Tuesday, December 31, 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
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” —Benjamin Franklin
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is New Year’s Eve, which means it’s also National Champagne Day! Cheers!
Tip of the Day
Watch for overheating of outlets and power cords
With electricity expert, Mike Sokol
Visually inspect all outlets every season for any signs of overheating. That’s why white outlets are the best since it’s easy to see any browning of the plastic. If there is any sign of overheating, get the outlets replaced immediately and inspect all power cords for signs of overheating as well. If plug contacts look oxidized or brown, then cleaning them with fine sandpaper might work to bring back their shine. But if there’s any sign of melting around the plastic or rubber, then replace it immediately.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Preventing winter freeze-ups while RVing
Chris Dougherty, certified RV technician, received a question from a reader while he was serving as RVtravel.com’s technical editor, about traveling during very cold temperatures. The readers’ RV wasn’t built for cold temps, and they asked for advice to prevent freezing pipes. Read Chris’ response.
Yesterday’s featured article: Full-time RV travels – Heat with gas or electricity?
Reader poll
Quick Tip
Unhooking a “stuck” toad
Jim Riley passed along this hint: When it’s time to unhook your towed vehicle and it won’t break free because it’s not level, restart the toad and turn the wheel sharply to the right and/or left and it should release the tension and enable you to pull the pins easily. Thanks, Jim!
Inflatable foot rest is comfortable for couch and passenger seat
Now that’s cool! Miss your favorite recliner no more! This inflatable foot rest is perfect for lounging on the couch, in the chair by the campfire, or in the passenger seat for long drives. Take it on a plane ride, or take it to the grandkids’ sports games (we know those can get long). It weighs less than 1 lb. and folds down small for travel. Learn more about this comfy foot rest here.
Random RV Thought
If you ever need a car, rent one. Enterprise will deliver to your campsite in many cases.
Website of the day
New Year’s Eve traditions around the world
Take a peek at these 12 unique NYE traditions from around the world. These are interesting!
The best mail forwarding service in America. Click here.
Get rid of your RV’s P-trap. Look here.
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:
• 5 percent of our readers never swear.
• 19 percent have hit something while backing up their RV that required a costly repair.
• 7 percent have a dishwasher in their RV.
Trivia
The first New Year’s Eve party in Times Square occurred in 1904, and was a celebration of The New York Times’ new headquarters. At the time, the NY Times tower was the second-tallest building in Manhattan. The celebration involved a street festival that lasted all day, which ended in a show of fireworks. More than 200,000 people were in attendance. (Today, about one million people come together in the square to celebrate.)
Crater Lake in Oregon gets a lot of snow each year. If that snow were measured by RVs, how many RVs would you need? You’d know if you read yesterday’s issue of this newsletter!
Where have you been all my life?
A useful quick tip from electricity expert Mike Sokol! “I used to drag out a bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towels to clean the inside of my windshield periodically, but unless I was home to think about and do the task right then, chances are I would forget about it until the next time I had to drive at night. My wife just gave me a pack of Windex Wipes for my truck, and now I can clean up the inside of my windshield any time it gets a film of streaky dust. Works great.” Buy them here.
Leave here with a laugh
My friend just asked me what I see for myself in the new year. How would I know? I don’t have 2020 vision!
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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. Advertising 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
Re: Enterprise once camped at a TT south of Jamul, Ca. and had to fetch and return (a 40 mile trip each way) – Thanks Enterprise (wry humour)
RE: Renting a car rather than tow. Works great as long as you are near a large enough town/city. As for us, we’ve towed a 2002 Honda CRV for 10 years now and it’s only got 237,000 miles on it and another 65,000 towed so I don’t see the need to buy a new one yet.
Happy New Year to all!
Yay-same here with 2007 Honda C-RV!
Thank-you for newsletter. Being a newbie to traveling in a motorhome. It has helped me so much.
Overuse of curses robs them of their power. I think of a very pretty friend of mine. The only time I heard a rude word escape her lips was when she was being badgered by another friend to cut her hair for her. She told him a polite “no” several times, but he wouldn’t give up until she told him “No ****** way!” Which stopped him (as well as all other conversation in the vicinity). Used judiciously it can be powerful.
Happy New Year to everybody at RV Travel! May all y’all have a safe and prosperous year!
New Year’s Eve. I sort of go to a party. My band, The Zinfandel Stompers Vintage Jazz Band, plays at a retirement home (10 years in a row now). We do one 90-minute set from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM. Then the residents go to bed. Most of the musicians go home, but a couple of them have booked late gigs with other bands. I go home, have a nice glass of wine to end the year, and go to bed.
There’s always been a lengthy discussions, pros and cons, around towing a vehicle behind a recreational vehicle.
All I can say to that is the day we decided to tow a vehicle is the day our recreational experience opened up a brand new world to us. No waiting for a rental, no concerns over damage to it, or the cost of insurance to (PROPERLY) cover it for liability, or property damage, etc etc!
We bought a used HHR Chevy with 30K miles on it. for $6000.00. This amazing little vehicle with scads of space within, will last us the rest of our lives, both as a tow vehicle and a wonderful reliable safe and thrifty gadabout toy in addition to our other transportation.
More importantly, on the eve of the year 2020 which I feel in my bones could be a pivotal year in human history (if things remain on current trajectory), Geri and I wish everyone, especially Chuck & Emily Woodbury – all the great contributors and support staff who bring this service together, for our education and entertainment – the VERY best throughout 2020.
RVTravel has proven so valuable to us.
Safe travels everyone. Alvin & Geri
5 percent of readers never swear! I guess they’ve never had the troubles I’ve had.
I never swear. My dad made it a point to not swear around his three daughters (although I’m sure that was very difficult at times, especially with three daughters!). Other people swearing doesn’t bother me — I just can’t do it myself. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
We take our Vespas on a rack instead of a car. When we need to go a long way, we DO rent from Enterprise. Works great for us and there’s no wear and tear on a car or problems unhooking & getting gas or backing up.
I really laughed when I saw how many respondents ‘clicked’ on the last option for New Year’s Eve, right after I did!
My friend does not tow. He rents a car at rallies. Probably saves money, if you do not use the toad at home. Will not work for full timers.
Went to Binghamton, Ny. Could not find a car, truck to rent. School kids at the big college had every car. We rented a taxi for the day, came with a great drive. Had a great day.