Issue 2081
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’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” —Mark Twain
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is the first day of spring! We made it!
On this day in history: 1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Did you see the news? Click here for the latest news for RVers
Tip of the Day
Using painter’s tape while RVing in brilliant ways you’ve never thought of
Among the “must haves” in our RV toolbox is a roll of painter’s tape. We’ve used the tape for many things, but never for painting. At least, not yet. We used to carry masking tape but disliked the sticky residue it sometimes left behind. So … painter’s tape it is! Check out these tips and tricks for painter’s tape and I bet you just might add a roll to your RV toolbox, too!
14 ways you can use painter’s tape in your RV
- Label tools. My husband and I take our big toolbox to work camping jobs. With several volunteers working at a job site, it’s difficult to keep track of our own tools. So, my husband used painter’s tape to label all of them. Now we can tell at a glance which tools are ours at the end of the workday. Hint: Put the tape in a location that won’t wear off as the tool is used.
- Straight caulking line. I noticed that the caulk on our RV shower needed to be replaced. I wanted a clean, straight caulk line. So, I applied a strip of painter’s tape to either side of the gap where we planned to caulk. As I applied the caulk, I didn’t need to worry about making a smooth, straight line. Once the caulk was applied and smoothed, I just pulled up the tape to reveal a perfect line. If your hands get tired of applying caulk, use a caulking gun. This is the RVtravel.com favorite. Hint: This procedure also works for neatly applying glue to joints. Any excess glue is removed when you pull up the painter’s tape.
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Ask Dave
Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and author of the “RV Handbook.”
How do I sanitize my RV’s fresh water tank through the filter?
Dear Dave,
I want to disinfect the fresh water tank after the long winter storage. Even though it has been “empty,” I will be adding some bleach along with water. To fill the tank, one must use a hose. I would like to remove the disposable water filter installed by Newmar in the wet bay and add some bleach/water to the filter holder and screw it back in without the filter and flush the mixture into the freshwater tank. Will this work or is there a better way? If I left the filter in and added bleach via a hose, I suspect the activated charcoal filter would remove the bleach before it went into the tank. I am assuming the filter is between the hose fill and the tank. Your thoughts? Thanks. —Phillip, 2022 Newmar Dutch Star 4081
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Video of the day
RV oxygenating shower head install and review
By Cheri Sicard
Whether or not you buy this particular brand of RV shower head or another, the video below from WeRmudfun will help you see that installing a new RV shower head is not a big deal. And whether you use this brand or another, I am here to say that oxygenating shower heads in RVs are major game changers!
My current RV shower, with its oxygenating shower head, even when running on the pump, is far better than in many of the sticks and bricks homes I have lived in.
Why your local RV dealer won’t honor your warranty
By Tony Barthel
You bought a new RV, and you got a great deal out of state. But now there are a few things wrong with it. So you take it to the local dealership where you saw the RV the first time. Now they’re saying they won’t work on it. What’s going on? Are they trying to rip you off? Actually, this is fully legitimate and well within the agreement between the manufacturers and the dealership.
Here’s why this happens so often and why you can expect it to continue happening. This is fascinating reading.
Reader poll
How many (non-spam) emails do you receive on an average day?
Quick Tip
Easy non-skid shower stall floor
Shower stall floor too slick for safety? Cut a piece or two of non-skid mat (normally used in the kitchen cupboard to restrain unruly dishes) and lay it in the shower.
Website of the day
All 50 States, Ranked by Their Beauty
If your state isn’t number one, or even number 32, you may have something to say about this list. Just remember, it’s only one person’s opinion. But it’s still fun to see where your state falls on the list.
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
- How it Happened: The invention of the potato chip
- Rambler Ranch: A shrine to old cars, Americana in rural Colorado
- Keep mice out of your RV while in storage with the BoxKat
?? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??
We were looking for something different but we came across this and love it WAY too much not to share. It’s an RVer’s mantra, isn’t it?
Recipe of the Day
Sherry Balsamic Caramelized Brussels Sprouts
by Lou Kostura from Belmont, CA
If you are a Brussels sprout lover, these will make you swoon. When prepared like this, there’s a love affair in the making. These are slightly crisp outside and tender inside after cooking. The garlic adds a nice touch of flavor along with the wild mushrooms. The balsamic vinegar brings this tasty side dish together.
Trivia
When cows burp, they release bursts of gas that are full of methane, a greenhouse gas that traps heat from the sun more than 20 times as efficiently as carbon dioxide. Now scientists are working out how to reduce the environmental footprint of these belching bovines.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“Bella is 13 years old. She was diagnosed with amelanotic malignant melanoma on her nose in November 2020. The dog oncologist gave us 6-7 months due to the aggressiveness of this tumor. We love every minute we have with her. It’s been over 3 years and she is still going strong. We love her more every day. She loves camping and she has a favorite chair.” —Carl Patterson
Send us a photo of your pet with a short description. We publish one each weekday in RV Daily Tips and in our Sunday 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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Editor: Emily Woodbury
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Thanks for the brussel sprout recipe. Was looking for something to go with dinner.
We must be doing pretty well as today’s complaints are about ground hogs and weather men, whether weather men or women. I’m just glad that we do have weather. The other big “beef” is about bovine belches? If they couldn’t belch they would explode. Picture that! Having traveled this old USA, I find it nuts that someone thinks one state is prettier than another. Get off the Interstates and travel some back roads. As for me I leave the bovine and ground hogs alone – they are here just doing what they are supposed to be doing. (BELCH!!, excuse me I just had lunch.)
Exactly. Life’s great. The planet is healing. Cows are not exploding and every inch of America has some beauty.
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I’m not sure how sharing trivia in RVT about the study of bovine burps and its relationship to climate change science could be a surprise to anyone for it’s promotion of some open dialogue on climate science and climate non-science. The science is not settled and thus, differing opinions about it will exist. Personally, I would prefer civil conversation.
The name calling, whether directly or as passive aggressive sarcasm is unfortunate but not surprising on such a polarizing scientific issue. BOTH WAYS .
Wow, just wow. The ignorance and anger is just mind boggling.
I know, right!? Amazed by the ignorance.
Please keep politics out of the comments discussion. Your name-calling takes up a great deal of our staff’s time and it’s not welcome here. Thank you for understanding and respecting our rules! –Emily, RVtravel.com
Cataclysmic climate change is a political scam. Thousands of scientists have signed white papers confirming this. Governments and MSM are suppressing their existence.
Bella you continue to enjoy life with your Furparents, Furfriends and traveling with your RV! Keep a positive attitude! Bella you are a cutie pup!!!
It’s so stupid to try to figure out how to reduce the carbon footprint of the poor cows when the carbon footprint of John Kerry’s jet, and the Air Force One, and the many other airplanes used by politicians is so much higher. What they really want is for us to start eating their crap filler meatless burgers because that’s where the polititians, and Bill Gates, are investing their money.
This climate hoax is all about the money, not about what is best for us or the planet, if it was the politicians, and especially Kerry, would change their methods of transportation. But why should they when part of the population is so happy to propagate their lies for them?
And why do scientists also propagate their lies you ask? Well, go see how much funding their places of work, and colleges, are getting from the government towards fighting climate change. They’d be stupid to be truthful and lose that money.
Can you tell this is my pet peeve??
Possibly the largest hoax ever played on mankind. The climate hustle is a trillion dollar industry globally. Virtue signalling by politicians and A-listers in Hollywood having guilt for how well they live signal virtue to alleviate lifestyle guilt by flying on private jets to complain about your carbon footprint at international climate summits. They sleep better.
Agree
SO Agree !
Agree, it’s also a lot about control.
Change the language, gain control. Make natural events seem more extreme to gain control.
Polar Vortex = Bad Blizzard
Bomb Cyclone = Big Storm
Did you ever hear those extreme definitions as a child? No change in weather, just the verbage.
You’ll see how much of a hoax it is when you run out of fresh drinking water.
Sorry to hear you ran out of fresh drinking water. Did you check for a kink in your hose? What time did that happen? Can I send you a case of FIJI, in plastic bottles using deisel power to ship it?
And, what does your running out of fresh drinking water have to do with cow burps? Or the climate hoax. Go outside and hook up your water.
Boy did you miss the point. A good part of the western US has a severe drought that is forcing a sharp cutback in the use of fresh water. Doesn’t sound like a climate hoax to me.
Climate change is not a hoax. It’s been happening for millions of years. Mother earth has gone through years of droughts, years of torrential rains and everything in between. The earth will survive…mankind on the other hand may not.
Yes Charlie, you are 100% correct, climate change is not a hoax. As you know (i think), the hoax is that mankind’s contributions to climate change are significant. It is an industry of fear and just like we saw during the pandemic, fear can drive an industry and can change behavior or a free person’s willingness to be controlled.
Yes!
Absolutely agree.
I agree! When the politicians realized they were losing the battle they removed the “Anthropogenic” or man made, from the Anthropogenic Climate Change title. This because climate change is a constant in our planet. This new shorter title also makes it harder for the scientists to refute that it is a real thing.
As for mankind, they have been dying and surviving for millennia.
These new man made diseases, untested vaccines, and nutrient void man made foods, those will put a bigger dent on the population size than climate change will. Bill Gates has made it his life mission to make sure of that!
On a planet with 800,000,000 years of modern history. Are you saying that “climate” time on this planet started 100 years ago or maybe 200 years ago. One if the most simple factors in science is sample size. A sample size of 100 years is insignificant as a measurement to find a pattern spanning hundreds of millions of years.
Sample size: flip a coin 5 times and it is fairly possible that heads comes up 5 in a row. That’s a small sample size and it does not mean that the other side of the coin has disappeared. Flip it 1,000 times and its pretty likely to be a 50/50 split. Larger sample size.
Measuring climate using a 500 year sample is insignificant to a planet that has existed for a billion years. 200 years is not even a blip. 100 years, not a eyelash.
Is there a chance that a fresh water drought has happened before. Sometime in the past, let’s say, 1 million years, a small sample of time in planetary time.
Cat, The Western states (Major Urban Cities) are becoming SO overpopulated. The demand for water is overwhelming… Water Mgmt is SO Screwed up too.. Nature cant keep up… It has Zero to do with “Climate”…
That is a population problem, not a methane gas problem. Good grief.
When might that be ?
The list of US states was very interesting except, I don’t consider California a state. They don’t deserve it.
This statement tells a lot about you.
Triggered! Lol
🤣😆🤣😆
😜
Painters tape is great but don’t get it on the bathroom cabinet if painting as it will remove the cheap paper laminate on those cheap sawdust glue cabinet sides.
Use the purple color masking tape. The color of the masking tape tells you the strength of the glue it has and what type of surfaces it’s made to stick to plus how many days it should remain on the surface.
I was 1/2 way thru the states list when I realized it was a joke written by johnny robot
Not sure about welcoming Spring, since it is a cool 19 here in Watertown, TN this morning. Aqua Hot is purring and we are toasty warm, but Spring? Nah, it just fooling with us!
Bella looks just like my Max a Bichon except for the pink nose. We had a Bichon poodle mix years ago whose nose would turn pink in the winter.
Today is the first day of spring and it’s still been six weeks since that overgrown rat made its prediction. 😁😁😁😁😁😁
Kinda like the weather people on the TV! Where can you have a job, get paid a really good salary and be so wrong well over 75% of the time?
And put you into a panic about severe weather that never happens.
Exactly right!
Kind of like John Coleman on Chicago television channel 7 WBKB who everyone thought was a clown and blooming idiot who went on to form the weather channel, he wasn’t as much of a fool as people thought. Lol
That is why we aviators call them weather guessers…
Come on, Joe. They’re right 50% of the time when telling us what the weather was yesterday…
We saw one yesterday at the facility where we store our RV in the cold months. He stopped and looked at me before he took off, but I missed seeing his shadow. Does that count? I don’t know if his name was Phil. Maybe just Chuck.
Most people fail to realize from February 2nd to March 20 is 6 weeks, so if you get an early spring the overgrown rat gets the credit, if it sees its shadow we’ll have 6 more weeks of winter. It’s amazing how the masses can be fooled by marketers.
My guess is that most adults don’t take Phil’s prognostications seriously! Happy Spring, Bob!
Agreement from me on that Cat.