Issue 1362
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
“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow; but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Photography Day!
NEW FACEBOOK GROUP: RVing with a Disability
Did you see the news? Click here to read the latest issue of the Sunday News for RVers.
Tip of the Day
Protect your furnace vent from LP-sniffing bugs
By Russ and Tiña De Maris
Frustrated with a frigid RV furnace, our friend Joe tried everything he could. The thing refused to light and made odd noises. He’d switch it off, wait, and try to relight it. The final relight cycle was the culmination. A hearty “Kaboom!” retorted like a cannon shot.
After ascertaining that certain muscles in his body hadn’t failed him at a critical and embarrassing time, Joe hustled outdoors from whence the noise had come. Sure enough, on the ground around his furnace vent were the telltale remains of a mud dauber nest. The poor creature had built her nest and laid a precious egg in the RV’s furnace vent, only to be swiftly evicted. Read more.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
RV Electricity – This week’s J.A.M. (Just Ask Mike) Session
Another combo voltage and 3-light tester. Mike reviews another outlet tester, but this one is inexpensive and available over the counter.
• Join Mike’s Facebook group, RV Electricity.
• Read more of Mike’s articles here.
RV mods: Screen your engine for protection
Greg Illes was driving along the highway, enjoying the scenery, when suddenly a small flock of sparrows crossed his path. All escaped except for one, who had passed straight through the factory grill (in several pieces) and was distributed in a very messy fashion across two radiators and the hydraulic jack pump. Needless to say, it was a sad (and yucky) task to clean up, and it left him with a resolve to try to avoid a recurrence. Find out his quick (and attractive) fix to better protect his engine compartment. Learn more.
Reader poll
How often do you eat at a fast-food restaurant?
Tell us here.
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.
• DIRECTORY OF RV PARKS WITH STORM SHELTERS.
Quick Tip
Make sure your sealant is sealing
Check sealants around windows, doors and roof vents often. Sealant does “dry out,” and cracked sealant can lead not only to air leaks (making it harder to heat and cool your rig), but worse, can allow water in that can lead to expensive damage.
Random RV thought
When selecting a campsite in a campground with a looped layout, select a site on the inside of curves in the park road so headlights of passing vehicles won’t beam at you at night.
Website of the day
Why is the RV design so boring?
This article from Curbed asks: Why do all RVs look the same, and what are with those ugly “swoosh” decals on the sides? Read the article then let us know what you think about RV designs in the comments below.
Run your RV air conditioner with a small generator
When the temperature heats up and you’re boondocking with only a small portable generator for power, you’re out of luck running an air conditioner. That is, unless you have a SoftStartRV. It’s inexpensive, simple to install, and makes running your A/C possible. Learn more or order at a special discount.
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• Washing your RV when on the road.
• The RV Shrink: Co-op discombobulation: To invest or not to invest in an RV lot.
• Your navigation system should tell you more than just “Turn right here”.
#918F
Trivia
Think you’re good at quacking like a duck? If so, head to Stuttgart, Arkansas, where every year since 1936, during Thanksgiving week, they hold the Annual World Championship Duck Calling Contest. If you quack the best, you could win a prize package worth more than $15,000.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“This is Neko. His full name is Kuro Neko, which according to Google means black cat. Neko would usually wake me at 4:30 a.m. and just stare at me. Well, it took a little bit of nudging by him when I finally caught on to what he wanted. I had to walk over to his food and water bowl to watch him eat. I’m not sure if he was showing me his gratitude for having his bowls filled for him or if he just needed my approval for him to go ahead and eat. This was a ritual that happened every day. I became the happiest person the day he picked me. Sadly though Neko had cancer and had to be put down. He was 15 and gave me joy for 11 years of my life. There were many other things Neko would do, but I guess I would have to write a whole chapter on him.” — Gil
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.
Give your phone or tablet a full-sized keyboard
How neat is this? This tiny, collapsible Bluetooth keyboard connects to your phone and tablet so you can type comfortably. The 5-ounce palm-sized keyboard can be folded into your pocket or backpack to carry around. All you have to do is press “Connect” to quickly pair with your devices. Check it out here.
Leave here with a laugh
Gosh, it really rains cats and dogs in the springtime. I think I stepped in a poodle!
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Editor and Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Managing editor: Emily Woodbury. Senior editor: Diane McGovern. Social media director: Jessica Sarvis. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.
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I would much rather see color painted on the RV instead of graphics that peal off. Our Rexhall Aerbus graphics are peeling and it would have looked better if painted on. Plus rv parks consider white rv’s older and colorful rv’s newer and more acceptable in parks.
Sweet but sour story for Neko. Happy for your smiles, so sad for your loss. Certainly hard to endure. Thank you for sharing your story.
Before you decide to do anything which MAY obstruct or disrupt airflow to your engine radiator or oil cooler – read the owners manual In any case do NOT use window screen! The metal in the article above may be alright with larger openings – however it will still reduce the air flow. I also highly recommend you install a transmission temperature gauge. An overheated transmission requires an immediate fluid change. (REF: GM Chev. Rv manual).
Regarding Website of the Day; I personally don’t like the “swoosh” designs…just tired of them. Cheesy is what comes to mind. Lancecamper.com has come out with a Mountain Graphics design that is very attractive. But it’s all subjective.
On the “Screen your engine for protection” article, be aware that anything you put to stop bugs and birds from hitting your radiator will reduce the amount of air flow to the radiator(s) and may cause an engine/transmission overheating issue. Just keep an eye on your temperatures and you’ll be fine.
Long ago while discussing the tiny red spiders that get into the propane tiny burner parts he suggested a dog flea collar will keep everything away.i don’t know if it works but I’ve never had a problem since. About every 4 months I put a fresh one in, just open the grate and set it on the ledge.
Instead of taping over the furnace vents, I’ve been trying to find rubber caps/plugs/covers for my Espar Airtronic to keep out insects and dirt when the furnace is not needed. Still looking 🙁
If I give up the search, I’ll install the bug screens.
The problem with any pet is they leave too soon and take part of your heart.
Regarding RV design, I disagree with the author about RV ‘swoops’ and neutral color schemes. These vehicles are not ugly, in my view. The colors fit well in the nature environments they frequent, and the graceful lines break up the vast ‘canvas’ of those sides and slide out panels. What would be more ugly than a big bright yellow box parked in the trees, or worse, an RV park filled with a scattered patchwork of huge red, yellow, blue and green boxes? Yikes! I think the designs are just fine and one of the few styles that is NON-offensive on such a large, mobile object.
I totally agree with Tony. Love my swoops!
You can’t please everybody, I have grown tired of the swoops, but there are some classes other than class B that have designs other than swoops. Problem is most don’t want to pay for it. You can always order full body paint in white and have a unique design and/or color put on in the form of printed graphics or color using vinyl covering. Expensive but not as much as a full body painted design with no decals. There are some Super C high end models that are blackout in design. I wonder how they do in hot summer weather? If buying used, simply have it re-painted. Oh all these ideas cost money huh. Oh well back to the swoops….
“Stepped in a poodle.” A direct hit on my funny bone.
Don’t step in our poodle, you will get Shih tzu.
I love seeing all of the animal pictures but it upsets me to see the ones who have passed away.
Yes, it is very sad, Bob. But think of it as a tribute to the family’s beloved four-legged family member. —Diane at RVtravel.com
Mud daubers were a fact of my life, growing up in Phoenix, Arizona during the 1950’s. We did all we could to destroy them. On one occasion, I was dispatched by my father to burn out the nest growing in our dog kennel (My mother raised prized cocker spaniels.). I did that task as thoroughly as I could. Later, my dad got a phone call from the neighbor who lived behind us on the next street: our kennel was on fire! Turning on the water for the hose, I was able quickly to extinguish the blaze. in my desire to do the job thoroughly, I had nearly destroyed the shelter for my mom’s champion show dogs!