Thursday, February 13, 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
“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Cheddar Cheese Day!
Tip of the Day
Safety water shut-off but still with full flow
We have warned before of the dangers of leaving the water to your RV turned on while absent. You can only imagine what you might find if you came back to your rig and discovered a waterline fitting had “blown” in your absence — so a suggestion was made that to wipe out this potential, one might install a simple garden hose shutoff fitting. The idea behind this is rather than having to track out to the park-provided shutoff and “twist-twist-twist” it, you’d simply do a “quarter turn” on your own shutoff and be on your way.
These little shutoffs can be obtained at your friendly neighborhood garden supply for a couple of bucks, and utilize a plastic ball valve to achieve their magic. Reader Mel Goddard liked the suggestion, so he promptly installed a similar setup on his rig, and felt pretty good about the added safety. However, Mel’s RV developed a problem – slow water flow. Continue reading.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
The sticky slideout
Chris Dougherty, certified RV technician, received a letter from a reader while he was serving as RVtravel.com’s technical editor regarding a sticky slideout. The reader complained that the slideout moaned and had a hard time retracting. He wondered what he could do in case the slide didn’t come in at all. Read Chris’ response.
Yesterday’s featured article: Why to keep your RV’s gray tank closed when hooked up
Reader poll
Quick Tip
Keep your keyholes clear
Some bugs like to lay eggs in little spots – like in the keyholes of locks on RV storage compartments. Once in there, the stuff’s like glue. If your locks are steel, get small disc magnets from the hardware store and “stick” one over each lock.
It’s time to clean your CPAP machine!
One of our past surveys told us that 53% of you (or your partner) use a CPAP machine. Wow! When was the last time your machine was cleaned thoroughly? They get very dirty! This highly rated cleaning kit will get out all those yucky germs and bacteria. The extendable brush will expand to 7 feet, but folds up into a small plastic bag so as to not take up too much room in your RV. If you use a CPAP, you’ll want to order this here.
Random RV Thought
It’s a lot easier to drive a motorhome than many aspiring RVers think. More and more, people choose to travel with their RV rather than stay in hotels and motels. One reason is they know that their RV bed won’t have bedbugs, which can be a problem in other lodging these days.
Website of the day
Edible mushrooms in the U.S. (and how to tell they’re not toxic)
Instead of buying mushrooms at a grocery store, go forage for them yourself! Here’s a list of 11 edible mushrooms you can find across the U.S. Yum!
AFFILIATE OFFER: Good Sam Roadside Assistance. FREE coverage for your spouse & dependent children. Learn More!
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:
• 33 percent do not drink alcohol
• 5 percent are not happy with their current RV
• 45 percent of male readers served (or are currently serving) in the military
Recent Poll: Do you use your RV mostly to camp, travel or live? Tell us here.
Glow-in-the-dark tape is brilliant for help at night
One of our readers recommended glow-in-the-dark tape to stick on things to see at night. We love this idea! Use this tape on light switches and slideout switches so they’re easy to see in the dark. The tape also works great to help find your door and lock at night, as well as your RV steps. Learn more or order here.
Trivia
The largest sandcastle ever made can be seen from space. In 2019 artists in Dubai created a sand sculpture that was 170,890 square feet in size. That’s almost as big as 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools!
Was the color orange named after the fruit, or was the fruit named after the color? If you don’t know, we told you in yesterday’s issue of this newsletter.
Leave here with a laugh
My husband and I couldn’t decide which jacket to buy our granddaughter, so we asked the young salesman. “If you were buying a jacket for your girlfriend what would you get?” “A bulletproof one,” he said. “I’m married.” —John Canuteson
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RV Daily Tips Staff
Editor and Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Managing editor: Emily Woodbury. Senior editor: Diane McGovern. 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 2020 by RVtravel.com
We have a Class B; all the furniture is built in. The closest we could do is buy a step stool.
Bought a two yr old Jayco Eagle 5th wheel and the factory queen bed ( given some superior name that I forget) was HORRIBLE! Jayco should be ashamed to sell that trash. It was about as comfortable as 2 old fashioned kapok life jackets piled up. Out it went and in with a new Verlo custom mattress. Ahhh. I will beef up the gas struts for $20 so it lifts the extra weight easier.
Sorry, Sonny. We haven’t noticed any problems with that website, but appreciate you notifying us. I went to the website, PlantSnap.com, and did some looking around. Here’s a link to numerous publications which wrote positively about that website: https://www.plantsnap.com/in-the-press I’m pretty sure it’s safe. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Weird, I have no reader poll today. I can see the header for it but no poll is visible. I’m usually reading this newsletter on my phone like today but this is a first. Bummer, the reader poll is usually my favorite part.
That is weird, Greg. I’m sorry the poll isn’t opening up for you. This is the first comment we’ve received about that issue. I just checked and there have been more than 2,400 “votes” on it, so it must be just something with your computer. Did you set it to block popups recently? Or tighten the security? Not sure what to suggest. Maybe if you go back in the newsletter later it will show up for you. I hope so. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I have the same problem. Looked at it yesterday, no poll. looked today and still no poll.
Sorry, Sharon. Sometimes it’s something in how your computer is set up — popups blocked, security set very high, etc. Or sometimes the internet service provider you use has a problem with it. Since the majority of our readers can get into the polls, I don’t know what we can do on our end to “fix it” for you and a very few others who can’t see the poll. 🙁 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I’ve had the same problem in the past. I read the comments then think geez I would have liked to comment on that one. No big deal life goes on. Alvin.
I’ve been having the same problem for the last few days of tips. I’m using my phone and the poll doesn’t load.
We replaced the cushions in our booth dining room. So much better. Nice & firm.
I removed our dining nook (nobody could fit in it anyway) and replaced it with a slide out futon (I designed the frame) Now we have a comfortable couch for 2 and when you slide it open it makes a comfortable bed for 2 adults.
We ordered our MH without the couch or queen mattress. We had an expensive La-Z-Boy love seat recliner in our home’s living room and a nearly unused high quality mattress in the guest room. I had measured the MH doorway and knew they would fit through it. Saved money and got quality furniture that we already knew we liked.
I won’t take a chance on ANY wild mushroom !
Same here Sink. We’ve seen what a big Golden retriever (associated with a group ahead of us on a hike) did to a patch of mushrooms years ago. If we ever ate anything from the forest floor like all produce we consume we clean it super super well before it gets near us on the plate. It’s scary out there but nothing compares to the lady sharing her ice cream with the fur pal in Florence Oregon two years ago.
Replaced swivel-rocker-recliner chairs with La-z-boy rocker-recliners in our 5th wheel. Putting one hand on the arm of the swivel-type caused it to turn before we could get our other hand on the other armrest. Things happen when you’re old and must use one hand at a time when reaching back.
Those who own an RV and have a sleeper sofa and haven’t replaced it are indeed fortunate or can’t afford it. What a piece of junk. One night in it and out the door. Same with a swivel chair. Would have been nice to buy RV without crappy furniture and buy our own. Could have saved money. Gave the sofa to our granddaughter and she got rid of it promptly.
Does a Sleep Number mattress count as furniture?
We have an Class A Holiday Rambler Vacationer with 1 1/2 baths. It came with a L-shaped couch that was so uncomfortable and the part you pull out after slide-out to make an extra chair was hard to do. So I dismantled it last summer and put in a real couch that sits three people all positions reclines. Plus the middle seat back pulls forward for a table with cup holders. Now the plus side… our MH looks bigger. (Used RECPRO Charles Collection)
I love taking pictures of mushrooms and other fungi. They are really unique, but for some reason I never liked mushrooms. When living in Atlanta I was amazed at how many mushroom hunters got in trouble needing emergency organ transplants from eating the wrong one. Yikes
I pick and eat about half the mushrooms on their list. I stick with the ones that are easy to identify and don’t have poisonous lookalikes. For me that’s: Lion Mane, Chanterelles, Morel, Hen of the Wood, and Oyster. I stay away from the rest on their list.
We buy ALL of our mushrooms from the store. No way am I going to pick mushrooms and become tomorrow’s headline: “Family dies eating spaghetti sauce made with wild picked mushrooms”.
When we bought our 2012 travel trailer it had one of those convertible couches in the rear. We told the dealer if he couldn’t find us a pair of swivel chairs to replace it, the deal was off. Well, he DID find the chairs so we bought the trailer. A few years later we dumped those chairs and replaced them with two Lazy Boy rockers. Best thing we ever did!
Put in center island. More storage and counter area. Turned table sideways to fit two people only and store center island against it when moving.
“glow in the dark” tape. What a great idea.
Re: survey: we have done modifications to three 5th-wheels we’ve had, usually to make room for a desk and dog beds by removing either the sofa or chairs/theater seating. We swapped for our own more comfortable recliner in one rig but put the original ones back in when we traded up for a new coach. Also traveled with only two of the four dining chairs in each of the rigs, and changed king mattress to queen in current one.