Issue 1326, Friday, April 24, 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
“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Hairball Awareness Day!
New Facebook Group: How the coronavirus is impacting RVers. Learn about park closings, cancelled rallies and RV shows — and more. Your input requested.
RV Life in a Coronavirus World: “I can picture myself on the road of adventure”
We have asked RVtravel.com readers to tell us how they are adapting to life these days.
“The countdown had officially begun, only 39 more days of work. I was finally joining my husband in retirement and ready to start our adventure as part-time, full-timers. In preparation for this adventure, we had purchased our 2019 Winnebago Travato. SKOWT, as we named her, was our vehicle for this freedom that we anticipated…” Continue reading Tish’s story.
Tip of the Day
Cool, clear, fresh and FREE water
By Russ and Tiña De Maris
Pity the poor city dweller: Getting a decent drink of good tasting water usually boils down to buying bottled water, or maybe chucking some money in a vending machine for a gallon of “purified” tap water. If you’re in Western Washington, the story can be different. Remember the old “Olympia Beer” commercials of yesteryear, featuring the always invisible but certainly mischievous “artesians”? … Continue reading to find out where you can get free water from an artesian well.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Stick no more!
An RVtravel.com reader recommended this white graphite powder as the perfect fix for sticky windows. Frames can contract in cooler weather, making things tight. He said his fix is lubricating the window tracks with a simple “puff” of white graphite powder. Why the white? “It doesn’t make a mess like the black stuff!” he explained.
Hard water hard on RV plumbing? Try vinegar!
Some parts of the country have to deal with hard water and the resulting plumbing failures due to the stuff making deposits inside pipes and even eating through fittings. Some RVers swear by “the vinegar treatment.” Once a year, it is said, a solution of white vinegar and water should be pumped through the RV water system, allowed to sit and dissolve hard water deposits. Here is how some RVers handle this problem.
Yesterday’s featured article: How long can canned food last?
You may have missed these recent popular stories…
- Have a good laugh: “My Self-Isolation Quarantine Diary”
- Oh, the horror! Sewer tank overflows while RVer is away
- Toilet paper – the softer side of the coronavirus crisis
- RV Tire Safety: Things to do with your RV while not traveling
Reader poll
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 here.
Readers tell us
For self-quarantining couples, how well are you getting along? Find out what fellow RVing couples said here.
Sing along with The Beatles tomorrow morning!
Tomorrow morning at 9am PST and 12 noon EST, join The Beatles on their YouTube channel for a Yellow Submarine Sing-A-Long YouTube Watch Party! Here’s the link. Have fun!
Tire problems? It could be your tires’ valves!
Tire expert Roger Marble explains why tires’ valves are so important. Bad valves can not just cause leaks, but can actually lead to tire failure. Watch the video.
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
Make sure your pet is comfortable when traveling
Introducing Rover or Fluffy to RV travel? Make sure they have a comfortable bed for traveling. If you’re headed for cold or damp country with an older pet, consider springing for a heated pet bed. Whatever you choose, let your pal get used to it at home before traveling.
Say goodbye to goop!
Have you ever seen the sediment that collects in your water heater? You probably don’t want to. Camco’s water tank rinser is an easy-to-use gadget that is a must-have for any RVer. The tank rinser will get out all the yucky sediment that’s been sitting at the bottom of your water heater and, most importantly, will extend the life of it too. Read the many positive reviews, and get one for yourself here.
Random RV Thought
Here’s an assignment for you while you’re in self-quarantine. Write a letter to an old friend. Not an email, but a letter. Tell him or her how much their friendship has meant to you through the years. They will feel warm and fuzzy when they receive the letter, and you will feel good for writing it. And here’s another idea: Buy up a bunch of postcards and send them off to your kids or grandkids with a “Wish you were here” kinda message.
Website of the day
The Florida Keys’ top 14 experiences
Don’t miss these sights and experiences if you’re planning a trip to the Florida Keys. (Save us a piece of that Key Lime Pie, please!)
Clubs and useful organizations
PLEASE NOTE: We may receive an affiliate commission if you join any of these.
• Harvest Hosts: Stay free at farms, wineries and other scenic and peaceful locations for free. Save 15% on membership.
• AllStays: The best website for RVers! Your membership will become your RV-bible.
• Overnight RV parking. Directory of more than 14,000 locations where you can stay for free or nearly free with your RV. Modest membership fee.
• Boondockers Welcome. Stay at homes of RVers who welcome you in their driveways, yards, farmland or other space on their private property. Modest membership fee.
• Escapees. Best Club for RVers: All RVers welcome, no matter what type of RV, make or model.
ADVERTISEMENT
Be like Mike! Use this 3-light and digital voltage tester!
Mike Sokol says: “I found this nifty tester online and have been using it in a variety of voltage checking situations. It performs all of the 3-light tests for outlet polarity, open ground, open neutral, etc., as well as being a 3-digit digital voltage indicator. In addition, it performs a standard 5 mA GFCI safety test – which you should be performing on all of your GFCI outlets once a month (or at least once a camping season).” Read more about it here.
Trivia
Louis Braille invented Braille, a writing system of raised dots that allows blind people to read, but did you know he was only 15 when he invented the system? He learned a military code language, Sonography, that could be read by touch and then simplified it. His classmates picked it up and soon it became the standard language for the blind.
*How do whales in the Caribbean differ from whales in other oceans? The answer is fascinating so make sure you read yesterday’s trivia to find out.
Leave here with a laugh
On a Facebook page for beginning artists, one asked, “Any suggestions for painting dogs?” Another responded, “Wait until they’re asleep.”
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com. UPDATED HOURLY!
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Oh, and if you missed the latest Sunday News for RVers, make sure to catch up here.
RV PARKS OPEN FOR BUSINESS:
These parks are open for business for self-isolating and have asked that we spread the word.
Big Chief RV Resort, Burnet, Texas
Walnut Hills Campground and RV Park, Staunton, Virginia
Oakwood RV Resort, Fredericksburg, TX
Larsson’s Crooked Creek RV Resort, Hill City, SD
Own a park you’d like listed here? Send the park name, web address and city and we’ll include it here. Send to editor@rvtravel.com. No charge.
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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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Prefer European Football. No kneeling and disrespectful attitude toward their fans and country.
I stopped watching NFL after players started taking a knee when the national anthem was played and the NFL turned a blind eye to it. Sorry, but I have a piece of shrapnel that I got in Vietnam that painfully reminds me everyday of what that flag means and represents to many of us.
Leo, Thank You for Your Service!
I totally agree with you about the “despicable” action of the @$$ #&%{: that “politicize” Our Countries Flag!!!
The NFL was too “Chicken” to do the Right Thing and ban such behavior and to bench those taking part!!!
A lot of folks don’t care for sports. amateur or pro. Some may want to politicize sports. But I feel that sports has a place in this or any other society. Some here have complained about the subsidies, but I never hear anyone complaining about the taxes generated and the income generated for restaurants, hotels, parking, gear shops, etc. Sports for me is another way to recharge, get away from real world problems for a few hours. They will still be waiting for you when the game is over. But at least you got a chance to release some pent-up energy. I follow NFL football, college football, and NBA and Olympic Basketball, track and field, diving and swimming. Some of you are thinking, that is a lot, but not as much as you think. When I’m not watching, I do my best to find like-minded folks and play some of those games that we watch. Great exercise BTW. I have found that many who participated in organized sport on some level, always seem to have a love for the game. As for the rest,, it is their decision as to what they like and don’t like it. But Please, keep politics out of it. You don’t have to validate your decision or rain on anyone else’s parade…
Amen, Rory. Sports are a great release and distraction from the world problems, which incidentally are mainly potilical. So yes, keep the politics out of sports. Won’t happen, though.
You need a 4th choice on your NFL draft reader poll: “Don’t care”
As far as the nfl is concerned, who really cares about this overpaid slobs, personally I couldn’t care if they never came back high School and College games are better.
Ferget the NFL..! Where’s my BASEBALL!!!
When we adopted our third dog Lady OMG she took one look at the trailer and said I am having none of this. But we took her any way and she was not happy with the camping gig. Got home jumped on the sofa and looked at me like I am not leaving this sofa for a week. Now when I start cleaning it out? She looks at the trailer and me and is like I am having none of that. Runs to the back door and whines. Eventually?
Count me in for a vote of “Don’t care” for the poll today. I lost interest in the NFL when Tom Landry was fired.
I totally agree. Tom Landry was one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time, and an exemplary Gentleman and Human Being.
That was the day that this Texan stopped being a “Cowboy” fan!!!
I have nothing but hatred for the $$ #&%{: owner Jerry Jones!!!
I was so Happy when he lost the opening game in his new stadium and threw his chair!!!
High school and college football and hockey injures young people that are still developing , such as broken bones and concussions that will haunt them later in life, why? so a few people can be entertained. Kind of like the lion dens of days gone by.
Football? Who cares? We’ve massively subsidized billionaires with stadiums and other tax handouts. Time for them to get their comeuppance.
Would sure like to go for Broadway performance in NYC or Chicago.
About tire valves…my Class C rear duallies had metal valves. The front tires had new rubber valves installed when tires were replaced. After 7 miles of a rock (not gravel) ranch road in Texas heading to Chinati Hot Springs, 1 rubber valve was trashed. The following day, the other rubber valve failed. Fortunately, the 2nd valve didn’t fail until I was in a town, and I was able to pump and drive to tire repair.
Despite the tire fails, the trip was worth it. A small, unexpected oasis in some very harsh land.
I learned that above 65 PSI, it is recommended you install metal stems. The chassis rating for front tires called for 65, but of course with heat and driving, the pressure goes higher. Then, add in the intense vibrations from that road. I researched and went with metal stems. Good thing that both failures were at very low speeds.
After seeing all the comments today…Are we having fun yet?
Your football poll didn’t include the most likely option: “The season will start but without fans in the stands.”
The players will be required to wear N95 masks. Since that makes it harder to breathe, the Patriots will wear “cheater” masks that are easier to breathe through.
For Sure!
I think it’s still on. Just the other day there was a game on tv. Superbowl I think. Don’t stay to watch it. Really don’t care. I can do something constructive during those 3 or so hours. I once went to a live game. Actually twice, the first time and the last time. Don’t care,
I answered “yes” but when teams try to play in Ca.- xxxx Newsom would petition the NFL to donate all proceeds to the homeless and illegals so I can’t be sure about our state being on the schedule. (Bleeped by Diane. No name-calling, please.)
Don’t care if the NFL starts. Ever since I was declared “racist” for not agreeing with Colin Kapernick, I’ve switched it off every Sunday. And watch the xxxxx Seahawk fan go rabid in the their stupors. I didn’t need to vote and wish these type of question not be asked in the future.
I agree. There could be a 4Th option – I couldn’t care less whether they play or not.
Now, college football is another thing. Go TIGERS (Clemson)
That’s pretty strong language, Ken. Sorry our “miscellaneous” question got you so riled up. Almost 2,400 of our readers have participated in the poll so far this morning — so I think you’re in the minority regarding this “type of question.” BTW — Your comment received so many down votes from our readers that the program notified us that it should be removed. I’ll leave it in because you’re entitled to your opinion. I don’t think Seahawks fans like being called names, so I took that part out. I left the “amusing” description in, however, and am sure it would apply to fans of most football teams. Take care and stay healthy (and don’t go into a stupor 🙄 ). 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Oh, lets this hit home a little closer. Lets take Atlanta for instance, they built the Mercedes Stadium for sports, the costs were in the millions. Now let move up to today’s climate.
You well you just lost your job, or you lost your business, you have family, kids, you have mortgage note, car payment, you need to eat, you might have RV with another payment. You have no income coming in, and really you are worried about the NFL draft or the NFL season, well you better get back to basics, like how you are going to pay those bills, and how you are going to eat. Because soon, the day is coming with every local, county, state, and the federal government is going to have to face the COSTS of this CV-19 mess. The piper is going to be paid. You local taxes, your state taxes, and your federal taxes are going UP, and UP, and UP. One report said (Yesterday-CNBC) taxes at all levels are going to have to increase, and increase on everybody. One thing mentioned is the Real Estate Deduction now allowed on selling your home which allows you to just forget 250,000/500,00 (single/Married) if you make a profit, well that is gone. Now, you sell your home, and you will pay taxes on all the profit, you still can carry over the profit, but now you pay tax on that profit first. At 10% on a profit of 250K, that is $25,000. The tax rate with that is going to be at least 3-10%. That is not the only tax break disappearing, lots of things like the base on stock and bonds sales, that is going to go too. The current trade in allowance for vehicles also most likely will be gone on sales tax. You wont be able to deduct much in the future. So now, it’s your family, and the NFL, tell me truthfully, which is more important? And with the taxes going up, and politicians wanting public projects (not talking roads and infrastructure-although airports can wait-will be years before travel is back to normal, if it ever is), well guess what, they are coming to you for the money, so is an NFL team or the Atlanta Braves Baseball Team, or any sporting event a needed expense with the public medical/testing/hospitals situation. Which is more important to you. a good medical system, Not public heath or Medicare for all, just a good system? Or is the NFL/NBA/MLB and all the rest more important. DO you love your family more or less than the sporting events? Because you and all of us are going to make tough decisions soon about all public expenditures/taxes and how that money and who we elect to spend it.
You know Bonner, with your last post and now this one, I was really gonna read you the riot act. I erased it all. You are just. not. worth it…and I am truly sad for you.
Then again, Sink, we’re all entitled to our opinions and don’t have to agree with others’ opinions. Stay healthy. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Today’s survey question should have had one more choice. “Should the NFL Shutdown for good” so the young men can actually get a real job, with real down to earth pay, and learn what the rest of us do and how we live. Instead, they are paid an insane amounts of money to PERFORM, like trained dogs or lions, YES, I said PERFORM, because that is what they do. It’s entertainment, like a movie, but the costs of stadiums, which are paid for by you and me (and I wish I could dedicate my tax money for projects other that this), and then a few people at the top get millions of dollars in salary and the rest of society lives on the peanuts left over. If I was king, all public sporting events would have a top salary of minimum wage, ticket prices would be solely dedicated to build and maintain the outrageous stadiums built to house them. Organized sports players don’t contribute to society in any way, shape or form. And millions of dollars of public money is wasted supporting this venue. I can understand NASCAR, as that has some benefit as manufacturers test components and systems on those cars (although how many of those things actually make it into a new car is questionable), but in that contest you are watching a machine versus machine, with some driver intervention. I get horse racing, but again, public money wasted on the arenas. The little guy, like most of us, has to pay, and the big guy gets richer with little to no investment. If the NFL teams want stadiums, they should have to pay for it out of the billions of dollars they take in. It’s not like when Vince Lombardi was coaching, or Bart Starr was playing, then it was a game, now it just a business like Microsoft. I don’t want my tax dollars going to support organized sports, ban them all.
After Bonners comments l think I’ll go shoot myself.
I agree with most everything you say except NASCAR. I challenge anyone to name one functional or aerodynamic part on a Chevrolet/Ford/Toyota labeled race car that is from GM/Ford/Toyota.. Rousch may get free wind tunnel time or even cylinder head or intake manifold manufacturing help from Ford but those pieces will have been designed by other Rousch invested companies.
Everyday cars have benefited from racing throughout the car’s history. Examples range from rear-view mirrors (so racers could keep track of the competition behind them) to hydraulics and disc brakes as just a couple of examples.
I agree with Bonner…..Oh wait no I don’t, hey Bonner a little jealous? Boo hoo hoo. They get paid an insane amount of money? Whose fault is that? Do you think they have talent? Do you think you could do 1/4 of what they do? All I can say Bonner is get a life and worry about real things and not NFL players and their salaries. Boo hoo hoo.
“OK Bonner”
Wow, you must be fun at parties.
I enjoy following football but certainly not a rabid fan. As for the protests they have my support. The goal is to make our country a better place for all citizens. The word patriot has been corrupted. I’m support Kapernick (although he is a dope about other things) it should a country free for all opinions.
Decorated combat veteran.
The goal is to reach the goal line. Protests belong elsewhere. Decorated combat veteran.
Well said, John!
Agree with Will, don’t care if it ever starts. Have not watched nor will I watch a game since the total disrespect toward our great flag.