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Issue 1461
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 not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Frankenstein Friday!
On this day in history: 1938 – Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States.
Tip of the Day
Keep your generator linkage clean to prevent stoppages
By Greg Illes
Onan generators, typically 4000W (3600W for propane), are often a feature on mid- to large-size RVs. You can recognize these ubiquitous products by the presence of a large green box in place of a storage compartment.
While generally quite reliable, these units have a failure mode that is deceptively complex, yielding an error code that essentially says, “Take me to your Onan service shop.” If you own or operate an Onan, there’s an easy maintenance action you can take to prevent failures and expensive shop visits. Read about it here.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Today’s RV review…
Today’s RV review…
In today’s column, industry insider Tony Barthel reviews the Lance 2075 travel trailer. As he reports, this travel trailer is a great towable couples’ camper that really raises the bar in the category. Learn more.
Did you read Tony’s review yesterday of the Fleetwood Discovery LXE 36HQ 25th Anniversary Edition? If you missed it, you can read it here.
For previous RV reviews, click here.
Tents for Troops offers free camping for active military members
Toutle River RV Resort, one of the largest RV resorts in the Pacific Northwest, is one of more than 300 parks across 47 states that participate in Tents for Troops, a nationwide program that connects active members of the military with RV parks and campgrounds. They provide an opportunity for active military members to tent or RV for free at some of the finest parks in the U.S. Learn more.
Yesterday’s featured article: Try these fall and winter national park camping destinations
You may have missed these recent popular stories…
- Are you unintentionally spoiling RVing for others?
- A quick guide to troubleshooting RV furnace problems
- An easy tip to keep the motorhome warm on the road
- 13 tips about work camping that will point you to success
Reader poll
Did you meet your spouse or partner online?
The best book on RV electricity, hands down!
RV Travel contributor Mike Sokol is America’s leading expert on RV electricity. Mike has taken his 50+ years of experience to write this book about RV electricity that anyone can understand. Covers the basics of Voltage, Amperage, Wattage and Grounding, with additional chapters on RV Hot-Skin testing, GFCI operation, portable generator hookups and troubleshooting RV electrical systems. This should be essential reading for all RVers. You can order it here.
Quick Tip
Saving for the breakdown
With most insurance policies you can either pay your insurance all in one annual payment or you can pay monthly. That’s the way to look at RV maintenance expenses. Things may go bad a little bit at a time, but you usually don’t know it until all of a sudden when something totally fails. In other words, most maintenance problems hit you all at once, but put some money in your maintenance account each month, and when something expensive happens, you’ve already paid for it.
Of course, this money is in addition to your emergency fund, which should be for a true emergency and not just for predictable expenses. Every mile you drive you’re using up your gasoline (or diesel fuel). You’re also using up your tires, but you pay for tires every few years not a little for every trip. Even if you took a 500-mile trip and didn’t have to spend anything on maintenance, that doesn’t mean you didn’t get that much closer to having to spend some money on repairs.
One RVer told me that every time he puts $100 worth of gas in his rig he also puts $100 in an envelope that he keeps for maintenance expenses. My maintenance doesn’t run to nearly that much, but his technique may not be a bad idea. From RVing: Less Hassle—More Joy: Secrets of Having More Fun with Your RV—Even on a Limited Budget. Available on amazon.com.
Website of the day
Ultimate Campgrounds
Download the app, or visit the website for information about 38,000 public campgrounds across the U.S. and Canada, updated monthly. It doesn’t get much more helpful than this!
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.
Inflatable foot rest is comfortable for couch and passenger seat
Now that’s cool! Miss your favorite recliner no more! This inflatable foot rest is perfect for lounging on the couch, in the chair by the campfire, or in the passenger seat for long drives. Take it on a plane ride, or take it to the grandkids’ sports games (we know those can get long). It weighs less than 1 lb. and folds down small for travel. Learn more about this comfy foot rest here.
Trivia
Texas’ Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is the fourth largest airport in the world. It is also bigger than the entire island of Manhattan, which is 22.8 square miles. Wow!
*If you own a cat, you’ll want to read yesterday’s trivia.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“Below is Oliver, who is a 3-month-old reverse brindle pug. His 1st trip was this past weekend to the KOA in Rodanthe, NC. He enjoyed discovering new places to sniff and meeting new friends and taking lots of naps.” —Eric Ramey
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
Q: What do you call a laughing motorcycle?
A: A Yamahahaha
Today’s Daily Deals at Amazon.com
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.
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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.
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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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How do get the information to you regarding our extremely poor/bad etc experience with the Campingworld service dept. at Charleston, SC?
You’ve done it again RVTravel ! GREAT Website of the Day. Thank you for that!
re: maintenance set-aside.
At the very minimum, put it in a savings account so it earns at least a tiny bit interest (banks are so stingy right now!) or in higher-return account that allows easy withdrawals.
AND – set it up to be an automatic bank transfer each month. That way it just becomes just another “expense” you’ve budgeted for and paid each month and happens without you even having to think about it, building up all on it’s own and ready when needed.
(and — if possible try to use a cash back or other rewards credit card to pay for these expenses being SURE to pay off IN FULL each month – make that card pay YOU!)
I have used the same idea for years, I have one account for travel and vehicle maintenance, and one account for vehicle insurance home insurance, property taxes, income taxes if needed and other things that could happen around a home., Also have a couple of saving accounts