Tuesday, February 25, 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
“Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.” —Edward R. Murrow
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Clam Chowder Day!
Tip of the Day
Does your RV bathroom need an assist device?
By Jim Twamley
Many RVers need a little assistance in the bathroom, like conveniently placed grab bars which are available at hardware stores.
These are the bars you see in handicap bathrooms. Most hardware stores will stock grab bars in white or the silver brushed metal color and they can special order brass and beige. These come in handy when you’re trying to keep your balance or steady yourself while entering or exiting the shower. They are also handy when placed by the toilet. Read more.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
RV Mods: An access door for your cat or dog
A lot of RVers travel with cats. These furry little bed warmers can be welcome traveling companions, but they also come with their own set of issues. For one, where does one install the cat biffy? Here are some suggestions from Russ and Tiña De Maris, long-time cat-owning RVers.
Yesterday’s featured article: RVer wants to boondock but is nervous about isolation
Reader poll
Have any of these things happened to you? Tell us here.
Quick Tip
The best wallboard anchors
“At some point, we all are going to have to secure something on the inside of our campers. I have found these self-drilling drywall anchors to be the absolute best in the RV wallboard.” Thanks for the tip, Jim Brand!
Random RV Thought
To help keep your RV fridge cold on hot days when traveling without having it turned on, place two or three frozen ice packs inside before departing. When you arrive and turn your refrigerator back on, place the ice packs back in the freezer compartment to freeze for your next journey.
Replace old outlet cover plate with Guidelight LED night lights
No more stumbling around your darkened RV headed to the bathroom in the dead of night. The SnapPower Guidelight is a plug-and-play replacement for standard plug-in night lights and hardwired lights. It installs within seconds and requires only a screwdriver to take off and replace the cover plate – no wires or batteries. Read more.
Website of the day
The best places to travel in the U.S. in March
Do you have spring fever yet? You surely will after looking at this list of the best places to visit in March. If you don’t know where your wheels are taking you next month, now is the time to start planning.
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:
• 28 percent have inspected their RV for roof leaks within the last month
• 60 percent use a built-in generator
• 23 percent live less than 50 miles from their birthplace
RECENT POLL: For every 100 nights in your RV, how often do you have a wood campfire? Tell us here.
Look out! (Road) gators ahead! We’ve all seen them and often had to dodge them. Those big old, ugly chunks of tire tread lurking out there on the interstates and highways of the country. They can potentially cause accidents or serious damage to passing vehicles. So what’s the best way to deal with an unexpected road gator? Find out here.
Traveler’s Guide to the Firearm Laws of the 50 states – brand-new for 2020. Essential reference.
California Camping: Moon Handbook guide profiles 1,400 campgrounds.
Best-selling printed directory of free and inexpensive campgrounds. Click.
Best RVing books as recommended by our editors: Click here.
Trivia
Sea cucumbers are more interesting than you think. When they feel threatened, they shoot their internal organs out of their body in self-defense. It’s not fatal, though, as the organs will eventually grow back.
What alcoholic beverage makes a good shoe polisher?
A) Champagne
B) Beer
C) Gin
The answer is in yesterday’s newsletter!
Leave here with a laugh
Here’s a funny video of RVtravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury. We’re assuming he made this while he was out on the road … alone … with, um, er, nobody really to talk to…. Click the image to play.
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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re: Leave here with a laugh, That is almost as bad as the current rage in infomercials. You know the ones where you can purchase an item for $19.95 and get a second one free, just pay a nominal fee…
Great observation Chuck…..
Pre-Paid Cremation…ha! What a hoot, seems like they got you coming and going! Ya have to pay to get in here and still [ay when you go out of here and just think the only thing you will ever get in your lifetime is a hard time!
When I watched this clip Chuck you had me cracking up to the max. Thinking about that sort of topic gets some folks walking in circles but if you catch yourself when you are young and you look at birth and death you will see that are just two dates…what’s important is what you accomplish between those dates and nothing more.
So look at the options that you have planning for that end date…just look at it for what it is just another journey, trip or voyage but alone. I look at it this way…it can’t be all that bad when that time comes , so many have embarked on that journey and none came back to say it was or is bad.
Just make sure that you never leave without showing those you met along the way a bit of happiness and love. Maybe just a smile to someone a simple kind word and action that causes laughter a wink a blown kiss a hug and they will never forget that deed. Time not forgotten and memories cherished forever.
Cremation pre-paid…don’t let the IRS find out about that cause they will sure as hell tax that as well!
I encountered my first road gator last year. I was driving through Denver and had a semi on each side of me and a Suburban in front of me. The Suburban made a slight move to the right and then I saw the road gator on the driver’s side in my lane. I had very little wiggle room but was able to move to the right and stay in my lane. But I could not move enough to avoid the gator; I missed it with my front tire but knew my rear dully’s were going to make contact. The sound I heard told me there was damage. Got off the freeway to check it out and the brace that holds the generator exhaust pipe in place was broken. I was very lucky. The exhaust pipe caught the gator which must have deflected it away from my rear tires. Used duct tape to temporarily hold the pipe up.
I’ve never had dry wall in an rv so how do these work on 1/8” wall board?
I’m with Bob p on that one…never seen dry wall in an rv so how would they work and stay secure? I’ve seen other things that might work like pre drilling a small hole and inserting a plastic toggle type receptor to mention one. There is also a light metal half circle wire that you push in and turn it half way that braces on the rear of the wall board and on the out side facing the interior has a small hook that you hang your item on as a second option…first seen and purchased on QVC and I am sure the orange store of it’s other gray and blue friend has them.
The reader pole is not functional if you don’t answer yes to one of the options. We vote no on all of them and cannot submit our results.
The Free Pre-Paid Cremation is right up there with the “Free Gift” we are continually offered. Of course the gift is free, otherwise it isn’t a gift. How often have you been given a gift then received a bill for it?
Yup, AARP is right up there with Camping World an Good Sam as far as junk mail….and it really makes my day to hear from burial and cremation places too….I wonder if they have door-to-door solicitors also?
Regarding unsolicited mail and other unrequested solicitations, as Canadians who spend our winters in Arizona (and thank you very much for allowing us into your wonderful country) we buy stuff off the internet and from various stores where we get a discount card often associated with our cell phone number. At least twice a month, all year long, we get phone calls trying to sell us medical coverage. We tell the caller we’re Canadian but that just doesn’t register with them.
Essayer parler la Francais tel que les Canadians.
“Try to speak French like Canadians”? Difficult to moderate comments when I don’t understand the language. Just sayin’. (Although I’m sure that’s your point, Dan.) 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Re: “Quick Tip” for today, isn’t that just a standard wall anchor? The walls of most RV/TT’s are paper thin and the thickness of the anchor would be too wide for this type application, as the packaging states “Drywall”. My wife used nothing but “Command Strips” for hanging things up in our TT and they stay up just fine. If you decide to change location, just peel off adhesive and remove. I don’t recall seeing any drywall on any RV/TT’s, mind you, I never checked out any mammoth, 50+ foot, 7-figure RV, haha!
Is there someone who makes a stair handle for an RV? I tried the suction cup handle and it was a flop. I read the article and it was very helpful.
Mark, Look on Amazon for RV entry door assist handles. I found a large one with a padded grip that will mount with screws to the exterior for about $35. I installed it easily and it has served us well with climbing the steps to enter or exit the RV and it folds out of the way when in transit.
I think he is talking about for interior going down the stairs. We have been wanting to mount one as well. I know it’s only three steps to the floor but we have both had mishaps. That should be included in all RVs.
Thanks for the vid Chuck. To the best of my recall we’ve never gotten those prepaid cremation things but if we did we’d handle that junk mail exactly as we do with most other unsolicited crap we get here, “RETURN TO SENDER”
Somebody once told us that when we readdress an envelope/package/whatever with those words the sender, has to pay the return postage.
I don’t know exactly if that’s how this works everywhere but the general result is that the junk seems to stop coming.
In the case of the Cremation pest I’d return the envelope with the words “ADDRESSEE DECEASED”
yes if you get a return envelope that is prepaid, just seal it up and send it back to them, they have to pay to get that back. From a retired Postmaster.
I listened to your pre paid cremation and I thought of a way to make their life interesting as I am being cremated. When my time comes,I am going to ingest a whole bag of popcorn kernels, probably the hull less kind, they are easier to digest. Than during the cremation procedure I will explode in a blaze of glory. I will be remembered!!
I didn’t realize that Chuck is an “Amercian” as noted in the video posted in the newsletter today. “Amercian” is a place my wife and I haven’t had the opportunity to visit. Can we get there by RV?
However, I’m proud to be an American and have visited all 50 states!