RVing – we’ve made it easy for you! Click here to see the books we recommend for your RV travels.
Recalls
BREAKING NEWS: Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling 28,579 model year 2019 F-250 and F-350 vehicles equipped with electronically locking rear differentials. The passenger side rear axle shaft may fail prematurely due to a material issue. Read more.
Other recent RV and RV-related recalls. Click here.
They’re all the rage — Instant Pots. Check out a whole buncha models.
Quick Tip
Efficient water usage
When boondocking, capture the cold water from your shower in a sauce pan (or or a bowl, etc) as it warms up rather than letting it flow into your gray tank. Use the water later for washing dishes, or flushing the toilet.
Random RV Thought
A candle or candles can produce enough heat in an automobile or RV on a cold day to provide some warmth. Just be mindful of where they are placed and do not leave them unattended. These 9-hour emergency candles fit the bill.
Website of the day
Six tips for driving a big motorhome
This is great information from Winnebago Life for anyone about to drive their first long motorhome. Even if you have experience with driving a big rig, you’ll learn some new and useful tricks here.
Travels with Charley: A man and his dog set off in the 1960s in a home-built RV to see America. A John Steinbeck classic that every RVer will love! Learn more or order.
And the Survey Says…
We’ve polled RVtravel.com readers more than 1,500 times in recent years. Here are a few things we’ve learned about them:
• Five percent have lived in an RV for more than a month during an emergency.
• 77 percent are retired.
• 41 percent would sell their RVs today if offered a great price.
Trivia
Journalist Alistair Cooke claimed that rattlesnake tastes “just like chicken, only tougher.” Others have compared the flavor to a wide range of other meats, including veal, frog, tortoise, quail, fish and rabbit. It is not uncommon to find rattlesnake on the menu in Southwest restaurants, typically as an appetizer. “Try it … you’ll like it!”
Double refrigerator bars ensure nothing moves while driving
It’s happened to most RVers – you open the fridge (even slowly) after a day of driving and a heavy jar falls on your toe – “Ouch!” Never have that happen again with these easy-to-install spring-loaded refrigerator bars. They’re also useful in cupboards and closets. Order for a good price.
Leave here with a laugh
“I never wanted to believe that my dad was stealing from his job as a highway worker. But when I got home, all the signs were there.”
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
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: Emily Woodbury. Assistant editor: Diane McGovern. 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
It always amazes me. Camping in a quiet campground, the air is clean , all is peaceful, some {bleeped} in a motorhome closes their windows and starts up their generator. They enjoy ruining everyone else’s
experience.
And make sure you don’t turn the a/c on when you’re using that extension because, as shown in the photo accompanying the article, it will blow those exhaust fumes right into your RV!
No, no, no…. the a/c only recirculates air inside. That would be sooooo uneconomical to take hot/sweaty outside air and try to cool/dry it down to a reasonable level.
Back to my regularly scheduled trolling…..
Stay cool
Reminds me of a picture showing a 50’s dressed women saying:
Another day and I didn’t use algebra once. I suck at math. Always did. Repeated algebra twice. Still don’t get it.
The brain is constantly computing algebra or geometry while you go on with your day. Walking, looking at objects, reaching for the door handle… all being computed with the correct angles and distances w/o even thinking about doing it. Lose one eye and your depth perception (angle from the two eyes) is gone and life gets a little harder. Amazing thing, the body. 🙂
800 English, 790 Math on SAT, so I suppose I spell better than I add… but I did flunk gym in the days when you ran a 6min mile or flunked…
Besides refrigerator bars keeping things in place while moving, putting single or preferably double refrigerator bars at the back of each shelf in the fridge and freezer keeps food from butting up against the back and blocking the air flow, which helps maintain the temperatures.
Travels with Charlie has been my favorite Steinbeck book since I read it in high school
At the risk of our illustrious editor Diane contradicting me, I do believe that overall I’m better at English than Math, but that’s only because I’m pretty poor at Calculus compared to my skills with algebra, geometry and trigonometry. However, spelling is my true downfall, and I even had to look up how to spell trigonometry. Ugh!!! Thanks heavens for spell check…
Ha! That’s the first time I’ve ever been called “illustrious.” Undeserved, but thanks, Mike. I know your English (including spelling) is way above average, and I suspect that your math is even higher. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Just a tidbit on RV Lemon Laws. The Illinois Supreme Court just made an award to some people that went against the RV Industry as far as turning an RV back to the dealership based on the Lemon Laws. Just listen to the video. Even though it is in Illinois, many Courts will rule that if it is good in Illinois, it should be good in their state. A ray of hope for us!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iub0v_wjGlg
My math skills are fairly good, calculus and advanced math, I hope that my English skill are also fairly good. I use English a lot more than math and I read a LOT.
When I was still working (OTR trucking), I always carried a homemade candle (a used tuna can with candle wax) to use in case I broke down in the winter (engine failure) to keep from freezing. Many of my friends did likewise. It works!
Don’t Generator mfrs advise against adding the extension to your exhaust pipe?
It shouldn’t affect your genny as long as there are no restrictions… personally i’d make it a permanent installation if I did it at all.
Open candles are not a good idea in any vehicle. It is dangerous and unsafe. We use LED candles, which don’t put out heat. Was the RV random Thought a paid ad?! The candles burn and uses oxygen to burn, therefore consuming air around you. Please consider other options!
If you do this in a dire emergency, get a blanket, open a window or go home!
Says the person from the deep South that has never seen a vehicle stuck down a lonely stretch of road during a snowstorm. A LED light will only illuminate the frozen body for the rescuers to identify. It does happen.
Thanks for sharing that airstream video. Very inspiring
An open flamed candle is NOT a good idea in a RV.