Issue 2071
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
“It is better, I think, to grab at the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Oreo Cookie Day!
On this day in history: 1899 – Bayer registers “Aspirin” as a trademark.
Did you see the news? Click here for the latest news for RVers
Tip of the Day
An exercise-free weight-loss program for your RV
By Janet Groene
Are you feeling sluggish? Off balance? Slower off the starting line? This isn’t about your waistline, it’s about your RV’s safe handling, braking and fuel efficiency! Do you, like the rest of us, carry TOO MUCH STUFF?
Here is a weight-loss program for RVs; ways to lose unwanted RV weight. Individually, they may not make a huge difference, but collectively, they can!
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.”
The RV’s slide-out is stuck extended. What do the controller blinks mean?
Dear Dave,
My RV’s slide-out room is stuck in the out position. I get 1 green light and 8 red blinks. I already changed the motor plugs around and am still getting Motor 1 issues. Could this be a faulty controller? The wire seems to be OK and is not pinched. —Rosemdo, 2014 Forest River Grey Wolf
In the RV Shop with Dustin
The importance of inspecting your seven-way cord and junction box
Last summer, a class action lawsuit was filed in a Montana federal court against Forest River, Inc. This lawsuit alleges that all Forest River fifth wheels built between 2002 through 2022 are equipped with an unsafe wiring system. 50 pages of documents accuse the manufacturer of not safely insulating and protecting wires between the towing vehicle’s seven-way cord junction box and an RV’s battery. This can increase the risk of a short and creates a hazardous condition.
Wednesday: RV repair and maintenance advice
Our experts answer your RV repair and maintenance questions on live webcast
Our tech experts, Dave, Dustin and Zach, will answer your questions about RV Repair and Maintenance LIVE Wednesday from 4-5 p.m. Pacific time (7-8 p.m. in the East). So pick their brains via chat. Ask questions about RV repair and maintenance or just lurk and soak up all the valuable information. Learn where to watch in Wednesday’s newsletter.
Video of the day
Tour the Meerkat RV – Stand-up trailer that fits in a garage!
By Cheri Sicard
Take a tour of the 2021 Meerkat RV with the team from Playing with Sticks. This YouTube channel specializes in tiny RVs, and the Meerkat RV has a whole lot going for it. The biggest appeal is that it is a full stand-up, hard-sided trailer, but it will fit in an ordinary garage stall when not in use!
The Meerkat trailer weighs a mere 920 pounds, meaning finding a suitable tow vehicle is no problem. Almost anything can handle that, even a 4-cylinder car!
Don’t carry a heavy iron with you… use WrinkleGuard!
Leave the heavy iron and ironing board at home. Downy’s WrinkleGuard Wrinkle Release Fabric Spray works like magic (seriously… we’ve used it!). Just spray your wrinkly item, smooth it out, and voila! The wrinkles will disappear. Not only that, but it helps get rid of static, too. It’s perfect for RVers. Learn more or order.
Yikes! Would your RV survive driving down (or up) this 25% grade?
Readers Brian and Bobbi Cook sent us an email with a note and photo, and all we have to say is WOW! They wrote: “Famous last words: ‘Do you think we can make it with our 40-foot 5th wheel?’ ‘Sure, piece of cake! Besides, we haven’t tested the brakes in a while!’” Fasten your seatbelt, then read more.
Reader poll
Do you have a National Parks, America the Beautiful, pass?
Quick Tip
Time to defrost the fridge?
RV refrigerator seemingly not as cold as it should be? Open the fridge door and examine the cooling fins at the back of the compartment. If they’re coated with ice, it’s time to defrost. Shut off the fridge, remove the food to an ice chest with ice, insert a pan of hot water in the fridge and close the door. Prepare to mop up the meltdown. Restart and reload.
Website of the day
Pinterest: Road Trip Ideas
Don’t blame us if you spend three hours exploring here… there is ENDLESS information! This Pinterest page leads you to hundreds of blogs and websites with so many wonderful, inspiring travel ideas.
?? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??
We appreciate anything that saves us time, and this definitely saves us time in the morning (and saves us cleaning too!).
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
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- Ghost Town Trails: Tumco, California
- Be tick aware: The three types of ticks most likely to bite you
Recipe of the Day
Oreo Cookies & Cream Cookies
by Jean Romero from Lewiston, ID
We like a good ol’ chocolate chip cookie. But add Oreos and we’re in love. Right out of the oven, these were ooey, gooey good. They’re chewy, with chunks of chocolate sandwich cookies in each bite. Their sweet and buttery flavor will have you coming back for more. Serve with a glass of cold milk for a yummy cookie break.
Trivia
Wearing any gold jewelry right now? If so, there’s a good chance it came from South Africa. Almost 50 percent of all the gold ever extracted by humans has come from the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa, the most gold-rich location on planet Earth. Since the discovery of gold there in 1886, more than 50,000 tons of gold have been extracted.
Readers’ Pets of the Day
“Although both Iz, the Chihuahua, and Natie, the Papillon, are now RVing up in heaven, I could not resist posting this photo. They are at the kitchen table and Iz (in the background) photo-bombed Natie.” —JJ Kosmider
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
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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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Iz, the Chihuahua, and Natie, the Papillon are awaiting you at the Rainbow Bridge, for sure! They look like they were very happy and much-loved pups! So sorry for your loss.
At first I thought: “Why would someone need instruction on defrosting a fridge?” Then I realized that most people today have never had to do that. As a kid that was one of my jobs, to help Mom defrost the fridge. It was actually fun, especially in the summer. Caution: an icepick can ruin your life (however back then cooling coils were actually repairable), and a too hot hair dryer can melt the plastics into today’s fridges. (I guess now I have to explain an icepick.)
lol!!! 😀
Great photo bomb, Izzie! Adorable angels!
We have 2 Schwintek slides on our motorhome. They (Schwintek) make it look so easy to take the slide motors out but I have found it almost impossible to get my hand in a small place to remove the screw so the motor can come out. Easier said than done.
We really dislike downgrades tho where we travel often, to go see family, there are many. Not so worried if RV can handle it, it’s if my husband can. We are full timers and once in awhile after one of those, we pull over to check our stuff inside. We will be doing it yet again in a few months.
We live seasonally parked in our RV. After the first winter I found a dual 12v fan that mounts directly to the fins and runs continuously (it has a manual switch). While some ice still builds over six months time, the only time we need to defrost is at the end of the season when we shut everything down.
I use a blow dryer on my fins and the freezer never turn it off. Just put the stuff in the sink and cover with a towel. Takes maybe 10 to 15 min to complete. no need to put in cooler with ice.
I’ve been using the hair dryer method for over 20 years in all my rvs with no issues. The secret is to keep the dryer moving. Do not set it down & leave it running. Also, don’t try to melt every last piece of ice. Set the freezer contents in your sink, Then scrape off the frost, which can be most of the thickness & put it in a bowl with a spatula. Then only heat the remaining solid ice enough to loosen it & scrape the rest off. Soak up the water with a shamwow. The less heat you apply, the quicker the fridge will recover. For the fridge, set a towel on the top shelf just below the fins & apply just enough heat to loosen the ice blocks on each fin. Pull each ice chunk forward, onto the towel. Start to finish, fridge & freezer in less than 15 minutes.
Same here for freezer. We run a fan on the fins in the fridge and never have any ice build up.
Our daughter doesn’t do a diet, that’s a dirty four letter word, instead she has an eating plan! So this would probably apply. DW and I are always in “meal planning”.
First I read the article on getting rid of unnecessary stuff. Then I see the “unnecessary” egg cooker. You can’t have it both ways. Ha!
My thoughts exactly. Use a pan you already have in your RV. I have one of these “appliances” in the house and seldom use it.
My immediate thought as well. We wouldn’t even have a place for it at home.
I love my egg cooker but now I buy a bunch of already hard cooked eggs at Costco!!
Note on Defost the fridge. We never turn off the Norcold fridge when camping just to defrost. Clear the top shelf off. A small flat rechargeable fan aimed at the fins will melt the ice away over several hours. Works every time. And when out camping in the heat – no ice available – where does one put those cold items?
I bet you would complain if you found a $20 dollar bill; wanting it to be a $50.
There’s a poll question for you. What’s the most money you ever found? For me it was a fifty but the next day in nearly the same place it was only a five, but I didn’t complain . . .
We always carry a mid size Styrofoam foam ice chest. Put the cold stuff in it and it will remain cold for a couple of hours. You can store blankets or clothes in it until you need to use it. Almost no extra weight involved.
About defrosting thr fridge, why not use a hairdryer instead of a pan of hot water? It’s faster and can be cleaned while defrosting, instead of having to mop the floor at the very end.
A pan of hot water will create more moisture in the fridge. Meaning more moisture and longer cleaning time. The hair dryer will evaporate a lot of the moisture. Just make sure the dryer is plugged into a GFCI or has one built into the cord!
And like LB said, quicker.
Yup!