Issue 1538
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
“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day! [Editorial comment: Wouldn’t it be nice if this were every day?]
On this day in history: 1972 – Cumulative sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model T.
Tip of the Day
Add this to your home departure checklist to prevent damage
By Steve Greer
We have always turned off the home ice maker in the refrigerator when we leave for a trip of any length. It always seemed like a good idea, but I didn’t realize how much until recently.
While at home the other day, I heard the ice maker dump the ice and a few seconds later the water started running for the refill as usual… And then it just kept running and running!
Continue reading and see why this happened.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
Today’s RV review…
In today’s column, industry insider Tony Barthel reviews Tiger Adventure Vehicles, The Bengal. He writes, “It seems that the folks at Tiger really understand this market. The feel of the interior is very warm and welcoming but the trucks themselves are big and beefy and quite capable of finding those Instagram-worthy out-of-the-way places.” Learn more.
Did you read Tony’s review yesterday of the 2021 Leisure Travel Vans Unity FX Class C? If you missed it, you can read it here.
For previous RV reviews, click here.
Is this your RV?
If it’s yours and you can prove it to us (send a photo for comparison), tell us here by 9 p.m. Pacific Standard time today, February 17, 2021. If it’s yours you’ll win a $25 Amazon gift certificate.
If this isn’t your RV, send us a photo of your RV here (if you haven’t already) for a chance to win in future issues.
Last week two readers claimed their $25 Amazon gift card: Bob B. of Eloy, Arizona, and Sylvia E. of Livingston, Texas.
We’ll have another photo in tomorrow’s RV Daily Tips Newsletter (sign up to receive an email alert so you don’t miss the issue or those that follow). Some of these photos are submitted by readers while others were taken by our editors and writers on their travels around the USA.
Try out a propane campfire when burning wood won’t do
A wood campfire is the ultimate outdoor experience in many ways. The dancing flames, flickering light and smoky aroma all bring out the caveman in us. We feel soothed, safe, warmed and Zen’d all at the same time. But what about those times and places where burning a pile of wood isn’t going to work so well or is prohibited? How about a propane fire?
Yesterday’s featured article: The many uses of WD-40
Reader poll
Do you have a chronic disease or disability that makes RVing challenging?
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
Help keep dust out of your RV while on dirt roads
To keep dust out of your camper while traveling on dirt or gravel roads, turn your front roof vent around to open frontwards. Leave the vent lid wide open when traveling and it will pressurize your RV and keep dust from coming in all the little nooks and crannies. I did this for many years and never lost a vent cover. Just make sure it’s open all the way. If it starts to rain, stop and close the cover. —Thanks, George B.!
Website of the day
Pop-A-Lock®
Reader Larry Patterson sent us this website and we thought we should share it. Larry wrote, “Pop-A-Lock company has a program where they will give you a numbered tag to put on your keychain(s). It has a message on it that says ‘If you find these keys, drop them in a mailbox. Pop-A-Lock will pay the postage’ – and they will return the lost keys to you.” Not to mention they duplicate keys, help you with stuck ignition keys, etc.
?????? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??????
Think of the pasta-bilities! For the Italian (or pasta-lover) in your life. They need this.
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• How to keep your RV’s fresh water tank fresh
• Slide-outs for your galley make storage a snap
• Full-time RVing: Learning how to “just roll with it”
#956-1
Trivia
The largest county in the U.S., the Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, is in Alaska. It’s so large that the entire country of Germany could fit inside it. (Human) population in 2019: 5,377.
*Where is the coldest place on planet Earth, and how cold is it? We told you yesterday.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“Wilson and Agnes…ready to get on the road again. 8-year-old Goldendoodle siblings.” —Lorie Schink
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.
50 States, 5,000 Ideas, the best book for travelers!
This book from the experts at National Geographic showcases the best travel experiences in every state, from the obvious to the unexpected. Sites include national parks, beaches, hotels, battlefields, dude ranches, museums and more. Each entry provides detailed travel information and fascinating facts about each state that will help fuel your wanderlust and ensure the best vacation possible. The book also includes a section on the Canadian provinces and territories. Learn more or order.
Leave here with a laugh
Esther lived in a tiny travel trailer next door to Murray who had a small fifth wheel. She knocked on his door and said, “Murray, I’m having a problem. I have one of those 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles, dumped all the pieces on the table and have no idea where to start.” He replied, “What does the box show as the finished puzzle?” “It’s a rooster.” He went next door, looked on the table and said, “Esther, make us a cup of tea and I’ll help you get all the corn flakes back in the box.”
Thanks for the joke, Adrienne Kristine! Have a favorite joke? Send it to us here.
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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This newsletter is copyright 2021 by RVtravel.com
More likely it would be Esther helping Murray!
My wife is an avid (everyday) Jigsaw Puzzler who makes a 1000 piece puzzle in a day and a half. She is a young 71 and I am 73, and she laughed and loved the puzzle joke! So cute, gave us a good laugh:))
Turn the vent cover around??? Really???? Wouldn’t running your Fantastic Fan on high accomplish the same effect……drawing air in. Seems much easier.
The fan exhausts air and the author is trying to drive air IN to create positive pressure. Maybe your fan is reversible, but most are not. Anyway, I’m not a ‘fan’ of the whole idea
Yes “Fantastic Fans” and “Maxx-Aire Fans” ARE reversible, and that’s what Bob is talking about.
Too funny. I read it as “turn the vent around so that it faces forward” vs “reverse the air flow direction”. We also have a Fantastic fan. That makes sense now.
The Pop-A-Lock key return service is a new version of an old program. When I was a kid, AAA had a similar program. With your membership, you got a keytag-size duplicate of your license plate, with the words “Drop in any mailbox” on the back. It was popular for a while, but of course if you lost your keys in a parking lot, a thief could walk around, find your car, and drive it away. After many years, AAA changed the keytag, but the program also lost popularity when there were no more mailboxes. For as long as it lasts, the Pop-A-Lock program will be a good substitute, especially since it is free.
Your quick tip of the day is the most ridiculous proposal I have ever heard. None of the vents that I know of can be moved/rotated.
I agree it’s ridiculous. I would never drive with the vent lid open, rotated or otherwise. Winds change, road directions change. Just asking for it to get ripped off. If you had a hood, maybe, but I don’t know if that would defeat the purpose. I believe it’s best to travel with all vent lids, windows etc., closed.
Hi, just discovered something that would be wonderfully useful for RV’ers. It’s at “Earthbreeze.com” and are laundry washing sheets. Yes completely biodegradable including the packaging, uses tiny space. Just pop a sheet into the washer. $12 for 60 sheets with a subscription up to 4 months between deliveries. Plus use code AMORE20 for 20% off. I just bought my first pack of 60 for $9.60 plus free shipping! I’m not affiliated with this company at all, just think it’s a great product for RV’ers.
I just saved a butt-load of money by switching to Geico
RV generally use Progressive, as they are the only ins company offering Full Timers packages. Go butt-load Geico
State farm does to. The agent just has to look into it.
We have been using the laundry “sheets” for about a month. So far the boss says they work as well as the liquid we previously used. When we are finished, the cardboard container the “sheets” come in are easily recycled with the other paper & cardboard.
In regards to keeping dust out of your rv on dirt roads. How do you turn your front vent around ? Mine is mounted to the roof.
I believe you need an after market hood that goes over your existing vent cover. It allows the vent to be left open in rain and while driving, as the opening faces the rear of the camper. The author is suggesting reversing the hood so air is rammed into the rig while driving.
The laugh is insulting to those of us that identify as old-timers.😄
I don’t usually reply to replies. But seems kudos are in order to old timers who think they can still manage and travel. And bigger kudos to an old timer not too proud to ask for help. But not so many kudos to the old timers too afraid to laugh at themselves or find humor in their days. Life is short, no matter how long one lives. Lighten up! Makes your journey easier!
That car generator would be good while you are on the road or boondocking but not to leave your vehicle running day and night. There are still too many vehicles that you need to leave keys in and this day and age there is always someone that has figured a way to get around even a keyless ignition car.
I have used mine multiple times now, just when I needed quick power but never an extended amount of time. It has been such a blessing! No extra gas cans. Not carrying an extra Honda generator and all the setting up, storing, etc. I just grab the CarGenerator, plug it in and immediate electricity. Serious folks! I’m not discounting anyone else’s view, I am just reporting back how much easier this is for us now.
You are just paying for someone to put battery cables onto an inverter.
I actually prefer propane campfires. As stated, easy to ignite and to extinguish, can be used during burn bans, I use Fireglass on which marshmallows do not create a mess (the aesthetics are in the flame, not the fuel), I do not inhale carcinogenic smoke, and best of all I don’t go to bed smelling smoky nor do I get the inside of my RV smelling smoky. To each their own, but for me, wood fires belong in a fireplace where the smoke goes up a chimney, not in your face as the wind swirls or its direction changes.
You are correct. Plus causing problems for those with asthma.
Adding on – Not sure if this is a good or bad story. This last year, while campfires were prohibited, we were using our propane campfire. It is so realistic looking that people kept calling the camp host to complain that we had an actual wood fire. On one inspection from a complaint, the fire department (backed up by a patrolman), visited our site and said that the complaint even stated that they heard the wood crackle and pop… I think I got too realistic looking of one? Our goal wasn’t to cause trouble, we just wanted something that still looked like a campfire.
that’s so funny! I think I’ve seen one of those propane campfires. The thing I like is they don’t emit a smoke odor, which should have been a clue to the nosy neighbors.
BadWolfe & Jeanie Ruby: I understand the other’s confusion & worry about the realistic propane fires. However that said, it is not all that funny to me who lived down wind of 2 of the largest wild fires in Colorado history last summer. They where both man made during fire bans. Even during that fire ban summer, many-many people violated the ban even tho it was posted on roads, park entrances and campgrounds.
Bd2, you make a very good point. I fully understand and was actually happy that others were trying to prevent someone from starting a forest fire. I knew I had unintentionally created anxiety in others, but that was not our intent.
Hi Bd2, no one was laughing wildfires. We were laughing at the nosey folks reporting a campfire when it was an actual propane fire. I grew up in Eastern Oregon so I am very familiar with forest fires. We were making fun of actual campfires and supportive of propane campfires.
I agree! In six years of fulltiming, we’ve never had a campfire for those very reasons. Sure it might look cool or something for the kiddies, but it’s so unhealthy in so many other ways. I hate the smell of campfire smoke, smoke follows beauty (my mother always said) so it makes me cough plus we never had to buy or look for wood or worry if we left a burning ember. If it’s chilly, we put on a sweater.
reply on the reply… smoke stinks. smoke lingers. use a propane fire and get the same mesmorizing effect,
The laugh today was great!
Maybe I’m just not awake yet, but….. the Today in History feature makes me go, “Huh?”
By 1972, I would HOPE sales of the VW Beetle exceeded those of…. the Ford Model T!?
My first marriage was in 1972… I don’t recall a SINGLE Model T on the road at the time. Lots of VW Bugs… no Model T’s anywhere, even in small city Kansas.
The post says ‘cumulative’. So, since the model t had been around much longer, the total number ever sold only was surpassed by the beetle as of 1972
Good observation 👌
The Model T was sold from 1908 to 1927. Probably not too many left on the road 50 years later. How many beetles will we see The beetle was manufactured 1938 to 2003. How many of them will we see in 2050?
Since the population of the US has higher later, I would like to know which sold the most per capita.