Issue 1925
Welcome to RV Travel’s Daily Tips Newsletter, where you’ll find helpful RV-related tips from the pros, travel advice, product reviews and more. Thanks for joining us. Please tell your friends about us.
Page Contents
Today’s thought
“It’s the questions we can’t answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he’ll look for his own answers.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Vinyl Record Day!
On this day in history: 1851 – Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
Tip of the Day
The buzz on wasp elimination: Keep ’em away from your RV!
By Gail Marsh
I’m not typically skittish when it comes to flying insects. But wasps? They’re a different story. Last week, I noticed a wasp buzzing around the outside of our RV entry door. Not thinking much about it, I went inside to take a shower. More buzzing! A wasp was flying around inside the bathroom near the skylight. I went outside to alert my husband and promptly got stung! It was time for some wasp elimination!
While wasps and bees are similar in that both are flying insects and sip nectar, they are different in several ways. Bees generally have hairy bodies, while wasps are smooth. Bees have a rounded appearance while wasps are narrow-waisted. Bees are generally much less aggressive than wasps. Bees sting only once, and die after stinging, while wasps can sting multiple times (and often do so when angry)!
Today’s RV review…
Airstream Basecamp REI Special Edition
Tony writes, “Airstream has partnered with outdoor retailer REI to create a special edition of their Basecamp trailer. The intent here is to have a more sustainable edition that offers additional functionality. … I like the upgrades to this trailer, and you also get a bunch of outdoor stuff that comes with it. Those include chairs, a cover for a picnic table, soft-sided totes and a soft-sided cooler and a few other goodies.”
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.”
Why does my absorption fridge only work intermittently?
Dear Dave,
We run into an intermittent issue with our Dometic absorption fridge. It’s a typical propane RV one, not a residential type. For about 3-4 days the temperature goes up into the 40s and doesn’t come down. The outside temperature is usually in the 90s and, of course, in direct sun. The freezer goes to 20. We have extra fans behind it on top by the cooling fins and an extra fan running inside to move the air around….
Read the rest of the question and Dave’s answer
Video of the day
Show-stopping vintage RV camper boat ‘boaterhome’
This is one impressive and unique custom-built RV! A camper boat, also known as a “boaterhome,” made from a 1950s vintage RV.
When you try to picture putting an RV onto a boat to create a boat camper, high style probably would not be the first thing that comes to mind. But the camper boat in the video below is about to blow those notions out of the water. (Get it? Okay, that’s a groaner.)
“Nomadland,” the movie – Don’t miss it!
By Adrienne Kristine
I have a recommendation for the movie “Nomadland.” If you haven’t seen it, please do. The film reflects a view of the RV lifestyle seldom seen by outsiders. Fern, Frances McDormand, relaxes outside her van in the campground at Badlands National Park. Like Fern in the movie, as you travel down the highways you see the beauty in the bleakness of the desert, the scrub brush, the sagebrush, the cactus, the bright snow-covered mountains and hills, and the dirty snow on the side of the road left by the snowplows. Continue reading this interesting review by someone who has “been there, done that.”
You may have missed these recent popular stories…
- One of America’s best road trips: Drive the beautiful Great River Road
- Shirley Wallace and her amazing two-story trailer
- Game-changing RV power is here with the Mastervolt Power Package
- How bureaucracy changed the character of a state park
Reader poll
How old were you when you met your current spouse/partner?
????? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??????
If you’re a kid at heart, and sometimes eat like one, you’re going to love this. We do!!!
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Quick Tip
Can you “discover” extra space under the closet?
Need a little more storage space in your rig? If your hanging closet is over a wheel well, you’ll probably find the closet bottom covers the wheel well. There could easily be more space in the well. Carefully cutting away carpeting (as needed), boring a “thumb hole” in an appropriate spot, and carefully cutting away at the “floor” may give you access to that otherwise “dead” space. If you encounter heat ducting, wrap it with insulation to prevent unwanted heat damage to what you squirrel away in the space.
On this day last year…
- Tip: Buying an RV? Visit an RV show first. Here’s why.
- RV review: EarthRoamer HD luxury overlander
- Ask Dave: Is it OK to store an RV with the slide room out?
- Featured article: How one RVer figured out how to never do laundry again (This is absolutely hilarious!)
- Recipe: Turkey Tetrazzini
Website of the day
NYPL Digital Collections
History buff? So are we. The New York Public Library offers 921,558 (and counting) digital items from its collections. Explore everything from old maps and photographs, to sheet music, to letters, to old posters.
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.
• 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.
• Road Trip Wizard: Make your RV road trip planning easier than ever.
Recipe of the Day
Oven Baked BBQ Pork Steaks
by Nancy Allen from Wentzville, MO
When you want the flavor of barbecue but don’t feel like firing up the grill, try these oven-baked pork steaks. We like the combination of seasonings in the recipe. It adds just the right amount of spice. The barbecue sauce caramelized on the pork adds even more flavor. An easy baked pork steak recipe.
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Trivia
Pinball machines were once banned from New York City for 34 years. Why? In the 1940s, there was panic over this seemingly innocent form of entertainment. Mayor LaGuardia made the argument that pinball machines encouraged gambling and were owned by the mob. He argued they should be illegal and that they were actually “tools from the devil.” Two years later, in 1942, pinball machines were banned entirely from the city (other cities followed, including LA and Chicago). The cities conducted prohibition-style raids where all pinball machines were smashed with hammers and thrown into the city’s rivers.
*What popular kitchen appliance played a part in the first pair of Nike shoes? Find out in yesterday’s trivia.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“We weren’t sure if Max would take to camping, but he sure proved us wrong!” —Joe Malvasi
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!
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In 1963 we were camping at Bottomless Lake State Park near Roswell NM for the entire summer. There was a pinball machine in the clubhouse. One day we watched this young man put his quarter in and he soon had won 2 free games. He used those 2 free games to win more. He continued until he had racked up over 100 free plays. Then he walked away and told us to have fun! So my 2 brothers and I did just that.
That was a great summer. For “entertainment” prior to that fun day my parents bought us fly swatters which we used vigorously day after day until we had come close to ridding the camp of flies. We overheard some fellow campers remarking on how few flies there were.
That was the same summer that Coke had a promotion where you could get a case of 12 bottles of Coke if you collected their set of 50 USA state bottle caps. At the end of summer we had collected 8 sets by “raiding” each campsite after the people left. We turned our sets in and had a party with our many cousins in Odessa TX
I never got free pop/soda but if we had 6 cork liners from either Coke or Pepsi (can’t remember which) we got into the Saturday afternoon matinee for free. It was easy to gather up 6 cork liners as the convenience store owner let us clean out the bottle cap tray.
In regards to the Trivia today. Pinball machines banned in NYC. Funny. I was told one of. my Great Uncles who lived in Buffalo NY was involved with pinballs in the forties and fifties. I was also told that his machines were used for Gamblin g. Hmmmmhh.. Maybe there was something to the Gamblin g part in NYC after all.
The trivia was interesting. Although the reaction to pinball was completely over the top, such a reaction to today’s shoot-em-up movies and software, which deadens today’s youth to the reality of violence, seems warranted IMO.
And, all those old design pinball machines are collector’s dreams.
In my mother’s home town, the local bar would “refund” your winnings. Mild gambling.