Wednesday, January 29, 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
“Don’t be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Corn Chip Day!
Tip of the Day
Thermostat not working right?
Reader Steve Willey reported: “Our digital thermostat kept the furnace on too long in cold weather and got over 80 inside. The culprit was the location of the thermostat on the panel side of the refrigerator enclosure. The refrigerator is isolated from room heat and vented to outdoors. In freezing weather cold air was surrounding the refrigerator and entering the thermostat through an overly large wiring hole behind it. Sealant and a sheet of foam behind the thermostat cured the problem.” Thanks, Steve!
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
RV driving on snow or ice
Winter is decidedly upon us. What would you do if you’re driving your rig when suddenly some “not too bad” weather turns cold and the white stuff begins to fall? Can you drive your RV in snow or ice? Should you? We’ve gathered several winter driving suggestions for RVers – and many of these come from the trucking industry, where nasty weather and big rigs often have to mix. Learn more.
Yesterday’s featured article: Husband’s dream RV is wife’s “gas hog” nightmare
Reader poll
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.
Did you buy a lemon RV? Here’s more about RV lemons and lawyers who will represent you if you need help.
Keep the warm (or cool!) air inside with a vent insulator
RVs are meant to be used not just in summer and not just when it is warm and sunny. Achieving comfortable living in your RV when the outside is either too cold or too hot is a challenge. One way to prevent heat from escaping during colder periods or to prevent hot air from entering under a full desert sun is to stop the unwanted flow of heat or cold through your overhead vents. Here’s a simple solution.
Quick Tip
A tip for the jewelry-wearing ladies…
If you wear earrings and/or necklaces, you don’t want to put them all in one container as they tend to get tangled up. Go to a craft store (like Michael’s) and buy one of those flat plastic containers for storing beads. They have many compartments and a lid and are great for storing jewelry. If you use it at home as well as in the RV, when it’s time to pack up, you just grab the whole thing. Thanks for the tip, Astrid Bierworth!
Random RV Thought
No matter how well you plan, your RV’s kitchen cupboard will always be one item short when you settle into the campground to prepare a meal.
Get rid of those decal “ghosts”!
If you use a coin to remove old decals from your RV, you may have an unwelcome guest when the job’s done: Decal “ghosts” – shadowy after-images imprinted in the Filon siding. The solution? A heavy-duty oxidation remover! Pour the remover onto a rough sponge and scrub the Filon in circles. The yellow oxidation will come right up and your RV will look good as new! The remover will also remove stains, scratches and water spots. Learn more or order here.
Website of the day
WIT Club
For anyone who owns a Winnebago Industries RV. More than 16,000 members. WIT Club members receive special benefits, gather with other people with similar interests, and travel on a variety of special events called caravans and rallies.
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• The Business of Work Camping: What happens if you’re let go?
• Video: Marcus Lemonis explains sometimes slow service at Camping World.
• RVer Safety: The good, the bad and the ugly of self-protection in a campground.
#887F
We’ve picked out the best RVing books for you and here they are! You’ll want to have a copy of these in your RV.
Trivia
Polar Bears have black skin and, nope, they don’t have white fur. The bears have two thick layers of clear fur that appears white to the human eye.
What did early farmers use for toilet paper? Ouch… We told you in yesterday’s issue of this newsletter.
Leave here with a laugh
Two guys were out walking their dogs on a hot day when they pass by a pub. The first guy says, “Let’s go in there for a pint.” Second guy says, “They won’t let us in with our dogs.” First guy: “Sure they will, just follow my lead.” He goes up to the pub, and sure enough the doorman says, “I can’t let you in here with that dog.” He replies, “Oh, I’m blind and this is my seeing-eye dog.” The doorman says, “OK then, come on in.” The second guy sees this and does the same thing. He goes up to the pub and the doorman says, “You can’t come in here with a dog.” He replies, “I’m blind and this is my seeing-eye dog.” The doorman responds, “You have a chihuahua for a seeing-eye dog?” The second guy stops for a second, then exclaims, “They gave me a chihuahua?!”
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. 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 say I am talking to my dog since he is usually close by.
Re; Today’s poll. Not original to me, but yes I talk to myself when I need an expert opinion. Things do get a wee bit confusing when I have an argument with myself and I lose the argument.
Do you talk to yourself out loud? No, but I talk to our cats. They understand more human speech than I do cat speech.
When I hit my thumb with a hammer and curse out loud does that count as talking to myself?
Yes. 😆 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Sometimes when I think I’m talking to my wife I learn I’m actually talking to myself
Priceless!
The article on driving in snow with an RV is another good reason to mandate driver training for RVers most of whom I’ll suggest, by many years of observation and working in the repair industry fixing screw-ups, don’t know one end of their rig from the other.
Up here in Canada if we took the advice if it snows don’t go, it’d be a barren waste land 6 months out of the year. There’s nothing that stops me or most others here from driving anything in the winter, because in my case I’ve been trained to drive in those conditions, and know how to prepare my vehicle for the journey into the great white beyond.
Know what you mean. 25+ yrs 56-82. Used to ice race on Big Lake outside Anchorage. All rear wheel drive. Kick the rear out for curves. Doesn’t work for front wheel drives. Even letting up on the gas will sometimes start the rear end coming around. It’s why I love my Town Car. CAN drive it on anything. Sometimes I go years with no ice, but it stays with you.
Nothing wrong with talking to yourself as long as it isn’t a two way conversation.
I ask myself questions when I want a really intelligent answer! 🙂
If you don’t answer, there is no point in talking to yourself.
That reminds me of something my son had on his bulletin board many, many years ago: “It’s OK to talk to yourself, and it’s OK to answer yourself. But if you say ‘Huh?’ you know you’re in trouble.” 😆 –Diane at RVtravel.com
I subscribe to “ better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it”, so I keep a set of cable chains in the coach.
Excellent advice that I never did and wished a couple of times that I did.
Ok, only when I have kicked the hitch with my shin
I answered no, but forgot about the hitch. So SOMETIMES which is good when nobody else is around.
Or when I want a certain answer.
With in-ear cell-phone mikes, I see lots of people that are apparently talking to themselves.
So on one hand, Roger Marble says don’t mess with the air in your tires once they’re properly inflated and you’ve checked them before you head off because tire pressures change while driving down the road – and that’s normal. Then along comes this article (with a comment from Goodyear Tire Co.) that seems to think you should ADD air if cold temps lower your pressure (one to two pounds of pressure for every ten degrees of ambient air temperature drop).
What to do, what to do . . . I will take Roger’s advice – and let nature take its course.
Re talking to myself, I’ve always figured folks would think I was talking to my dog and not really nutso!
After I retired I spent another 7 years working at Wally World. When ever I would talk to myself and someone would question me on it my reply was that it was the only way to get an intelligent conversation around here. On driving in snow I agree don’t unless caught in it. Lived in snow country until retiring and even the best drivers would not go out in those conditions.
In Alaska you had no choice. Or stay in for a few months. Not now so much. Niece facebook. She posted last Dec. Miami 39 degrees. ANCHORAGE 39 DEGREES for same day. Common now to get rain in winter.