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Issue 1415
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
“The past beats inside me like a second heart.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Just Because Day.
On this day in history: 1859 – Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania, leading to the world’s first commercially successful oil well.
If you are a member of an RV club or are affiliated with an RV-related event would you please let us know if its gatherings, meetings, etc., are cancelled or postponed because of the coronavirus? We’ll pass along the info to our readers. We appreciate any news related to RVing that’s being affected by the virus. Please submit it here. Thank you!
Tip of the Day
Ten tips for proper hydration
We need water. But many of us do not drink enough of it, which is bad for our health. Here are some tips about how much water you should drink.
1. Drink about eight 8-ounce servings of water each day. The more active you are, the more water you need to replenish lost fluids.
2. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink water. By the time you feel thirsty, you have probably already lost two or more cups of your total body water composition. Continue reading.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Engine monitors: Drive with safety – and frugality
The On-Board Diagnostic port, or OBD-II interface to the engine electronics, allows access to a host of engine parameters, from water temperature to fuel flow and other critical operating numbers. It also reads the check engine light fault codes that help mechanics diagnose engine troubles. These “engine monitors” do exactly that, but why would anyone want to look at OBD information as long as their engine is in good health? There are a few good reasons.
Yesterday’s featured article: Why would you want a composting toilet?
Reader poll
Would you rather camp far from other people or closer like in a public campground?
Tell us here.
NEW FACEBOOK GROUPS: RVing Route 66 • California RV Travel
Quick Tip
Take care of awnings when it rains
RVer Christy has an electrically operated RV awning. She cautiously loosens the handle on one end of the awning to lower an arm to tilt the awning when rain threatens. After that, she sticks a piece of painter’s masking tape over the switch as a reminder not to roll in the awning until she’s readjusted the awning arm. Thanks, Christy!
If you’re looking for a new book, check out this hilarious one about the informal history of the family road trip. Read about it here.
Website of the day
My Scenic Drives
Easily locate pretty much every scenic drive around the USA. A map shows the route. Plus learn about side trips, hikes and hotels (in case you don’t have your RV along).
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:
• 72 percent have bought new tires within the last four years
• 34 percent subscribe to a satellite TV service while RVing
• 5 percent have bought something online, after having one too many alcoholic beverages, that they later regretted.
Recent poll: How important to you are online rankings of an RV park when making a reservation? Tell us here, please.
Trivia
The average pencil has enough graphite to write 45,000 words or draw a straight line for 35 miles. That’s a long line!
*What cheese is the most consumed worldwide?
A.) Cheddar
B.) Mozzarella
C.) Parmesan
We told you yesterday.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
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.
Two new guides to free campgrounds
Roundabout Publications has teamed up with the Ultimate Public Campground Project on these two new guides. Discover thousands of designated camping areas in the West and in America’s Heartland – real places – not big box store parking lots. Included are areas managed by various governmental agencies. Learn more about the West edition or Heartland edition.
Leave here with a laugh
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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
I would LOVE it if bloggers would stop trying to convince people to be boondockers please!!!
Especially now that more folks want to go on vacation in an RV but have NO clue as to knowing what “Leave no trace” actually means 🙁
We will soon be locked out of dispersed camping areas 🙁
Thanks for NOT talking about it 🙂
Merrily
Christine Summers was a truck driver talking to her husband on her headset, when she told him she thought she may have hit someone. She was on I59/20 in Birmingham, Al. Apparently she stopped to check, and that was the last stop she made. Someone beat her to death. There have been several of these interstate deaths reported lately. Word is that drivers are being targeted. Apparently these people are throwing something at the trucks, making the driver think they have hit something or someone. If that driver gets out of his or her truck to check, then they may not get back in. And it’s not just in Alabama. It happened in Texas yesterday. Only the driver was shot, and then crashed his truck.
Drivers, please be aware of your surroundings. Vehicle drivers, be aware also. DO NOT EXIT YOUR TRUCK or VEHICLE. Call 911.
The reason I posted this was because many times when they target truck drivers they also target us in RVs so be aware out there.
Re: funny family road trips..1948 my family of 6 drove from Calif. to Ill. to see grandparents. Across the Salt Lake my dad was driving, me in the middle, 1 boy next to the window..behind him, my mom, middle another boy, window another boy..with 3 boys they carried a qt jar for “emergency” use. The backseat boys used it and passed it on to the front seat boy, who said “what do I do with it?” Windows were all down because it was HOT, 2 lane highway , no cars in sight..my mom said hang on to the jar and throw it out the window..And so he did..WELL, the urine went out the front window and in the back window, all over my mom..My dad laughed so hard he had to stop, finally got mom cleaned up and dry and began again..Still cracks me up thinking of it 72 years later..
ABSOLUTELY Love the Trivia facts of the site also valuable tips and facts..
I am pleased that Laura was not Harvey or Katrina.
You and I both..
I quit answering surveys because they never seem to load.
I’m using a laptop.
I don’t think the surveys are the problem; I answer them almost daily, also on a laptop.Might it be a slow connection or limited bandwidth? (Just guessing here…..)
Go into your browser settings and perform a ‘clear cache’. This will likely solve your poll problem.
I would venture 6% know how clear their cache.
My wife clears my cash all the time.
I think you are right!
You are not alone. I have found that I have to wait a full ten minutes for the poll to load. I open the newsletter, scroll right to the poll, open it, return to the newsletter and open it in another screen. Around the time I am finished reading the newsletter, the poll appears. I have tried every other suggestion given and even had my programmer son look over my settings. He has no idea why it takes so long. I have a mac and he’s not a mac fan so he’s wondering if that is the issue.
For what it’s worth, we just sat out the hurricane that was ‘supposed to’ wash Houston away. We prepared by putting all our outside stuff (chairs, BBQ,etc) in our truck, laid in a supply of food, filled our water tank, and a few other things. Then prepared for the worst. I tell people we’re earthquake and wildfire people from up near Reno. Hurricanes are totally new to us.This was going to be our first hurricane.
But, the forecast kept changing and in the end we didn’t get a drop of rain, no detectable wind, and it turned out to be a non-event here. Thank goodness!
Many folks cleared out of our RV park, either taking their truck and trailer, or just their truck, and going somewhere. Many motorhomes took off, but will be back.
We’re here for medical reasons and I have doctor appointments to make, so just picking up and leaving (to who knows where . . .) was pretty much out of the question.
I just never dreamed Laura would turn out to be a non-event!
It turned out to be a non-event for YOU, thank goodness! However, not too far to your east, it is very bad! People who did not evacuate RV parks surely would have really regretted it.
Oh I know! We were totally lucky on this one. I’m not downplaying other’s experience, believe me.
You are just Lucky. Living in Miami is a hit or miss. Hurricane Andrew several years ago was a total devastation to many and there are still this day people living in trailers on land where their home was blown away. It took many years to get over that storm. If there is a storm get out fast way before the public clog up the streets and Xways.
Being born and raised in hurricane country, I always recommend error on the side of caution. This time it turned out great, but as you said, forecasts keep changing, and although the technology is much improved it is mother nature you are dealing with, and no one on this earth can predict exactly what mother nature will do. Word to the wise, if there is an evacuation order in place and you are in an RV especially, get out in time. First Responders can’t come help in the middle of an hurricane…..
I totally agree, Rory. There were no evacuation notices issued in our area. If there had been, we probably would have left town, even though we have no idea where we would go. “Away” to somewhere. . .
If we are not in the coach or RV park, we retract the awning. Last week-end, we were in Northern GA, rain storm came up and one Big Rig had it’s awning destroyed. It even had a wind speed sensor, still destroyed.
I would prefer a little more distance than most campgrounds permit but I also enjoy meeting new people, so I guess I am a little hard to please 😅
We are Glampers so we like what public parks have to offer.