Issue 1364
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.
If you shop at Amazon, please visit through our affiliate site or https://rvtravel.com/amazon (we get a little commission that way – and you don’t pay any extra). Thank you!
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Today’s thought
“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Eat Your Vegetables Day!
Tip of the Day
RV Education 101: Easily enlarge outdoor living space
With Mark Polk
RV EDUCATION 101®
An RV patio mat is a nice accessory to extend your outdoor living space. When you purchase a patio mat, measure the length of your awning and buy a patio mat that covers that same amount of space.
ONLINE TRAINING COURSES BY MARK POLK
• RV Campground Basics E-book Course
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
BOONDOCKING THIS SUMMER? Run your RV air conditioner with a small portable generator. Learn more.
Beware your RV slideout
You may not have thought about it, but that slideout on your RV that makes your living space so roomy can also be your enemy. Find out why in this short video from RVtravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury.
Yesterday’s featured article: “Easy-lube”-ing your RV axle bearings? Take note!
Reader poll
From these options, select where you’d most like to camp for a week…
Click here to see the options and vote.
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.
Did you buy a lemon RV? Here’s more about RV lemons and lawyers who will represent you if you need help.
SECRET PHRASE: Farmer Elmer was in love with Betty, his beautiful piglet.
Quick Tip
Handy leveling tools
Got levels? Having bubble levels on the side and front or rear of your rig make it easier to level up when you’re setting up. Or use a small “torpedo” level. With your rig known to be level, see if your storage bay trim or windows are also level. If they are, you can use a torpedo level lined up on the trim anywhere it’s convenient.
Fireproof bag keeps valuables safe!
This silicone-coated fire-resistant bag will save your money, documents, jewelry, passport and other valuables from a fire. Its two layers of supreme fire retardant fiberglass material make it resist fire and heat up to 1000 ℉. It’s waterproof, too, so when the hoses arrive, your valuables won’t be harmed. Learn more or order.
Random RV thought
An excellent thing about traveling in your RV is that you know who slept in your bed the night before. And the night before that. You don’t know that in a hotel and, really, you may not want to know.
Will your RV generator backfeed power and kill someone?
Find out in this excellent article by RV Electricity expert, Mike Sokol.
Website of the day
The best rest stops in America
Don’t just stop for gas and keep going – explore these 8 amazing rest stops across the U.S. Some have movie theaters, others have museums, and one even has mini golf.
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• 13 surprising ways to use Windex
• RV Shrink: Teamwork important during “senior moments.”
• RV Doctor: Do’s and don’ts for storing your RV.
#919F
Dirty contacts? DeoxIT!
Here’s a comment from electrical specialist, Mike Sokol: “I’ve used DeoxIT for decades on my pro-sound gear. We use it on speaker connectors, power connectors such as cam-lok and twist-lock plugs (just like RV power), volume controls, gold-plated circuit boards (like in RV refrigerator control boards), etc. There are several different versions of DeoxIT depending on if you want built-in lubricant for potentiometers, or gold contact refurbishing or simply oxidation removal.” Learn more or order.
Trivia
Want to see a tree whose seeds have been in outer space? You can! When astronaut Stuart Roosa orbited around the moon during the Apollo 14 mission in 1971, he brought along hundreds of seeds from several different kinds of trees. When he returned to Earth, he planted those seeds in the U.S. and around the world. The trees that grew are known as “Moon trees” and you can see where they all are on this list.
*Yesterday we told you about the first-ever TV commercial. Can you guess what it was and when it aired? If you can’t, look at yesterday’s trivia here.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“Aki is now 13 years old and is still a character and mischievous. She sometimes ‘demands’ attention. When we sit at the kitchen table she will often ‘parade’ by holding one of my hats or socks. But, when visitors are over, she will only parade by with a piece of my wife’s underwear. It has happened so often we know that she understands the difference, and my wife swears that Aki must have created some secret stash as she never fails to find something ’embarrassing.’ Lucky for us, the vet just said she is in exceptional health for her age.” — Joseph Weinstein
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
If there’s H20 on the inside of a fire hydrant, what’s on the outside?
K9P
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
Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. 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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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
Just drove from Florida to Colorado the last week and was wondering if anyone is having a problem with hose nozzles when filling your diesel tanks. Been doing this two years with no problem. When
starting to fuel I get a back splash – I adjust the nozzle in the tank receptacle a number of times with
no luck. If I try the “stay” lever the flow of fuel stops immediately. The only way to get the fuel to continue flowing is to start the fuel handle really really slow and then hold it on which takes 25-30 minutes to fill the tank. I asked the attendant if they had changed nozzles – no comment except they said only a few RVers had mentioned a similar problem. Had the problem at Loves. Any comments?
If you fuel at truck stops .. they have high flow fuel pressure to fill the big rigs quickly. Try the car fill pumps.
I have that same problem with my class B in warm weather (above 80 or there about), it is more prevalent with lower gauge readings. If you start fueling slowly, put your hand near the opening, you will feel hot air coming out of the tank. The cooler fuel (coming from the under ground tank) is driving out the warmer air, that is what is triggering the automatic shutoff. Depending on how hot it is, you may be able to “set” the nozzle when your tank is about half full. That is what I have observed. In cold weather I do not have that problem.
looking for An RV patio mat. In the Northwest it needs to be able to repel rain. Does anyone have any suggestions
Amazon has a choice. I am from Beautiful Southern Oregon and no problems.
We got ours from, YOUR local store, Amazon. 😊 It is made of woven plastic strips, rather than fabric. Water goes right thru it without absorbing a bit of it. It is light weight and folds up easily for storage. Looks great too, coming in a variety of color schemes.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083LIKU0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Amazon
Before mounting stick on levels on your rig make sure the unit itself is level. Place a measuring cup or another water container that has even markings all the way around about half to three quarters full on the floor of the unit. Don’t use the table or galley counter as they may not be level. Once the unit is really level, then carefully mount the stick on levels.
Better yet, when absolutely 100% provably level, screw a construction-quality level somewhere in your unit. Left to right and another one front to back.
Tools geared towards professional constructors is always best. You can find small ones at your favorite home improvement store. You’re in there anyway, for something…..right?!
Is your theory a better quality bubble level than the stick-ons appear to be, or for secure mounting? All my stick-on levels also have screw holes if you so chose… I put levels in multiple locations I might want to see them, solvent-epoxied to the tongue and screwed to the body.
We cannot recommend one of the places in the “best rest stops” article, at least not for RVers. The Jubitz Truck Stop and Travel Center in Portland, OR has been reported to us as VERY RV-Unfriendly. IN January 2017, the truck stop fuel desk gave one of our subscribers permission to park for up to 24 hours, but at 2 AM, company security rousted him out AM and evicted him from property, rudely and with profanity. We’ve also been told by RVers that many off the staff here were “rude & condescending:, that the showers had mildew, and there were what appeared to be drug deals happening in the parking lot. The location may be better for auto travelers, but http://www.OvernightRVParking.com cannot recommend this location to RVers.
RV’ers need to know that there is a whole different world at truck stops. Drug deals, {bleeped} for sale. It has been that way for years. I only get gas at them and don’t plan on using them at night. Plus they are extremely noisy and moving 24/7.
Love today’s laugh. Thanks.
The best humor is almost always based in Truths.
And this one made me LOL….because it’s so true!
The “unsafe link” warning is back.
I got it too.
Now, I see the email in my Inbox and go straight to my browser favorites instead.
Thanks for the best rest stops link. As a result I found “Moon Trees”, trees grown from seeds that orbited the moon in a 1971 Apollo mission, brought back to earth, sprouted and transplanted across the country and around the world. I’ve now added the Moon Trees to my bucket lisi. My dad worked on the early rocket engines that eventually put man on the moon. I post this from Roan Mountain on the Tennessee – North Carolina boarder. We’re camped in amongst the trees, rain dripping on the roof from the branches, enjoying the morning birds and the sound of a gentle brook flowing from the mountain side far above us. Weather permitting, we will take a short trip up to the Blue Ridge and Tanawa trail to hike up to an abandoned homestead and a one of a kind apple tree to check on its condition.