Issue 2031
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.
Today’s thought
“Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Clean Off Your Desk Day! Well, get to work!
On this day in history: 1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
(If you’re interested in learning more, this is an amazing book about his adventure.)
Did you see the news? Click here to read the latest issue of the Sunday News for RVers.
Tip of the Day
My 11 favorite RV cleaning products
By Nanci Dixon
There are a number of cleaning products that can be effective for use in an RV. I have some favorites that I just can’t do without.
It is always best to check the owner’s manual for specific recommendations for your type of RV and the materials inside it. Remember: Aerosols can set off LP and smoke detectors if sprayed too close to the detector.
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 and writers 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.”
What is the best jack, and where to put it, to change a tire on a travel trailer?
Dear Dave,
Would you use a bottle or floor jack to replace a tire on a travel trailer? Also, where is the correct place to locate the jack to lift the trailer to change the tire? —Charles, Forest River Rockwood RS20 travel trailer
In the RV Shop with Dustin
RV Talkin’ Tech Short: How often do dump valve cables break? Should I be worried?
If you have questions, we have answers! Join us LIVE every Wednesday at 4 p.m. PST (7 p.m. EST) for Talkin’ RV Tech, presented by RVtravel.com. Here is a sample from one of our recent shows where one of our viewers shares their concern about their dump valve cables breaking.
How often do these cables break and should you, as an RVer, be worried about it happening?
Video of the day
Best video EVER on how to back up a trailer
By Cheri Sicard
Backing up a trailer has to be one of the most panic-inducing tasks facing new RVers. I have known numerous RVers who will go FAR out of their way and spend loads of extra money on RV park pull-through spots just to avoid this dreaded task. Panic no more. When it comes to the topic of how to back up a trailer, the video below is one of the best we’ve seen on the topic.
Stupid RVer Trick: Dairy Queen RV drive-through disaster
How badly did this guy need a hamburger? This video definitely goes into our Stupid RVer Tricks Hall of Fame. How stupid would someone need to be to even attempt to enter a fast-food drive through with a narrow 90-degree turn while towing a long fifth wheel trailer? Yes, that is what happened here. Maximum Stupid!! Watch the burning rubber here.
Reader poll
What bothers you most, a neighbor’s loud music or barking dog?
?? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??
Okay, so… tell us why every single RVer doesn’t have one of these in their RV or tow vehicle?!
Quick Tip
Check the battery’s water level before charging
Need to charge your batteries but the “water level” is low? Wait until after you’ve charged them, then fill. Exception: If the level is below the top of the plates, fill to just cover the plates, then charge. After charging, complete the “fill up.”
Website of the day
Delicious canned tuna recipes
This might not be the most exciting website we’ve ever listed here, but we’re thinking there’s a good chance you have some canned tuna in your pantry right now. Are we right? Here are 31 delicious recipes for that tuna, so get to cookin’!
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
• No problem with reservations here. Is overcrowding a regional problem?
• Very wacky RVs seen in Walmart parking lots
• Yikes! Would your RV survive driving down (or up) this 25% grade?
Recipe of the Day
Aunt Lynda’s Cream Cheese Filled Banana Bread
by Kim from Boston, MA
Classic recipes are the best! This recipe takes classic banana nut bread and adds a cream cheese filling that elevates this to extraordinary banana bread. The bread is tender and full of flavor. It’s a neat surprise when you first cut into this loaf. Perfect for a light dessert or a snack with coffee.
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Trivia
Oh, say can you seeeeeee…. Can you guess which country has the longest national anthem? It’s Greece! The Greek National Anthem, known as “Hymn to Liberty,” is so long that it’s rarely sung from start to finish. The anthem is actually a poem, written by Dionysios Solomos and it’s 158 stanzas long! When Nikolaos Mantzaros put the poem to music, he wrote two scores: one for the full poem and one for the first two stanzas, which is usually the part that’s sung in public.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“Lucky is a 13-year-old Imperial Shih Tzu. He loves RVing, going camping, canoeing, anything active. He’s a lovable little boy.” —Jennifer Schwan
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!
Leave here with a laugh
If a cow doesn’t produce milk, is it a milk dud or an udder failure?
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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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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As for the 5th wheel trying to get through the drive-thru, I hope never to meet up on the highway. Super stubborn. Reminds me of that saying from the movie Forest Gump, “stupid is as stupid does.”
The backing up video was great. I am going to learn how to back up my RPod this year.
The easiest thing to remember is the bottom of your steering wheel turns in the same direction as the back of your trailer. So if you place your hands on the bottom of the steering wheel, and maneuver your tow vehicle that way, it makes it much simpler. I’m surprised that wasn’t brought up in the video.
Learning to back-up w/trailer or even just how to maneuver a large RV. Go to a large parking lot that is empty and use styrofoam cups for your pylons and practice, practice practice.
Lucky sure is a SMILIN’ HAPPY PUP!!! Lucky made us SMILE and today is a better day for his contribution to the world!
Cow is a double LOL and Terry great third guess!
ANIMALS ARE GREAT!
O.K. I’ll ask one more time. I’ve seen videos of the 11’8″ railroad overpass a dozen times. How many times has the highway department been sued? The two large yellow signs say 12’4″. That’s an 8″ difference. If I can clear by 6 or 8 inches, I might decide to go for it too.
What’s the deal? I think they just like watching the carnage.
The 11’8″ bridge was raised to 12’4″. The bridge is owned by the railroad. It was raised in 2019. Folks still ignore the warnings.
Thanks MrDisaster, that explains a lot. Having driven trucks all my life, I still marvel at the folks that don’t know/pay attention to bridge heights.
We dislike barking dogs, tho we love dogs, and depending on type of music and how loud. As for the Dairy Queen incident, we have found many places where we couldn’t even get our truck in much less our rig. Guess he just didn’t care. Park it and walk in.
If a cow doesn’t give milk a Dairy man would call it hamburger.
Equally as funny!
On the Quick Tip: Check the battery’s water level before charging. I can’t quite concede this is the right way to do it. To follow the tip, you charge the battery then you add water which dilutes to electrolyte. For 60 years I’ve always added water first then charged the battery which brings the electrolyte (liquid sulfuric acid) to its full specific gravity. Take this one step further. You do your routine vehicle maintenance and find a battery low on fluid. So, as you’ve been driving the battery has been charging. You now add water. Okay now what do you do? The tip says charge before adding water. Well, you’ve been charging it all along as you’ve been driving. So of course, once you start your vehicle the battery is now charging with the fresh fill of water. Somewhere along the line after you added water, the battery will get charged. There’s no way around it.
Backing up is the reason I sold my TT and bought a Class C motor home.
Learning to back up a TT can be frustrating at first. It’s hard to teach your wife. I have tried telling her about tail swing, but it’s always a fail. She gets mad at me and slams the truck door. I encourage her to try again; sometimes it is a win and sometimes a fail. I think it’s because other campers are watching. I’ve told her that you learn by failing. And it will get easier as time goes on.
the backup video is very good
I have a 5th wheel and have used a 20 ton bottle jack under one of the round (retracted) leveling pads (while hitched to the truck) just aft of the tires. It seemed to be the most stable and easiest point to access and the leveling jack is tied to the frame……thoughts?
Your tow vehicle has designated jack points: would it be too difficult for rv manufacturers to do the same?
Mystery product of the day, if you’re by yourself this may be OK.Otherwise where does someone with you put their cup? I guess they could be like the woman who put her hot cup of coffee between her legs so she could sue McDonalds, and where does the other person put their food as I only see 2 cup holders in our car. For $30 I’ll just keep my food on the dash. Lol that ad was totally useless as far as I’m concerned.
And people driving down the road with this in front of them. Not only eating and drinking but texting while the enjoy their meal.
That McDonalds store had been warned many times about their coffee being too hot (190 degrees.) 700 people had been burned by it in the past. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNWh6Kw3ejQ
They also settled most of those claims out of court. I wonder if the brilliant legal mind who decided to go to trial against an 80-year old kept his job.
I will keep my food on the table in the restaurant. When I am behind the wheel of the car I am driving and doing nothing else.
Agree, drive or eat not both.
Woman wasn’t driving, but sitting at McDonald’s. She suffered 3rd degree burns on her legs and buttocks when removing the lid. There was a gag order on this case for years making this woman look bad. There had been more than 1500 complaints about the temperature of the coffee. She wasn’t out to sue and only asked for damages until they denied her. Time to put this non joke to rest. As for the food holder, unnecessary in an RV but for someone who travels a lot and eats in parking lots this could be great