Issue 1348
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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Page Contents
Today’s thought
“But luxury has never appealed to me, I like simple things, books, being alone, or with somebody who understands.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Paper Airplane Day!
Tip of the Day
Why monitoring your tires is super important
By Russ and Tiña De Maris
One of the simplest and yet most critical RV maintenance issues is that of checking tire pressure. No matter how high or low the price of gas or diesel is, we all can stand to see less of the fuel pump. By keeping your RV and tow vehicle tires inflated properly, you can gain as much as a whopping mile per gallon in fuel economy.
But a lot more is at stake: Under-inflation is a leading cause of RV tire failure. An under-inflated tire is a tire that will run hot. Running hot leads to dramatic expansion, and sidewall blowouts often result. Tires are expensive, but losing control and blasting your motorhome into oncoming traffic can just ruin your whole day. Continue reading.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
RV through the parks that built America
As the opportunity to travel begins to open up again (whew!) and daytime exploring becomes possible, point your RV’s GPS toward some of America’s lesser-known national parks, the ones that tell a story of what it means to be “made in America.” There is nothing more special than America’s national parks. Each of the 417 national parks tells a story of America’s history, innovation, ingenuity, adventure, accomplishment, triumph or tragedy. Learn more.
Yesterday’s featured article: When did you last see the Milky Way?
Reader poll
Do you have a bad habit?
Please vote here (we won’t tell anyone, we promise).
Quick Tip
Organizing “stuff”
Limited space in your RV’s bedroom? Where to keep all that “pocket junk” men have to carry (because “real men” don’t carry a purse)? Try a small plastic tray where you can dump your keys, wallet, sunglasses, etc. Bigger stuff, like iPad, water bottle, book? Just use a bigger plastic tray.
Random RV Thought
Mosquitoes are starting to make their appearance for the season. This is the time of year you wish all the walls in your RV were white so you could see where they land. The darned things blend right into wood walls in RVs!
Endorsed by Roger Marble of RVtireSafety.net!
An excellent tire pressure gauge
The Accutire MS-4021B digital tire pressure gauge has an easy-to-read LCD display that provides pressure readings from 5-150 PSI. It’s ergonomically designed with an angled head and a rubber-coated easy-grip handle. If you forget to turn off the gauge, don’t worry, it will automatically shut off. And all this for about $12! Learn more or order.
Website of the day
The great American fried chicken roadmap
Mmmmm… Can’t you just smell it? It might not be the healthiest meal, but fried chicken is a staple in American cuisine. Take a look at this roadmap of the best fried chicken in every major city. We’ll bet you’ll drool…
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:
• 66 percent did not inspect their RV’s roof before buying it
• 6 percent speak two languages fluently
Trivia
Valles Marineris, a canyon on Mars, would stretch from Los Angeles to the Atlantic coast if it were on Earth. Take a look at it here.
*Why can no sound be heard on the moon? We told you in yesterday’s newsletter.
Stop rust and corrosion in its tracks!
Of the many gremlins that attack your RV —like mold, mildew, leaks and black streaks — rust will attack your hand tools, spare parts, door hinges & other vulnerable metal surfaces & moving parts over time. STA-BIL® Rust Stopper prevents rust & corrosion by protecting metal surfaces with a long-lasting barrier while lubricating parts & tools to stop squeaks & sticking. Learn more.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“This is Emma, our Boxer rescue. This photo is a couple of years old, and she’s getting more gray in the face now as she is 15 this month. She’s a great companion and makes us laugh a lot. For some reason, she loves to eat Kleenex or toilet paper, and will gently pull several feet of paper off the roll and leave it for us to roll back up. Not quite as funny when TP was really scarce.” — Warren & Carolyn Gress, Parker, CO
Send us a photo of your pet with a short description. We publish one each weekday in RV Daily Tips and in our Saturday RV Travel newsletter.
Leave here with a laugh
A police officer near Corpus Christi, Texas, had a perfect hiding place for watching for speeding cars and RVs. But one day, everyone was under the speed limit, and the officer soon learned why: A 10-year-old boy was standing up the road a quarter mile with a large hand-painted sign that read “RADAR TRAP AHEAD.” A little more investigative work led the officer to the boy’s accomplice, another 10-year old boy about 100 yards beyond the radar trap with a sign that read “TIPS.” At his feet was a bucketful of change.
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com. UPDATED HOURLY!
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Free Overnight RV parking on private property
Make new friends and sleep soundly at friendly hosts who invite you to spend a night (or longer) in your RV on their private property. Learn more about Boondockers Welcome.
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RV Daily Tips Staff
Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. 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
Hi Chuck
We are brand new Full time RVers
Looking to get full time insurance
Any recommendations?
Looking at Good Sam or Progresive
Avoid anything Bad Sam.
Speaking of interesting travel pets, at Lk. Havasu this February we camped next to a family who had a rescue chicken who had been around the country with them for the past two years.
I have 4 cats that travel with us in our rv . One cat named M stays on the dash the entire trip, watches all the cars an trucks go by. He loves traveling.
I took a look at the Valles Marineris, a canyon on Mars & was amazed that it looked exactly like the picture my ortho doctor took when I had shoulder surgery.
Question for Chuck or anyone else with first hand knowledge: Been reading that FMCA is in financial straits as are alot of other business and individuals. Will their roadside assistance program still exist if FMCA goes belly up????
RE: Emma the bulldog. We also have a tissue and TP lover. Our 8 month old dachshund Shiloh learned that trick early on! We have to make sure the bathroom door is closed and it has taught us to trash tissues and paper towels.
Emma looks like a sweetheart, easy to fall in love with that face.
About having white walls to see mosquitoes: Many years ago we had a small sailboat. About sunset we would go below and put up the screens, but there would always be some mosquitoes that got in, which we would swat. In the morning light we would see that the white walls were covered with red splotches.
About your random thought…
Because our coach is quite old and some inside wall sections that have replaced with white FRP that has not yet been recovered, I try not to swat mosquitoes there if I don’t have time to clean it up right away. It is very difficult to get it clean later.
I love seeing all the dogs but what about all the other pets that travel too? Can you mix it up a bit or did you only receive dog photos? If that is all you received I will resend my photos of my cat Cooper. Not complaining, just asking….
Hi, Caren! Thanks for asking! We got hundreds of pet photo submissions. I (Emily) am slowly working my way through them. It’s just coincidence that we’ve featured more dogs than cats lately (or other pets), but I assure you, they’ll all have their fair shot of being featured (Cooper too!). Keep an eye out! –Emily, RVtravel.com
RV Travel Staff,
Thanks for the pet photo addition- I’ll bet it brightens everyone’s day.
Have to disagree on the Accutire MS-4021B Digital Tire Gauge. The article above states ” The included lithium battery never needs to be recharged or replaced.”
I bought one in Dec 2017, it is a bit awkward at timeout es, but seemed to work fine until last week when the read out showed “LO” and turned off. Apparently the battery does need to be replaced.
Going to the manufactures description: “Replaceable battery included.”
Suggest you modify the wording of the article – and for me, I am going back to the old fashioned mechanical ‘pencil’ tire pressure gauge.
Good luck trying to remember to check the pressure!
Change batteries instead!
Its a tire gage, not a system that monotors your tire pressure, though I could be wrong!
Most of the recommendations in this newsletter are spot on but the Accutire Digital Tire Gauge is a poor recommendation in my opinion. I owned one but found it lacking. For about $20 on Amazon you can buy a digital gauge with the more traditional long stem (great for checking dualies) that is all metal, backlit and even has a built-in pen light so you can locate the valve stem in low light. Here’s a link to an example (using RVtravel’s affiliate link of course): https://is.gd/J7oiM9
Thanks, Chuck! We were using the description that was previously posted on the Amazon page, which has since been modified and we hadn’t noticed. We updated the wording in the ad. Thank you for calling this to our attention! Have a great day. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
My husband retired law enforcement loved the joke of the day.😊
i loved it! neat that the kids thought ahead to collect tips!
Regarding the best dried chicken: Thunderbirds Restaurant outside east entrance of Zion. Oh my goodness! Also their Ho-made pies are great and their breakfasts. Oh and their ribs too. 😋. 5 am and I am making myself very hungry.
Ho’s make the pie’s, I don’t think I want any!
😂
Haha they are Ho-made because he didn’t have enough wood to write homemade on his sign.
Need to edit that to FRIED because it is definitely not dried.
Linda,
Personally I like your spelling and word usage- it made me smile.
Love the T-Bird, never had a bad meal there, make sure to stop every time we are on Hwy. 89 going either direction. Just wish I could keep Wife out of the gift shop.