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Issue 1419
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
“It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing your whole life.” — Mickey Mantle
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Blueberry Popsicle Day!
On this day in history: 1912 – Arthur Rose Eldred is awarded the first Eagle Scout award of the Boy Scouts of America.
Tip of the Day
RV weight ratings – What’s the “weakest link in the chain”?
With Mark Polk
RV EDUCATION 101®
Weight ratings are established by the manufacturer, and are based on the weakest link in the chain. The suspension system, tires, wheels, brakes, axles, and the RV itself all have weight ratings. When you exceed a weight rating you are overloading one or more components on the RV, and risk wearing the component out, or complete failure of the component. In many cases, the tires on your RV are the weakest link. The more you understand about RV weight ratings, the safer you will be getting to your destination.
ONLINE TRAINING COURSES BY MARK POLK
• Tow Your Travel Trailer Like a Pro
• Tow Your 5th Wheel Like a Pro
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
“Dew” away with mildew!
Chris Dougherty, certified RV technician, received a letter from a reader while he was serving as RVtravel.com’s technical editor regarding ongoing musty smells in a trailer stored during the winter in Florida, despite the owner’s attempts to prevent mildew. Read Chris’ advice.
Yesterday’s featured article: Museum putty keeps objects in place in your RV
Reader poll
Do you wear a mask in public?
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.
Did you buy a lemon RV? Here’s more about RV lemons and lawyers who will represent you if you need help.
Quick Tip
No faucet sprayer? Try this
RVs in the low/medium-priced range may not have any type of flexible sprayer on the kitchen sink. Replacing the faucet with a unit that contains a sprayer built in to the faucet head is an excellent method for solving the sprayer issue. Purchase one at your local hardware. Since the fittings are standard (like a house), it’s an easy replacement. Thanks to Ron Jones, AboutRVing.com.
Save your teeth, get that corn off the cob!
Nobody likes eating corn on the cob with a group of people, only to find out later they’ve got half the corn still stuck in their teeth. Not to mention, for some of us it’s hard to hold the whole cob, and it hurts our teeth! This easy-to-use corn stripper takes all the corn off the cob in one easy gesture – your hands and teeth will thank you! Easy to clean and dishwasher safe. Order here for a great price.
SWELL CONTEST OF THE DAY
How would you like to win these Emergency Road Flares? Well, this might be your lucky day! In last Wednesday’s Beginner’s Guide to RVing Newsletter we published a secret phrase. Simply email the phrase to us at RVcontests@gmail.com . We’ll select a winner at random out of all entries we receive today (September 2, 2020) by 11 a.m. Pacific time. Remember, you can only enter once and after we notify you by email that you’ve won, you have 24 hours to respond or we’ll give the prize to someone else.
Website of the day
50 survival tips and tricks for the outdoors
The link says it all! Visit this page (and explore the rest of the website while you’re at it) to learn the best tips about surviving in the wilderness. Lots of stuff here will come in handy!
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• Really? This fifth wheel setup is bizarre and dangerous.
• The “wildest” RV we’ve ever “spotted”!
• RV Doctor: Short-term solution to prevent holding tanks from freezing.
#930-1
Trivia
The next time you eat a cracker, notice the holes all over it. They’re there for a reason. The holes in a cracker allow the steam to escape, keeping them flat and crunchy, otherwise they’d puff up like a biscuit!
*September is National Classical Music Month. What else is it? We told you in yesterday’s trivia.
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.
Keep your pets safe in an emergency
Do you worry about what would happen to your pets if you had an emergency and you couldn’t get back to them? This Pet Alert sticker, wallet card, and keychain set is a necessity for all pet owners. It informs first responders you have pets at home. On the sticker, check off how many pets you have and stick it on your car or RV window. Also included: a keychain and wallet cards, in case you are hurt and can’t talk. Learn more or order.
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
Under the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment and U.S. Supreme Court decisions over nearly 200 years, state governments have the primary authority to control the spread of dangerous diseases within their jurisdictions. The 10th Amendment, which gives states all powers not specifically given to the federal government, allows them the authority to take public health emergency actions, such as setting quarantines and business restrictions.
Unless you live in Michigan where we have a new hitler who loves executive orders and has pretty much told us its ok to leave our homes but not ok to do anything else. Which is why we are recalling her and her 1945 law that we thought was repealed long ago. Good riddance to bad rubbish in this state.
…what if it’s springtime 2021 and we wish we were back in the “good ole days” of 2020?
Since viruses can get into the eyes, how many of you are wearing goggles?
I have to admit, I had an medical procedure and wore a highly rated face mask as well as goggles. This included having to navigate riding an elevator with others, the waiting room and then of course the procedure with both doctor and attendant. Since we are learning more about indoor air circulation of viruses, I accepted the shame and embarrassment, with the realization that I was doing everything I could to avoid infection.
I wear “safety eyeglasses side shields” over the sides of a backup pair of glasses when in stores.
https://amazon.com/Glasses-Shields-Flexible-Eyeglasses-Medium/dp/B085Q4Q3DK/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1
It doesn’t fully cover like a pair of googles but at a minimum it prevents me from touching my eyes!
If I had to go someplace where people weren’t wearing masks or social distancing, I’d wear goggles or a face shield. If I had to go to the dentist, I’d wear goggles.
Not goggles but a full face shield. Since I wear glasses, goggles can be uncomfortable. The face shield does the job and doesn’t restrict my vision. I wasn’t fond of wearing a helmet on my motorcycle, didn’t really appreciate finding out that my smoking was bad for my health so I needed to quit. But I really like my life and I’d like to spend a little more time enjoying it. I don’t think the mask with or without the face shield looks as dorky as a motorcycle helmet…and doesn’t give me helmet hair.
Masks? I’ve been wearing steel toed work boots for 40 years, eye-pro when needed,ear-pro when needed, hard hat when needed, welding hood, etc.
Mask is no big deal.
Don’t confuse inconvenience for oppression.
This is for Journey7120….your feral cat picture is perfect! I can feel the warmth! Tell me, please, about the “feral” part of the story. We often encounter stray cats in campgrounds and it breaks my heart to leave them behind. Can’t help thinking they may have been RV cats who were lost. We are Currently camp hosting in North Dakota where there is one stray who is so thin I cannot see how she will survive the winter. Would you share the background on how you convinced your cat to come “inside”? TIA.
Where in North Dakota?
The CDC put out on March 11, 2020 that the CV19 was down graded to the common cold. The total world wide deaths were 9,500 and those who did die had 2or more other medical conditions.
I have a Precious, she is a Border Collie and she definitely lives up to her name. Sweet cat.
Just read new CDC report that only 6% of Chinese Covid deaths were due to covid ONLY. 94% had 2-3 underlying health conditions that contributed to death. And we locked down a country for that!
We did it to protect the huge number of Americans that are:
over 60,
overweight,
have high blood pressure,
Type 1 or 2 diabetes,
various other conditions,
smoke,
etc, etc.
Look up a chart showing excess deaths this year compared to the average deaths each month.
Plus, lots of people that don’t tie, have major problems during and afterwards! The media minimizes this and focuses only on deaths.
That statistic was spread by QAnon, is false, and was debunked by CDC. The 94% would not have died if they hadn’t gotten the virus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci on GMA, Sept. 1: “The point that the CDC was trying to make was that a certain percentage of them had nothing else, just COVID. That does not mean that someone who has hypertension, diabetes who dies of COVID didn’t die of COVID-19, but they did,” he said. “So the numbers you’ve been hearing, the 180,000+ are real deaths from COVID-19. Let there not be any confusion about that, it’s not 9,000 deaths from COVID-19, it’s 180,000+ deaths.” —Diane at RVtravel.com
I’m finding that it all depends on what a person listens to as their news source, as well as their personal communities view of events.
I do believe there is a way to sort through the mass of news and information we receive and sort out the truth, but it is amazing to me that different friends of ours will have such vastly different views on issues like this, and it all comes down to their news sources. It has nothing to do with how smart they are.
Do you realize, Deborah, how seriously out of date (time-wise and facts-wise) your statement is? —Diane at RVtravel.com
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The corn stripping tool is a total waste of money unless you take it with you when you purchase corn making sure that each cob will fit through the tool. I’ll stick with my ole’ trusty knife to strip the corn from the cob.
I agree! Plus the fact that Corn doesn’t like me, so I don’t eat it!
It’s also a waste because it’s cheaper to buy frozen corn. Why would you buy fresh corn if you weren’t going to eat it off the cob.
RV weight ratings!
One thing that Mark did not mention is: What if you change the conditions on your RV concerning the Weight Ratings Placard?
For instance: I have upgraded my RV’s Tires to 17.5 H Tires and added the Morryde IS system with 8K axles (originally 7K).
All this does is simple peace of mind and it DOES NOT change anything on the Placard. The RV was originally designed to carry that weight and you cannot load more in your RV than the original Placarded numbers.
So, my placarded weight is 16,500 lbs and I can never exceed that, even though with heavier axles and larger tires I could easily exceed that weight limit!
Just being Safe once again!
I agree “cannot load more in your RV than the original Placarded numbers” but the “peace of mind” comes from actual increase in load capacity or what I like to call safety margin.
1
Where I live, in addition to keeping safe, it happens to be a driving rule. Whether it makes sense or not, it’s the law.
We should stop treating the pandemic as though it is not going to affect anyone. If we all did our part and followed the rules and forgot about “liberty and freedom” and more about human life we could crush this until the vaccine comes.
In North America, Canada, U.S. and Mexico, there are now 250,000 reported deaths due to COVID. No one really knows how many people have died from the virus.
Be smart, be safe, follow the rules no matter what “your” common sense may be.
The problem with the Reported Deaths is NOT accurate. The powers that be fail to report the number of People who already had ONE FOOT in the grave with various health care problems, ie: High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, etc. Many of these people did not take care of themselves and then Covid pops up and takes them out!
You say it’s a driving rule, Where?
And these are NOT Laws, but Mandates! A big difference.
Not all people with underlying health issues brought these upon themselves. Diabetes, dementia, alzheimers among other health problems could be an inherited, blame your parents and grandparents! People working in unsafe conditions, coal miners, steel mill workers, chemical plant workers and healthcare professionals exposed to other viruses and pathogens while doing their job are just a few. Air pollution is also a major factor. Of course there are LAWS about air pollution that are ignored by the industries and the government for the sake of making money.
If you do not want to wear a mask, STAY HOME
Now days, I usually do stay home! I hate going shopping, even for a gallon of milk. I really don’t like being around people at all. And if I need something, I can usually order it online anyway. NO MASK REQUIRED!
And please don’t tell me I need to wear a mask in my own home! NOT GONNA HAPPEN!
Sad way to live
Well said. Thanks
“If we all did our part and followed the rules and forgot about “liberty and freedom” and more about human life we could crush this until the vaccine comes.”
Forget about liberty and freedom? That’s what our country was built on! What will be the next liberty and freedom killer? Or will we even need another one after this boondoggle? As we watch Governors lay down edicts well beyond their power, we see our “liberties and freedoms” erode right before our eyes. How soon before the ‘powers’ decide the Constitution is outmoded for today’s America and want to do away with it?
Don’t be so quick to give up your liberty and freedom. It goes downhill from there.
And forget about a “vaccine”.
Amen! Preach it. If they do come up with a vaccine by the end of the year that tells me one thing. They knew about covid way before the china lab let it out. It takes years as in more than one to make a vaccine. This has all been part of the plot and we are all being played like a chess game. But I too would like to know where he is from that masks are required while driving. Most states although not being enforced have laws against wearing a face covering while driving. Here in PA we have had car accidents from folks wearing mask while driving.
Right on! And how many of those Car Accidents were then later attributed to Covid! Usually, statistics are very one sided!
I gave upmy freedom and liberty when I agreed to let the government tell me I need to wear pants. A little face covering, Pfffft.
Amen brother. You start giving up freedom and liberty we soon won’t have them. Wait til this is over and see what freedoms we’ve lost “temporarily” never come back. They want to make the vaccine mandatory, what a joke. No thanks Bill Gates!
Income tax started out to be TEMPORARY. Just sayin!!
This country was built on liberty and freedom? That was probably the goal, but it was actually BUILT on genocide and slavery.
That may have been sorta true over a century ago, but slavery ended over 150 years ago, There is no slavery here in the US anymore. We ‘fixed’ that. Do you know which political party ended slavery? Not sure about the genocide you speak of.
I have not heard of any city it state requiring mask in a car by yourself.
I’m curious, where do you live that you must wear a mask while driving?
Just wear the mask
I have been staying in a county with less than 100 cases and zero deaths…..how….because everyone here is making no big deal about wearing a mask, its just what we do. No big conversation, no worry that our freedoms are being taken away, just a simple idea of trying to keep ourselves and our neighbors safer. This is a somewhat touristy area both in summer and winter and in the beginning the locals told the tourists to stay home. When that didn’t work, the masks were required and social distancing was put in place. Do I like wearing one, no I don’t but do it anyway.
And BTW, does it really matter where masks are required in your car? If you don’t live there, don’t worry about it.
I heard a walking couple laughing at me, for wearing a mask while driving through a campground. I had put it on to register with the host. Then I drove away so the person behind me could get helped. Sometimes I’ll forget that I’ve got it on as I am driving around doing errands.
You folks need to find something better to laugh at than people trying to show respect for others.
hey friend, don’t let it bother ya…people like that are self absorbed know nothings…
I am a first responder, and so am blessed to have access to a handful of N95 masks. They are a challenge to get on properly (big hair, lol), and so if I am just driving a few minutes between stops, I do often leave them on. Sure am not leaving them on for comfort, I can tell you that.
Plus it’s almost impossible to take off any mask in the car and then put it back on without contaminating the mask or yourself. If I’m visiting two stores, I leave it on while driving between them.