Issue 1776
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
“The time is always right to do what is right.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Today (as every day) we honor you, Dr. King!
On this day in history: 1920 – Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect.
Did you see the news? Click here to read the latest issue of the Sunday News for RVers.
Tip Article of the Day
In memory of Martin Luther King Jr.—A historic visit tells an important story
By Chris Epting
I love museums that feature “on-site” history. That is to say, something happened there, and that’s why it’s a museum. I think that’s why the La Brea Tar Pits museum was such a special place to take my son in his early years. He loved paleontology, but the fact that everything in the museum had been excavated from the very property where the museum sat made it extra special.
During this month when we pay particular attention to Martin Luther King Jr., I wanted to recommend the tragic site where he was killed in 1968, which has become a profoundly interesting and well-developed museum.
Today’s RV review…
In today’s column, industry insider Tony Barthel reviews the new Coachmen Chaparral 336TSIK. As he reports, “I think Coachmen has done a good job with this platform, especially with details that will make a difference long-term such as the insulation, build materials, suspension and basic features. In fact, oftentimes just doing the normal stuff well really does play out better in the long run.” Read more.
Reviews from this weekend:
• Jayco North Point 380RKGS
• Concept preview: Nissan Caravan
For previous RV reviews, click here.
CONTEST! Is this your RV?
Win a $25 Amazon gift certificate if today’s RV photo shows your rig
Every day we post a photo of an RV either submitted by its owner or by our editors as they move about the country.
Click here to see if your RV made it into today’s issue.
Ask Dave
Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and author of the “RV Handbook” as well as the Managing Editor of the RV Repair Club.
Stinky black water tank smells coming into the bathroom. Help!
Dear Dave,
I have a new ATC 5th wheel toy hauler and am having black tank smells in the bathroom. I treated the tank with deodorizers and flushed completely, but as soon as it warms up outside, the smell is back. The water is staying in the toilet and I checked the vents and they seem okay. —Gregg
Did you miss Dave’s column on Saturday where he answered the question: Why does hot air come out of my furnace exhaust?
RVelectricity™ – Just Ask Mike (J.A.M.) Session
Space heaters: Don’t start a fire in your RV
By Mike Sokol
“A space heater is blamed for the deadly fire in a Bronx apartment building.” I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but once again I’m heartbroken to report another electric space heater fire that has resulted in the deaths of a lot of innocent people. While the fire in the Bronx last week wasn’t in an RV, there are lots of lessons to be learned form this tragic event. … Read what causes space heater fires and how to protect yourself and your loved ones from them here.
• Mike’s Saturday column: Electric space heater power usage and warnings
• Read more of Mike’s articles here.
Where are all the Black RVers? Why the outdoors isn’t as inclusive as you may think
By Nanci Dixon
My husband and I are full-time RVers. We are also an interracial couple with Black kids and Black grandkids and have noticed that the other Black campers are few and far between. Where are they? Why aren’t more Black families camping? Where are all the Black RVers? While thinking about this, speaking with my husband, and talking with other Black RVers, I’ve come up with a few reasons (and debunked a few myths) as to why we see so few Black families at the campground with us. Read this eye-opening and important article.
Reader poll
Did you fly on a plane in 2021?
Jet over here to tell us.
For Lovers Only…
Listen up, romantics. If you have a special someone you’d like to surprise with a secret message right here on this website (could be your wife, husband, partner, child, neighbor, friend, etc.) submit it to us here. Don’t use their real names, use a special name that only they’ll recognize. Oh, how fun it will be when they read it! You’ll make their day! We’ll feature these in our upcoming newsletters, so keep your eyes open.
Here are a couple of responses.
To: Lambie
From: Miss Kitty
“Here’s to you, Lambie, for making our dream of becoming full-time RVers come true!! Love you with all my heart!!”
To: Sweet Heart
From: Devil or Angel
“You are like a rose, which in my garden grows, so soft and gentle to my touch, that’s why I love you oh so much.”
Drink the water…anywhere!
We carry our LifeStraw with us everywhere. This little straw filters out 99.99% of bacteria and parasites in any water source. Carry this lightweight lifesaver in your backpack hiking (you won’t have to carry pounds of water, hurting your back), when you travel (sure, you can drink the water in Mexico!) and keep it in the pantry in case there’s ever an emergency or natural disaster. We couldn’t recommend a LifeStraw more. Learn more or order.
Quick Tip
Trailer towing? Remember “gross weight” is more than just the trailer
Your pickup or other tow vehicle has set limits as to how much weight it can handle. Typically the number to watch for is gross combined weight rating or gross combination weight rating (GCWR). That’s not limited to the weight of the tow vehicle, the trailer, and the stuff you’ve “stuffed” in the trailer. It also includes passengers and all that stuff you’ve got in the truck bed. Always a good idea to run your tow vehicle and trailer “over the scales” to ensure you’re not overloaded!
“Why I love my RV”
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, RVtravel.com readers tell in their own words why they love their RVs.
From Diane Seabury
2020 TrailManor 2720QS
“It is a hard-sided popup with a retractable hitch that stores in the garage at 18′ closed, but opens to 27′ open with a queen bed and a living room slide. At just over 3,000#, I tow it with my V6 Dodge Durango. I get 17 mpg towing! I have set up and dismantled in the rain without getting the inside wet. The 3-way fridge and cassette toilet make dry camping a breeze, but the AC is awesome when we have hookups. It is my second TM!”
Tell us about your RV. Come on, do a little bragging! Click here.
?????? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??????
This isn’t relevant just today. We really love this and think you will too. It would be a lovely reminder each morning…
Website of the day
Free Texas Camping Guide
If y’all are headed to Texas soon, check out their official interactive camping guide. Tons of useful information! Happy trails!
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• 18 brilliant uses for tension rods in your RV
• YUCK! There was green algae growing in the water hose we drink from!
• RVers ask: Our RV’s steps hurt our aching knees. What to do?
Recipe of the Day
Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
by Jennifer Bass from Richmond, KY
These stuffed portobello mushrooms are fresh and fantastic. Super hearty, they’re stuffed with spinach, cheese, and fresh veggies. Red bell peppers add a mild flavor to the cheesy filling while onion gives a little bite. We added the optional bacon and love the saltiness it adds to the filling. Enjoy these portobello mushrooms for lunch or a light dinner.
Yum, yum, yum! … Did we say yum?! Get the recipe.
Recipes from this weekend:
• Easy Orange Chicken
• Stuffed Pepper Soup
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Trivia
Have you ever said a word so many times over and over again that it starts to sound REALLY weird and lose its meaning? If you’ve had this happen, you experience semantic satiation. Parts of your brain can, in fact, become overstimulated causing temporary exhaustion. When you say a word over and over and over again, you tire out that part of your brain and your verbal centers become inhibited. Interesting, huh?
Readers’ Pets of the Day
“A rainy day makes for good napping weather. Daisy Mae and Katie are good with that, especially if everyone has her own pillow and there is a toy or chew handy.” —Jeanine Wagner
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. No blurry photos, please! Please do not submit your photo more than once. Thanks!
Pet First Aid: The basic kit you should carry with you at all times. This is important!
Road Atlas: Adventure Edition
As much as we love technology, we still appreciate a good physical road atlas. This highly rated National Geographic Road Atlas: Adventure Edition is certainly one to love. The atlas has up-to-date road maps for all 50 states, plus Canada and Mexico. Cities and metro areas include popular attractions and points of interest. The atlas also acts as a guidebook to National Parks and the top 100 adventure destinations. This atlas is cool! Check it out.
Leave here with a laugh
Words of wisdom from this book:
You are sometimes taken into troubled waters not to drown, but to be cleansed.
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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Contact information
Editor: Emily Woodbury.
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Read this in past. Nancy Dixon, please find a new soapbox. Emily Woodbury, please print new material.
I talked with a black guy one year at a campground and somehow the conversation diverted to why there is not many blacks camping. He said probably because like my wife they hate bugs and dirt. Its not clean. He said he and his son go camping all the time leaving the wife at home. As for the hi low travel trailer? I looked at one and went nope, it is like a pop up and decided to stay with the travel trailer. Both have their pros and cons. But I like not having to put things on the floor to lower the unit. Getting things off the counters is fun especially if you forget to secure it. Happy trails.
Morgan Freeman is right on…just stop talking about it. You’re stirring the pot and making it worse, and the finger-pointing at certain areas of the country is biased in itself. We should all just do the right thing.
I love what Morgan Freeman does. But I did not see anything about what he said here. What did I miss?
Hi, jillie. Debbie is referring to something Morgan Freeman said in a 2005 interview with Mike Wallace for “60 Minutes”. Here’s some info about it from Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/morgan-freeman-on-black-history-month/ Have a great day. 😀 -Diane
Over the past 70 years of rv-ing in many parts of the USA and in England, we’ve seen many ethnic variations and have never seen a problem with RV neighbors or friends not enjoying each other’s company. Some people, I’m sure will find fault with something or someone, even if that is a tiny minority of the people. But, if one enjoys what you’re doing, that usually shows up in how you treat and interact with each other.
Judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I noticed a lot of nice black people and dogs RVing in a resort $$ on the gulf last year, some had Rvs some were in TT. I assumed they were have a family reunion because there were a lot of people on the sites and lots of cars. The resort limits how many people can stay on board on a lot and you have to check in to let them know how many adults and how many kids and dogs. This lasted the entire 4 days we were there. When we tried to make reservations a few months later my husband noticed that the resort highlighted in yellow about how many people can be on a rented lot , no more than one car on the rented space and dogs MUST be vaccinated and they wanted a copy of vaccines. We had never seen this before in 22 years of RVing. I do think people black or white tend to use RV resorts, parks for family gatherings and some policies do not allow this. Parking creates a huge problem when families do this, not to mention the all day cooking , music, dogs barking, and cars coming and going.
I bet you have seen this before and it seems as though you are over exaggerating, because I bet you would have reported this to management.
WOW! What a bunch of haters! Hoping the moderators shut this cr@p down.
We’ve camped many times at many locations NOTED: every ethnicity was well represented, no issues! (Just as every USA police departments are, in every Major city & I’ve reviewed the HR stats from LASD) When & if a family wants to go camping EVERYONE KNOWS, there are no restrictions on religion, ethnicity, or political leanings, for the purchase of an RV, the booking for a campsite, or anything related to camping. There are indecent people of every ethnicity, which EVERYONE experiences, ( which we all can provide antidotal examples, or perhaps living with a chip on one’s shoulder one will read the expressions & words to fit the “chip” ) so, in my opinion this is an issue of where one’s family’s interests lay, and just maybe it is not basketball for some. It’s not the color of one’s skin, but the content of their character, To quote MLK.
We just had a black family join our RV Club. I was so happy to have them! I’ve commented a number of times (we have FT for over 11 yrs an camped in all the lower 48 states) how few black families we see. I’m always sad to hear that people (any people) are still being ill treated these days – especially in the camping world – as we are “known” for being “socially kind and friendly”! Guess we need to go out of our way to be extra kind and friendly to make up for the ones who are not!! 😉
When I go to a concert I expect to hear singing. When I go to a sports event I expect to see a game played. When I read your RV site I expect to learn something new about RVing. NOT POLITICS ,RACE OR RELIGION !!!
Agree 100%, getting tired of people pushing this “movement”!
I agree 100% with David.
It’s a human rights issue.
What movement David? Quit lying, because you folks are being political again.
I totally agree!
Perhaps the story touched a nerve, sometimes thoughts are better left unsaid as they speak volumes about the speaker
When you go to a minstrel show, are you disappointed they can’t use black-face anymore??
Because that’s what you sound like.
I have no idea what a minstrel show is but thank you for throwing the race crap in .
Maybe you don’t see a lot of black folks camping because – they’re not interested.
I agree 100%, why force the issue. Why push this Political Issue!!
Denying it exists doesn’t excuse it.
More likely that they can’t afford it due to years of economic stagnation and active/passive racist policies. Now, I’m not pointing fingers at you, or myself, for causing this to happen to many families of color – but the evidence shows it happens and has been happening since the Civil War (and before for ‘freedmen’). I’m not saying you are wrong, but I am saying that you can’t just assume black folks don’t RV for the same reason many don’t swim. (And that’s a WHOLE OTHER kettle of fish…)
I was just saying maybe black folks don’t RV for the same reason anyone else doesn’t RV. No interest in it. Simple as that.
Jeff, This is one of the main reasons blacks are RVing because of folks like Tommy. They assume blacks are all poor and need government assistance. A lot of RVer’s are racist and I have witnessed this many times. And the swimming part is another racist comment from him. Wow.
I don’t feel we should continue to worry about minority’s and illegal immigrants or give them preference. We should treat everyone as Americans and give no one preference except Veterans. They put their lives on the line for our country. There are a lot of things blacks do that don’t interest me. Their are a lot of things I do that don’t interest minorities . We all have are own interest and ethics heritage that we’re proud of. Like my German buddy always told me. He and his wife come to America and learned english. Everyone should.
I camp every year in a camp ground with a black family and several Hispanic families. We all set around and chat and have a good time. All of our kids play together. Actually if we all turned off social media and the main stream news you would find that the actual hate towards one another is very slim. Not saying that it does not exist at all. Some folks just can’t be helped in their hateful ways. But it is no where near what the news wants you to think it is. The best thing we can all do is turn off the electronics and get out in the world.
Well said!!
Having grown up with Blacks and many of our friends are black, I find it hard to believe that people can still be so hateful. All lives matter and if you are a Christian, you actually believe and live that! We are also full timers and in all my travels have only seen a few black families and have never seen them mistreated or threatened. If I did, I would step in and squelch that behavior! We all need to step up and make this world a better place! After all, we only go around once and I have never seen anyone do it twice!
You don’t need to be a Christin to believe all lives matter!!! Shame on you for even thinking that.
Ease up man! If a statement Ike that freaks you out I can’t believe you haven’t stroked out yet.
Enjoyed Nanci’s article again. But an update on causes would have to include our media’s difficult situation they are in, or mess they dug their selves into. The press has chosen sides and they believe a constant 24 hour news cycle and repeat, repeat, repeat a stupid story is the solution. No. It’s divisive and hostile. Tearing down statues, all cops are bad, the summer of 2020 were peaceful demonstrations or our voting system is set up so black can’t vote, these are all examples that don’t do a {bleeped} thing to promote the good of man or woman in these United States. Our politicians bear much of the blame for this divisiveness too. The Olympics are coming. Where we can base an individual on their character. Not the color of their skin.
I imagine you shut down comments to keep the truth from being seen, I think I commented back then that I’ve seen a few black families camping in my 40+ years of camping. The largest thing about blacks camping is their actions, if they act like Americans they’ll be treated like Americans, if they insist on acting like Africans they’ll be treated as such. I am of German, Welch, and Pennsylvania Dutch descent but I’m American and don’t want any of my ancestors actions in my life. This country was founded on immigrants from different societies, but when they came here they decided to become Americans and as such they tried to learn the language and customs of this country. They may have spoken the native language in their homes but learned English outside. Todays immigrants want us to speak and learn their ways, we’ll I’m not doing it this is my country, if you don’t like the way it is go back to your country, it’s called blending in to society. This is the same for anyone no matter what.
Act like an African? What does that even mean?
America has been referred to several times as a melting pot of cultures. This is not because we cast off our old cultures at the door but because we are accepting of other cultures and embrace them and meld them into our society.
What a sad place this would be if it were the monocultural society that you believe it to be.
How about waking up and just watching the news. Wake up for peat sake!
acting like Africans? Please explain what that means! That description sounds racist to me. I have many black friends and I have to say your comments leave me very perplexed. All of my black friends and their families are very hard working, happy, and courteous people. I enjoy their companionship and also enjoy their different nuances. After all that’s what makes the world go around.
Keeping this comment focused on camping, I must say that most people in campgrounds we’ve stayed are well behaved and adhere to the set rules of the campground. That said, I’ve seen plenty of “Americans” that are ill behaved toward their neighbors and downright disrespectful to everyone that passes by. And they were white…every last one of them. Camping should be a past time enjoyed by everyone, no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc. Tolerance of people different from ourselves is what makes this country great, tolerance and respect. Please leave your political and confederate flags at home in the backyard and fly an American flag instead (or Canadian, Mexican, Italian,Irish, etc., if you’re so inclined). Make everyone welcome and treat them kindly and I’ll bet they will treat you the same way. It’s called the Golden Rule!
‘Act like Africans’
WOW….. I mean…. WOW.
You need to learn more about the ‘melting pot’. Like German immigrants around WW1, how the Irish were treated, (as well as Italians, Poles, Russians and Jews) or how the first immigrants from Africa didn’t exactly come here of their own accord.
I mean…. Sweet Mary Margaret… You really don’t know squat about ‘your country’.
Bob, You have shown your true hatred and racism towards minorities by your ignorant statement. If you act like an adult you wouldn’t come to your bs assessment of any minority. I’m a 20 veteran and it is folks like you who are the domestic enemy that we see everyday in this country. If you don’t like minorities you can leave it.
Really like words for wisdom today. Thank you for running Nanci Dixon’s article. I had no idea.
So you shut down comments TWO YEARS AGO on an article about black RVers. Seems that your comments about people that read the article TWO years ago say more about why you published it again. Did you ever think about why publish it again w/o comments allowed.
I don’t know why we had a re-run of Black Lives Matter by Nanci Dixon but here it was today. I thought this place for reading would be an unbiased place for RV people. I was wrong. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ says All Lives Matter. I don’t need to read otherwise on this site. It is certainly a place I would never pay for again.
This country and myself are sick and tired of the black and all the other crap about being different. I suppose I am a French American, German American, Irish American and English American. I was born in NYC and never thought about color, been on a romote tour in South Korea when it was still under marshall law never thought about color. But at 68 years old society has changed my mind and not for the good! The Germans are German the Russians are Russian and the Chinese are Chinese but we are ? I will be surprised if this gets printed
You don’t have to be a religious person to believe all lives matter.
I can’t think of a better day than Martin Luther King Day to re-post Nanci’s article. Are you somehow threatened by that? Do you have the same reaction to other re-posted articles? Clearly your words portray you as racially bias. What are you afraid of?
I am afraid of nothing. I have many black friends and friends of many colors. I didn’t know what discrimination was until all this movement started. I am just tired of people wanting something for nothing. My people did not come over on the boat, they met the boat. You won’t hear me ranting about why they don’t camp either. They will if they want to.
Seems I hit a nerve.
So sorry you had to shut down all the hate full comments on Nanci’s article. Nanci, you and your family are always welcome to camp with my family.