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Issue 1416
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
“I am a part of all that I have met.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Red Wine Day! Cheers!
On this day in history: 1898 – Caleb Bradham’s beverage “Brad’s Drink” is renamed “Pepsi-Cola”.
Tip of the Day
Do you really need solar panels on your RV?
By Jim Twamley
Many RVs sport solar panels, and they can be quite handy. On the other hand, solar panels aren’t inexpensive – although their prices are considerably lower than a few years ago – and so the question is whether you need them for your style of RVing.
Solar electric systems have been a part of the RV scene for several years and they are effective electric power producers. These systems use photovoltaic modules to turn sunlight into electricity. The good news is they are becoming more effective and less expensive as new technology continues to grow. Continue reading.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Stupid Tourist Questions. Ya gotta wonder…
There’s no such thing as a stupid question. Right? Well, yes there is, if you ask the National Park rangers who compiled this list of actual questions asked by park visitors. Read ’em and weep (tears from laughing so hard).
Yesterday’s featured article: Engine monitors: Drive with safety – and frugality
You may have missed these recent popular stories…
- Will moth balls repel mice from your RV? Here’s the verdict
- RV dealers are running out of RVs. Service centers are jammed
- Are you kidding? $400,000 for an RV site? Yup!
- Horrific blast wipes RV from face of the earth
Reader poll
How often do you go grocery shopping?
Roll your cart over and tell us here.
Quick Tip
Protect your leg from the hitch ball in the dark!
John Zinn has this tip for not banging into the hitch ball: “Wrap a length of glow in the dark tape to the cap to help avoid walking into it in the dark and limping away.” That idea beats having to wrap gauze around your leg after smacking into it in the dark! Thanks, John!
Mini dehumidifier removes moisture from RV
This mini dehumidifier from Pro Breeze quickly and efficiently removes moisture from the air. It is perfect for use in small areas like RVs. It extracts up to 9 ounces of moisture per day with a large 16-ounce capacity water tank that will automatically shut off when full. Very quiet, too. Learn more or order.
Website of the day
RV USA
Looking around for a new rig? Want to see what others are selling your same year and model for? RV USA lists more than 32,000 RVs for sale – new and used!
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.
Trivia
Did you know more than 42 million Americans, 14% of the U.S. population, go camping each year?
*If a standard pencil were to draw a straight line, how many miles could it go before it ran out of graphite?
A.) 12 miles
B.) 35 miles
C.) 65 miles
We told you in yesterday’s trivia.
2020 Casino Guide includes RVer info and coupons!
The 2020 American Casino Guide provides detailed information on more than 750 casino/resorts, riverboats and Indian casinos in 41 states including which have RV parks and/or allow RV overnighting for free. Includes maps and more than $1,000 in coupons. Discloses the actual slot machine payback percentages for every state’s casinos. Learn more or order.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“This is Arvie. Her name means people’s friend. As a Canine Good Citizen and Therapy dog in training she is a great friend of people. Did you get it? Her name is pronounced RV.” — Cherie Niederst
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
These are actual comments left on U. S. Forest Service registration sheets and comment cards by backpackers completing wilderness camping trips:
- “A small deer came into my camp and stole my bag of pickles. Is there a way I can get reimbursed? Please call.”
- “Escalators would help on steep uphill sections.”
- “Instead of a permit system or regulations, the Forest Service needs to reduce worldwide population growth to limit the number of visitors to wilderness.”
- “Trails need to be wider so people can walk while holding hands.”
- “Ban walking sticks in wilderness. Hikers that use walking sticks are more likely to chase animals.”
- “All the mile markers are missing this year.”
- “Found a smoldering cigarette left by a horse.”
- “Trails need to be reconstructed. Please avoid building trails that go uphill.”
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
I put a hitch receiver on my travel trailer bumper, and lock my receiver in it when I unhook. I hated having it in my truck, so this gave it a good home when not in use.
I mounted a bolt on receiver for a 4 inch bumper to the trailer tongue. When we unhitch the hitch gets stowed in that receiver.
I saw the picture of Pet of the Day!
It brought Tears to my eyes.
I had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Tricolor name Smokey.
He passed away in 2010.
We miss him so much!
Thank you for the picture!
God Bless
Stephen Durrett, Sorry to hear that. Our Tricolor Daisy passed and will always be missed and loved. Arvie doesn’t change sadness from our loss but, adds tremendous joy and love to our lives. Thank you for sharing. I’ll give Arvie and extra hug for you.
I leave a hitch in at all times and never use it! I pull a 5er. Once a Prius impaled itself on the hitch and never even scratched the bumper I knew it was a winner. Truck at least one, dummies at least minus 1.
Arvie is absolutely ADORABLE!!
Thank you. She is a wonderful companion. It’s amazing how working with her just 5 minutes, twice a day can result in lots of positive behaviors. The picture was taken in my office while she was sleeping on a giant teddy bear.
The tourist question about why they built the ruins so close to the road cracked me up. Reminded me of another traveler calling the highway department and asking them
if they could move the deer crossing farther down the road.
You’d be surprised how leaving the hitch on my truck has saved dents in the bumper and maybe the quarter panels. Its a standard hitch with a 10″ drop. Just right for a car to hit. You get used to walking around it. By the way, I have an anti rattle clamp on in that makes it difficult to remove.
And speaking of stupid, the Tuesday newsletter included this: people who read this publication answered a poll about life in the universe and “22 percent believe that we’re the only intelligent life in the Universe.”
When you consider there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 BILLION stars in our galaxy and around 200 BILLION galaxies in the universe (recent research says maybe as many as a trillion) how stupid are people to think we are the only intelligent life (and that’s debatable given what we’re doing to our planet).
With elements randomly distributed in the universe it is virtually impossible that our planet is the only one in the many, many trillions of planets where natural selection during the 13.8 BILLION years of existence, has produced sentient beings yet 1 out of 5 readers think we are alone. Now THAT’S stupid.
i have always felt that the reason we have never been visited by aliens is because they did a flyby and detected no intelligent life. So they moved on. 🙂
Hitch ball ? I take mine off and stow it in the truck.
Quick Tip.
Why not just remove the hitch ball and place it in the back of the truck when not in use, after all it is not a hazard when it’s not in use if it is in its proper place.
Just my opinion, I am OCD about these things. Just saying.
The idea for the can on the hitch ball is not bad. I guess it’s so you remember where the whole hitch is, because it’s not the ball that ‘hurts’ you, it’s the hitch itself. I think I’m going to try this.
Arvie is cute as can be. I disliked grocery shopping even before this **** event. [Bleeped by Diane at RVtravel.com.]
Over 180,000 dead doesn’t sound fake to me.
Yesterday I heard the real deaths from the virus CDC figures 9863 deaths, These deaths are people without other complications, just covid on their death certificates
It’s not fake Deborah, just ask the Chinese who turned it loose on us and the world. Funny we lose 100k + to the flu every year and we have flu shots, so I can not see how a vaccine is gonna stop the Chinese Covid. It won’t. Just like the flu, let it run it’s course and move on. No vaccine shot for me. Hey, I’ve been reading on here in various comments sections about population control, well here’s their answer, CC!
I wake early most every day and read this news. Soon to retire to more time in our 5’er to more road trips. Nice job on all the content here, keep it coming.
Solar Panels: I never plan to boondock and never have, but I have found it very helpful to have a solar panel installed. We live in our RV about half the year, three months in the winter and three months in the summer. So, it goes into storage in the spring and fall. Since we travel mostly in the west, we end up storing it out west and flying home to the midwest. To insure that the batteries are well maintained I installed a 200 watt solar panel and a dual output charge controller to keep both the house and chassis batteries charged. It works great. I haven’t had any battery issues since I installed solar two years ago.
I installed 200 watts and use them mostly to run two temperature controlled exhaust fans in the summer. On cloudy days, the fans don’t turn on so the battery doesn’t get depleted. It’s hard to tell how much difference it makes, but I think 10-15 degrees at midday.
Where can you find a place to install this small a unit? I have checked with 4 solar outlets and the cheapest was little over
3000 dollars and it was more than the 200 watts. I would just use it to keep the batteries charged while parking to keep it from going completely dead. I am a little old to do it myself like I did with my Class C 15 years ago,