Monday, December 2, 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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Page Contents
Today’s thought
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” —Michael Altshuler
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Mutt Day!
Did you see the news? Click here to read the latest issue of the Sunday news for RVers.
Tip of the Day
Insurance advice for motorhomers with toads
If you have a motorhome and are towing a car (toad), you must have a policy that covers both car and motorhome. If you are in an accident, most likely both will be damaged. If you have policies with two insurance companies, you are looking at two deductibles and two claims. You are also liable if your car breaks loose from the motorhome and goes off on its own.
Claims will be filed by drivers of other vehicles yours has hit, as well as property owners that have sustained damage caused by your errant car. These claims will most likely be against the liability portion of your RV insurance. Your motorhome insurance does not automatically extend to the car you are towing. This is why you should carry liability coverage on both your motorhome and towed vehicle.
From So, you want to be an RVer? And Enjoy the RV Lifestyle? [Revised]. Available on Amazon.com.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
It’s Cyber Monday! That means all the best online sales are HAPPENING NOW. Click here to save hundreds of dollars on your holiday shopping!
RV Electricity – This week’s J.A.M. (Just Ask Mike) Session:
Battery charging for a residential refrigerator. A reader asks Mike why his truck’s alternator won’t keep the house batteries charged (and his fridge running) in his 5th wheel trailer while he’s towing.
• Sign up for Mike’s monthly RV Electricity Newsletter.
• While you’re at it, be sure to join his popular Facebook group, RV Electricity.
• Read more of Mike’s articles here.
Water heater – electric or propane or both?
Dear RV Doctor:
I have a Jayco trailer that has a dual electric/propane water heater. The propane heats the water faster, but the electric is at no cost to us when using the power that our state park provides. We don’t need hot water right away, so we have been using the electric mode for the first year we have used the unit. Is one method better for the long-term life of the water heater? And why? Thanks! —Larry G.
Reader poll
What have we learned about you from our reader polls? Read our weekly column, “What we learned about you last week.” Click here to read.
WINTER IS ALMOST HERE:
Check out this huge selection of RV covers.
Helpful resources
• NATIONAL TRAFFIC AND ROAD CLOSURE INFORMATION.
• ROAD AND TRAFFIC CONDITIONS ACROSS THE NATION.
• WEATHER ALERTS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
• CURRENT WILDFIRE REPORT.
• LATEST RV RECALLS.
Quick Tip
Make that low-end RV bed more comfortable
Anti-fatigue mats are great for insulation and added comfort when used on the bottom of sleeping bunks.
From RV Living Full Time: 100+ Amazing Tips, Secrets, Hacks & Resources to Motorhome Living Available on Amazon.com.
Random RV Thought
The expectation of acquiring a new possession is often more exciting than the possession itself once you have it. Whether it’s a new chair, video game or newfangled tool, we dream about the item and how it will enhance our life. But once acquired, the product often becomes just another possession.
That’s not true with an RV, which continues to captivate most owners for years and years. Perhaps it’s because an RV is more than a “thing.” It’s a magic carpet that takes us on grand, memorable adventures. RVers who once traveled with their small children in an RV and then have to sell the RV years later can come to tears seeing all the memories drive away. An elderly couple, too old to travel anymore, will likely feel the same. RVs provide an ongoing source of wonder to those who own them. And unlike most of the miscellany in our lives, the passion an owner feels for an RV rarely dims.
Universal lid fits all your pots and pans!
This incredibly handy universal pot and pan lid will fit [almost] every pot and pan in your RV kitchen! Works with fry pans, pots, saucepans, skillets, stockpots, woks, cast iron pans and more! Eliminate kitchen cabinet clutter with this multipurpose, compact lid. Don’t you wish you had known about this sooner? Learn more or order.
Website of the day
The worst cities in the U.S. for mosquitoes
Orkin Pest Control compiled a list of the Top Mosquito Cities based on the number of customers buying mosquito control devices from them. Mosquitoes are a nuisance and also can be dangerous because some carry and transmit diseases. They thrive in hot and humid conditions but are also found in dry environments. Some of these locations may surprise you.
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• Nine words RV buyers must insist be written on their sales contract.
• RV driver dies from tire blowout. Prevent it happening to you.
• How to protect yourself from ungrounded power.
#874-1
Our favorite tire pressure gauge. Used by the RV Travel staff. Click.
Less than $10! Mini waffle (and more!) maker is a crowd-pleaser.
This 12-volt electric blanket will keep you cozy. Click.
Trivia
Judge Judy makes $45 million a year.
Leave here with a laugh
The only thing flat-Earthers fear … is sphere itself.
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. Senior editor: Diane McGovern. Marketing director: Jessica Sarvis. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.
This website utilizes some advertising services. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Regardless of this potential revenue, unless stated otherwise, we only recommend products or services we believe provide value to our readers.
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
Thoughts to ponder:
Time flies like arrows.
Fruit flies like bananas.
I drive a school bus which when I told our insurance agent who asked how we learned to drive one of these things I told him experience. Once you drive a school bus? You can drive anything. Everyone should take a course in driving one of these things.
California: Class B license required over 26,000 lb or over 40 feet; Class A license required for towing over 10,000 lbs
Exactly. Chuck’s response below is not true.
In California, if you’re towing a fifth wheel over 10,000 lbs. you don’t need a class A, you need an exception on your class C. It’s called Restriction 41, and designated as such on your DL, with a description printed on the back. I know this is the case since I’ve got one on my DL. Nobody at the DMV office knew what I was talking about, I had to speak to the office manager and direct her to their own website, where the information was listed.
The information is on page 12 of the DMV’s Recreational Vehicles and Trailers handbook. https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/6d7683b7-beb1-4742-b3f4-834c7ba30963/dl648.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=
Thank you for the information and the link, Ken. Very useful. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
My wife has driven the RV but lately just isn’t interested in driving. We also try not to exceed 300 miles a day.
Who drives….. my husband. In California, if your RV weights over 10,000 lbs. you are required to have a Recreational Vehicle Endorsement —Class A non commercial endorsement. Very few people are aware of this. Even dealers!
Actually in CA if a 5th Wheel is less then 15,000 lbs an Endorsement is all that is needed, over 15,000 lbs a Class A non-commercial is needed. For a Class A motorhome less then 26,000 lbs only needs a Class C to operate. Class A motorhome over 26,000 lbs requires a Class A to operate it.
Correction, Class A non-commercial for motorhome over 26,000 lbs.
But if the motorhome is over 40′ in length, then the operator is required to have a Class B non-commercial driver’s license (NCDL). I know….I have one.
I bought a stainless steel collapsible straw on Amazon by Vantic for 4.00. It’s collapsible that includes a screw on tube and its own brush for washing. I bring it everywhere.
Regarding this article on anti fatigue mats….what is that? I also camp in tents also so I have all kinds of inflatables. Is that what you are talking about?
Hi, Sharon. I think the tip is referring to what they call anti-fatigue mats like you would stand on in your kitchen — pretty solid but squishy foam. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Anti-fatigue mats are those that you see anywhere people stand for long periods of time such as store checkouts, behind bars etc.
Sorry, folks! We fixed the website of the day, it’s working now! –Emily, RVtravel.com
Who does the driving? When we purchased our current motorhome 15 years ago, we agreed that we’d split the driving 50/50. My 50% was usually closer to 75 to 80%. Finally, I set up an Excel spreadsheet to record who drives how many miles. Since then, her half really IS half! 🙂
Anti-fatigue mats will provide some insulation under your mattress, but will do nothing to increase support – how could it?
Hi, Marmot. The little tip says it supplies “added comfort,” not added support. I think it’s just referring to a little extra cushioning. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
What? No mosquitoes?
Yeah, I couldn’t find that either. But I DID read the “great movie lines”. Ha.
Tried to check out the article on mosquitoes and got sent to an ad for cyber Monday – bug was definitely not a mosquito (-:
Yep it doesn’t work
The “Website of the day” is not working. “Page not found.”