Thursday, January 16, 2020
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
“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Fig Newton Day!
Tip of the Day
RV boot camps are highly recommended
For “newbies” and those just thinking about the RV lifestyle, find and attend an RV Boot Camp. The Escapees RV Club runs an excellent RVBC, often over a weekend. RVSEF and other groups offer RVBCs too. Mistakes made with RVs are often expensive and sometimes dangerous. The time and money spent attending an RVBC will be a wise investment. RVBC graduates are also smarter RV buyers. Thanks to John Koenig for this great tip!
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Defrosting RV fridge makes for icy relationship
Chris Dougherty, certified RV technician, received a question from a reader while he was serving as RVtravel.com’s technical editor regarding defrosting a Dometic fridge/freezer. The reader is a full-timer and so it is especially inconvenient to defrost it. The last time it was done, the husband damaged the freezer in an attempt to speed up the process. Read Chris’ advice.
Yesterday’s featured article: Quick mod: Stop annoying water pump noise
Clean your microwave with no hassle!
Is it hard to scrub off all that crusty gunk in your microwave? Admit it, when was the last time you cleaned it? Angry Mama, the miracle microwave cleaner, is here to do the dirty job for you! Add water and vinegar (maybe some lemon too) to this feisty lady and watch her steam away the mess. Within minutes your microwave will be sparkling! Click the image to watch video. Be right back, we’re buying one here!
Reader poll
Quick Tip
License plate alert!
“Two thousand miles away from home, somebody stole our back license plate from our truck. We implore our fellow RVers to purchase Torx screws to help frustrate thieves.” —Thanks to AF in Reno!
Get rid of your RV’s P-trap. Look here.
An honest RV dealer (and one of our sponsors). Click to learn more.
Random RV Thought
In our society where virtually everything we eat is purchased from a supermarket, a campsite by a stream may provide a child with the realization that what we eat needn’t always come from a store. It can be a great thrill for Junior, when fishing with Dad, to land a small trout, clean it, and then eat it for dinner. To a child, such an occasion can be an eye-opener that the food that nourishes us was actually once alive, and not just manufactured to be sold at the market.
Website of the day
Best winter festivals across the U.S.
Festivals aren’t just for the warm months! These festivals across the U.S. celebrate winter and, frankly, these sound just as fun as those warm summer ones.
Don’t let winter keep you in the dark
This 6-pack of tiny, battery-powered LED “Button Lamps” is just what you need for your RV’s closets and storage spaces. The tiny lamp is ultra-bright and has all the power of a normal-sized lamp. Backed with a strong adhesive, these little lamps will stick to any surface. They’re waterproof and good to have in case of an emergency. 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:
• 8 percent would be very annoyed by a neighbor with a lit-up RV and would either ask them to move or would complain to management.
• 13 percent of our readers have an annual household income of $100,000 or more.
• 25 percent fall asleep at night almost immediately.
Trivia
The next time you’re in Paris, take all your photos of the Eiffel tower during the day. Why? It’s illegal to sell photos of the Eiffel Tower at night. That’s because the rights to the famous light show that the tower produced each night belongs to the artist who created it.
What does “pudelhund” mean? We told you yesterday.
The cutest little micro trailer you have ever seen! And you can buy it for $13! See it here.
Leave here with a laugh
An older guy walks into a bar and the bartender asks for ID. “You’ve got to be kidding,” he said. “I’m almost 60 years old.” The bartender apologized, but said he had to see the license. The guy showed his ID, then paid and told the bartender to keep the change. “The tip’s for carding me,” he said. The bartender put the change in the tip cup. “Thanks,” he said. “Works every time.”
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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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I take two showers a day.
One quick hot one in the morning to loosen up the muscles in my back and one “real” shower at night before bed to get clean and relax.
I take a shower in the morning and in the evening if I did any work or spent time outside. I cannot believe people that live/play in high humidity areas or not don’t feel the need to clean up. This is why I use hand sanitizer at after any contact with people. Do you wash your hands after using the bathroom then go out o the buffet line and handel the tongs. I`ve seen many men use the restroom and walk out without washing then hit the food line.Think about it your shaking hands with his private parts. Clean up America cause your gross and inconsiderate at the least.
If you tape a banana to the tower and then take a picture, is it original art?
Sure for 10K why not
The Laugh: I was a total nondrinker as a youth (long, personal story). Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, we marry someone with the characteristics of a person we’d rather not be with. During that divorce, at age 30, for the first time ever, I went into a neighborhood package store and bought a bottle of wine. And the clerk asked for my ID. I said “Really? I’m 30.” He said same thing: Yeah, but I have to see it. I didn’t really know about tipping at age 30, but I did go away with the wine, and a big smile. It was just the ego boost I needed that evening.
So is it illegal to take pictures or to sell pictures at Night?
The next time you’re in Paris, take all your photos of the Eiffel tower during the day. Why? It’s illegal to sell photos of the Eiffel Tower at night. That’s because the rights to the famous light show that the tower produced each night belongs to the artist who created it.
Bathing question…when I was working, I showered every day…Now that I’m retired every other day is fine. Consider all the water I’m saving! Still brush my teeth twice a day tho! LOL!
I wish I thought to change the screws when the DMV gave me a plate number you cannot request… and probably can’t put here…
re: showers It depends: weather, going to town or staying put, activity level, how much room is in the tanks, etc.
Ugh, I’m shocked at today’s survey of bathing. Who are these people? The three S’s are a daily event in my world.
“Who are these people?”, you ask. You’ll know the minute they get near you.
Maybe some of us don’t get as dirty and stinky as you do, George!
Take a deep breath Tom, no reason to be rude. There is a reason certain vocations require good hygiene. Such as food handlers, medical professionals and so on. Hope your doctor isn’t one of those who responded ‘less than once a week’.
My take is that the large majority of readers here are retired and have no “vocational” need to shower daily and most do so only to cleanse sweat/bodily oils etc.
For myself I live in the Mojave desert where 90% of the water comes from the Colorado river which is running dry due to lack of snowfall in the Rocky mountains – a trend that will probably only increase due to global warming. That being the case and the bathroom being the largest use of water I shower every other day if I spend a quiet day at home or otherwise don’t work up a sweat or become soiled more than normal.
FWIW most people around the world including those in European countries practice water conservation as part of a normal life and do not shower daily…
I might add that this is why people use bidets AKA bottom washers so they can wash the part that smells the worst first and still save on their water consumption.
I cannot comprehend how anyone can not shower or bathe every day! Why would you not do it?
Water restrictions, conservation.
I’m one of those people.
As far as the torx screws for the license plate, the larger screws can actually be removed with a standard flat blade screwdriver. Buy the “security” torx. They have a pin in the center and can only be removed with the bit designed for them.
X2. Cheap investment. I keep the little security torn head in the glovebox in a ziplock bag with the registration/insurance paperwork so it won’t be lost.
I use short carriage bolts with a lock washer. The rounded smooth surface is on the plate side. Tricky to install but much trickier to remove.
I love this idea, combined with a locknut any would-be thief will be dismayed! HA!
Stay cool
Thank you great idea didn’t know there is a security torx
Our son caught and cleaned his first sea run trout at age 10. He floured and seasoned it, fried it for his next day breakfast. He has been hooked on cooking and fishing ever since. That was 34 years ago.