This newsletter is for intelligent, open-minded RVers. If you comment on an article, do it with respect for others. If not, you will be denied posting privileges.
Issue 1439
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 on Amazon, please click here to visit through our affiliate site (we get a little commission that way – and you don’t pay any extra). Thank you!
In case you missed this on Sunday…
Do we have a treat for you — a free copy of the 2021 RV Model Year Guide. If you’re in the market for a new RV or simply curious about the latest developments in recreational vehicles then this will provide good reading. The fact that it’s free, with no strings attached, makes it an especially outstanding (and rare) offer. Click here to learn more and begin reading this excellent resource.
[activecampaign form=34]
Page Contents
Today’s thought
“It is important from time to time to slow down, to go away by yourself, and simply be.” —Eileen Caddy
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Chewing Gum Day! Scroll down to today’s trivia section to read an interesting fact about gum.
On this day in history: 1939 – NBC broadcasts the first televised American football game.
Tip of the Day
Stay warm when camping in cold weather
By Mark Polk
RV EDUCATION 101®
To help supplement heat from the RV furnace, we take a couple small thermostatically controlled electric heaters with us. Make sure you purchase heaters that pose no threat of a fire, and that will turn off automatically if they accidentally tip over. These small heaters work great and help save on LP gas when you are plugged into a 120-volt electrical source, or using a generator.
Caution: Never use the range top burners, the oven, or a portable fuel fired heater (propane, kerosene) inside the RV for heat. Carbon monoxide gas is colorless, tasteless, invisible and deadly. Any source of heat not vented outside is extremely dangerous and should never be used in an RV.
ONLINE TRAINING COURSES BY MARK POLK
• Motorhome RV Orientation®
• Travel Trailer & 5th Wheel RV Orientation®
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Need a step up when hitching up your fifth wheel?
Full-time RVer Deanna Tolliver writes: “As a vertically challenged person (i.e., short), and the owner of a fifth wheel, it’s difficult for me to reach over the bed of the truck to either hitch up or unhitch. I’ve carried a step stool and I’ve also had small side steps attached to the side of the truck. But I’ve found another, better option: the HitchMate TireStep, by Heininger.” Learn more.
Yesterday’s featured article: Where do old RVs go when they die?
Reader poll
Do you put additives in your black water holding tank?
Tell us here, please.
Did you buy a lemon RV? Here’s more about RV lemons and lawyers who will represent you if you need help.
Quick Tip
Towing a trailer on icy roads
If you are towing a trailer on icy roads, go slowly, especially downhill. Use the lower gears. You may be able to gain additional traction for the tow vehicle by moderately releasing the tension of the load equalizing hitch. Always readjust the hitch after the icy road condition has passed because vehicle stability may be affected during normal driving conditions. From California DMV
Website of the day
The most beautiful golf courses in the U.S.
This one is for the golfers out there. If you’re not already a golfer, you may become one after you see this list of beautiful courses. Wow!
SWELL CONTEST OF THE DAY
How would you like to win this Happy Camper Coffee Mug? Well, this might be your lucky day! In one of this past week’s Beginner’s Guide to RVing Newsletters, 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 30, 2020) by 11 a.m. Pacific time. Remember, you can only enter once and after we notify you by email that you won, you have 24 hours to respond or we’ll give the prize to someone else.
LAST WEEK’S WINNER of the No∼Shock∼Zone RV Electrical Safety book by Mike Sokol was Joseph Yergin of Toccoa, Georgia. The week before, the winner of the Coleman Portable Butane Stove with Carrying Case was John Mifsud of Massapequa Park, New York.
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• The worst RV crashes and disasters we’ve ever seen!
• Winter driving: Forget snow chains, use socks!
• Boondocking and running low on liquid? Bring water to your rig.
#934-1
Trivia
Having trouble concentrating? Try chewing gum. A study in the British Journal of Psychology found that the subjects who chewed gum while taking part in a memory challenge were able to stay more focused for longer periods of time than those who did not chew gum.
*Ever wonder what the all-time best-selling item is at Walmart? We bet you can’t guess. We told you yesterday.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“Sadie, our adventure pup! She loves looking out the window at other RVs and watching people set up. Because you never know, they might have a friend to play with…” —Debbie Jantz
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.
3-in-1 NOAA radio, flashlight and charger must-have for RVers
This emergency hand-crank radio is a necessity for RVers. Keep it somewhere safe, you never know when it will come in handy. The 3-in-1 radio is also a bright LED flashlight and a smartphone charger. The radio can be charged via solar charging, hand cranking or a USB plug. You’ll want to buy one here.
Leave here with a laugh
Over the last few years, people have been posting videos of their pets’ reactions when their owners disappear behind a blanket. Here’s a hilarious compilation of the best animal reactions. Click to play.
Best-selling RV products and Accessories at Amazon.com. UPDATED HOURLY!
Did you miss the latest RV Travel Newsletter? If so, read it here.
Oh, and if you missed the latest Sunday News for RVers, make sure to catch up here.
Become a Member!
This newsletter is brought to you Monday through Friday by RVtravel.com and is funded primarily through voluntary subscription contributions from our readers. Thank you! IF YOU APPRECIATE THIS NEWSLETTER and others from RVtravel.com, will you please consider pledging your support? Learn more or contribute.
Join us: Facebook • Twitter • YouTube • RVillage
See all of our many Facebook groups here.
Need help? Contact us.
RV Daily Tips Staff
Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Editor: Emily Woodbury. Senior editor: Diane McGovern. Social media and special projects director: Jessica Sarvis. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.
This website utilizes some advertising services. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Regardless of this potential revenue, unless stated otherwise, we only recommend products or services we believe provide value to our readers.
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.
Mail us at 9792 Edmonds Way, #265, Edmonds, WA 98020.
This newsletter is copyright 2020 by RVtravel.com
When someone would ask me why I enjoyed golf I would tell them it was a walk in the park with good friends.
This has been my experience towing on icy roads:
Unless you’re driving a 4 wheel drive tow vehicle, sometimes just using a lower gear can cause the drive wheels to lose traction, leading to total loss of control. I’ve found lightly using the brakes on all the wheels works a lot better. If you feel your rig is getting “squirrely”, let off the brakes for a few seconds to let it straighten out. Don’t turn the steering wheel too much as that could add to the situation.
Of course the safest thing to do is avoid driving on icy roads.
When I was in the air force I saw a Gigantic tug, designed to move jet cargo planes around on the flight line, get each of its four wheels on a patch of ice and not able to move. We had to call another tug to pull him off the four patches of ice. Don’t even try with a four wheel drive.
While I hope I never have to tow on icy roads I would not ease the tension on the weight distribution bars. Those bars help move the weight where it is needed most, i.e. toward the front of the tow vehicle and the trailer wheels. Traction is determined strictly by weight and the coefficient of friction of the tires. You want more weight over the trailer wheels.
The small electric heater works great, as long as the temps will be above freezing. If it is below freezing you may want to be sure to run the furnace. In many RVs the furnace also heats the tanks and keeps them from freezing. Even supplementing with other heating elements can reduce the effectiveness of that in below freezing temps.
When I was 14 & 15 years old I was a caddy at the local golf club, after 2 years of watching what the game of golf did to alleged adult professional people, ie. lawyers, doctors etc. I decided I never wanted to hold a club by the handle. At the age of 16 I got a job at a grocery store and never looked back at golf again. Now at 77 I consider myself a well balanced adult, I don’t chase a little white ball through the cow pasture trying to knock it into a golfer hole and when it misses have a raging fit. Nor do I stand on the edge of a pond and try to hit the ball across the water and when it falls in the water three times throw a temper tantrum and launch my club into the water.
that’s my opinion exactly, good story.
I got where you are through a different route. My father loved golf and my mother acquiesced to join him on the course. By the time I had graduated high school I had had more than a hundred golf lessons because every summer weekend when my friends were swimming or boating or having fun, I had a mandatory golf lesson. On my 21st birthday my father asked what I might do differently now that I was an adult. I answered “Quit golf until I am old.” I am 73 now and I have never broken that vow. Maybe in another ten years I may be old enough to enjoy golf.
The best advice I ever heard about playing golf is: “Never Start”. Thanks for sharing your story from wisdom and experience.
Golf is strange. The only fun is in hitting the ball. The object is to hit the ball the fewest times possible. Therefore the goal is to have as little fun as possible.
I’m seeing some HUGE winners lately, like over 2 MILLION for first & 1 MILLION for second place. Not bad for chasing that little white ball around!
Snoopy
Mark Polk says never use propane fired heaters inside your RV. But thousands of RV’ers use the catalytic heaters all the time. “Just keep a window cracked”, they say. What to do, what to do . . .
If you use a propane catalytic heater. Turn it off before you go to sleep!
must be careful with the heater or you might take a long sleep, permanently.
I have to say the “2021 RV Model Year Guide” was a big disappointment. This is no model guide, it’s nothing more than a glossy magazine with loads of ads an article on each major manufacturer’s newest model. Nothing about any of the other models from any of them. A little less hype would have avoided that…
And the manufacturers pay big bux to be in it!
I’d like to thank all the advertisers in that guide for helping to support this newsletter. I appreciate it.