Monday, February 3, 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
“We are made of all those who have built and broken us.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Carrot Cake Day! Mmmmm.
Did you see the news? Click here to read the latest issue of the Sunday News for RVers.
Did you miss Saturday’s newsletter with editor Chuck Woodbury’s essay about how he never has to go outside to dump his holding tanks? He just flips a switch in his bathroom. Read the issue.
Tip of the Day
Boondocking and running low on liquid? Bring water to your rig
by Russ and Tiña De Maris
RV boondocking brings great rewards: wonderful scenery, quiet solitude, the constant search for water. Whoa! That is one of the boondocking drawbacks – where do you get your water? In one of the great winter boondocking meccas, Quartzsite, AZ, RVers have been working that problem out for decades.
Like most boondockers, once we get our rig “settled in,” we’re not real inclined to want to move it again until it’s time to leave. Packing up the rig once or twice a week to go for water just doesn’t cut it. So we worked out our method. Continue reading.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
RV Electricity – This week’s J.A.M. (Just Ask Mike) Session:
Battery bank accounts – deposits and withdrawals. Mike explains charging and discharging batteries in RVs by using a bank account analogy. (Yep, Mike makes it make sense.)
• 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.
Starting battery croaks in campground
Chris Dougherty, certified RV technician, received a letter from a reader while he was serving as RVtravel.com’s technical editor. It contained several questions including why the under-the-hood engine battery kept going dead when the RV was hooked up to an electric post at campgrounds, and what the metal bar on the battery is for. Read Chris’ response.
Did you miss January’s recall newsletter on Friday? Read it here and see if your RV or other vehicle is on the list.
Reader poll
What did we learn about you from our reader polls last week? Find out here.
NEW! 2020 edition is here! Learn what’s along the Interstate
Never take a wrong exit off an Interstate. The brand-new 2020 Next Exit lists every exit along every Interstate and lists what you’ll find: gas stations (including those with diesel), campgrounds, truck stops, casinos, retail stores (by name), malls, factory outlets, drug stores, hospitals, rest areas & more. Very helpful even if you have a GPS. Learn more or order.
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
Clean water stains off your RV ceiling
Water stains on your RV ceiling? Take a clean sponge, soak it with hydrogen peroxide, straight out of the bottle. Carefully rub the stain with sponge and follow up with clean paper towel. Best to test an inconspicuous spot first, and be sure to protect the floor below the ceiling from drips.
Easily hang heavy objects in your RV
RV walls aren’t exactly designed for having screws or nails driven into them. Enter acrylic mounting tape. This is a clear, double-sided tape that is sturdy enough to hang heavy objects and can easily be removed without doing damage to the walls. Get some on Amazon here.
Random RV Thought
How many pots and pans do you carry in your RV? Which ones have you used in recent times? Those you have not used you likely don’t need: leave them at home from now on – they’re just extra weight.
JOIN OUR BRAND-NEW FACEBOOK GROUP
Website of the day
Creative ways to use your travel photos
Here are 27 brilliant ways to use your travel photos so they don’t get lost on your camera or phone forever. RVers take thousands of photos each day – it’s time to do something with them!
These socks don’t stink!
If you don’t believe us when we say these compression socks really work, look at the overwhelmingly positive reviews and maybe you’ll change your mind. These socks provide instant relief to your arches and heels and work to increase blood and oxygen circulation, which helps reduce lactic acid buildup and aids muscle recovery in ankle and feet. Click here to learn more.
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• Drive with your hazard flashers on?
• RVer Safety: A case study – Murder on the Bear River.
#888F
Trivia
In Madagascar, there are frogs smaller than your fingernails. In March 2019, three tiny new species of frogs were discovered. The largest measures 1.4 centimeters in length, while the tiniest is 0.8 centimeters. The frogs are among the smallest vertebrates on the planet and have been added to an appropriately named genus that was made up just for them: Mini. Evolutionary biologist Mark Scherz named them Mini mim, Mini scule and Mini ature, and said, “We searched all the databases we could find, and nobody seemed to have used the Mini name before. From there, the puns just fell into place.”
Leave here with a laugh
Wife: Do you want dinner?
Husband: Sure, what are my choices?
Wife: Yes and no.
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.
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 2020 by RVtravel.com
We are going into our 6th year with one 2-quart pan that takes care of all of the cooking. I thought maybe I would buy a frying pan but I have yet to find a use for it.
My given name is “Richard”. I am not a Richard. I am a Dick as well as a Charter Member of DOA (Dicks Of America). I’ll leave it at that.
My mother is a horrible cook. Sometimes when I misbehaved badly as a kid, she would send me to bed without supper. I used to tell her “thanks”. It was years before she caught on.
So, maybe you should have spent some time cooking instead of misbehaving, huh, Bob? That would have solved a couple of things, anyway. 😉 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I have used my middle name since I was born (or parents did). Only use my first name for official documents (since that is whats on my birth certificate). They wanted to keep my fathers initials (LMN) but called me by my middle name.
I understand the moving for water. But all solutions say we’re dumping waste water on public land. If I have to refill my water tanks more than once my waste tanks are full. A fairly complex system of portable waste tank and pumps etc are almost as much trouble as driving to the dump site. Disappointed the other half was not covered also. Especially the guy with it on his roof. WHERE DOES ALL THE WASTE WATER GO?
I read today’s “Leave here with a laugh” just 2 minutes after my wife asked me what I wanted for dinner tonight.
😆 At least she gives you a little bigger choice, Fred! 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
The name “Les”, short for “Leslie”, has always been a sore spot being male. As a kid: “Isn’t that a girl’s name!?” As an adult, spell check wants it to be “Less”, which is maddening.
I like my name because it is pretty as well as unusual
Leave with a laugh alternatives:
Honey, what are you making for supper?
Answer: RESERVATIONS
What are my choices for supper?
Answer: Take it or leave it!
Alternate answer: Eat it or wear it!
Should I light the charcoal now?
Answer: Only if you bought something to cook on it!
Love them all