Issue 2091
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
“Our spring has come at last with the soft laughter of April suns and shadow of April showers.” —Byron Caldwell Smith
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Find A Rainbow Day!
On this day in history: 1860 – The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins.
Did you see the news? Click here for the Latest News for RVers
Tip of the Day
Don’t let charcoal go to waste. Use it around your RV!
By Gail Marsh
It almost never fails. At the end of a camping trip, we have just a few pieces of charcoal left in the bottom of the bag. In the past, I’ve moved these leftover pieces into a non-combustible container. If I remember to pack the container along on our next trip, we’ll use it to BBQ. But that’s a big “if”! I never seem to remember to grab the leftover charcoal container. So, I found these tips and tricks for reusing charcoal briquettes and they all work well in and around my RV. I hope you like (and use) them, too!
Ask Dave
Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and author of the “RV Handbook.”
Is the Schwintek slide mechanism any better now?
Dear Dave,
Saddest industry yet to see in my 25 years of camping. The very fact that Grand Design and Schwintek have not had RECALLS on the RVs they have destroyed by putting a less than adequate slide system on a family vacation vehicle is an embarrassment to them and the people who buy them. Sorry, I don’t really have a question, just a rant.
We bought our forever camper spring of 2022. Nothing but slide issues and missed trips. The flooring in my new camper even got destroyed because the slide was so out of whack. And this was upon our first trip using it. We are experienced campers—this would be our fifth and final forever camper. Did we ever get a headache! We noticed they changed the design on the 2023 models. So we wanted to trade up for that. YEA, to the tune of another $20,000 out of pocket!!! It’s just disgusting. —Rhonda, 2022 Grand Design Reflection 260RD
In the RV shop with Dustin
Prepping your RV roof for resealing
If you find yourself wondering, “How do I clean and prep the RV roof sealants and surface before resealing with Alpha or Dicor self-leveling sealants?” then join me as I give you a quick rundown on how to prep and clean the roof before sealing it with RV roofing tools and products that I use at my repair shop.
Video of the day
5 things to NEVER do in an RV
By Cheri Sicard
That RV Tech is back with another informative video. In it, he shares 5 things you should never do in your RV.
Veteran RVers might think some of this is common sense. But you don’t know what you don’t know, so new RVers take note. Even veterans might learn a thing or two in the video below.
5 of the most important questions to ask before you buy your next RV
By Ron Burdge, RV Lemon Law Attorney
When you get ready to buy an RV, there are five questions you should always ask the dealer first, before you sign anything at all. Find out what they are here. Very important information.
Reader poll
Do you wish your RV were five feet longer or five feet shorter?
Quick Tip
Handy hint for using a gas oven
If your oven at home is electric, adjusting to a gas stove in the RV can be a trick. Gas ovens usually don’t heat as evenly and may have hot spots. Turn your items several times when baking to even out the cooking. Or, Mary L. suggests using a heat deflector. If you can’t find one at a kitchen supply store, take a cookie sheet, turn it wrong side up on the oven rack and place your baking dish/pan on top of it. This eliminates food burned to the bottom of the dish. Thanks, Mary!
Website of the day
Want to Become a National Park Ranger? Here’s What It Takes
This informative article from Thrillist tells you everything you need to know about becoming a National Park Ranger. We think it would be fun!
Popular articles you may have missed at RVtravel.com
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?? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??
Some people died who may be alive today if only they had this under-$10 product handy! Keep this in your RV or car. Always! You never know.
Recipe of the Day
Cabbage Roll Casserole
by Beth Pierce from Old Monroe, MO
While delicious, cabbage rolls are time-consuming to prepare. This cabbage roll casserole has all the same flavors of cabbage rolls, without all the fuss. The seasoning is well balanced with the tomato, rice, and meat mixture. Cayenne pepper adds the perfect amount of heat (but that can easily be omitted). We loved all the layers of cheesy goodness. It will become one of your favorite go-to dinner meals.
Trivia
Horse lovers, close your ears! The first canned dog food in America was created to dispose of excess horse meat. Once upon a time, we relied on horses for many things, including transportation. But with the invention of cars… what happened to all those horses? Well, dogs were hungry, so… The first canned dog food was made from horse meat and some vitamins and was introduced in 1922 by the Chappel Brothers. The dog food became so successful that within a decade, they were raising and slaughtering 50,000 horses a year for the food. Later, they sold the successful business to Quaker Oats. Eventually, during World War I, we stopped using horse meat (thank goodness) and by World War II rationing had put an end to most canned dog foods. That’s when kibble was introduced.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“Moxie is our 3-year-old Chihuahua (deer head) and she keeps us and our Jack Russell, Bentley, busy. Both love to travel! She prefers it when it’s over 100 degrees! The name ‘Moxie’ is obvious; however, Bentley is named specifically because my lovely wife always wanted a Bentley, and now she has one!” —John Macatee
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
Police have finally arrested the World Tongue Twister champion. They say he will be given a very tough sentence.
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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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Cabbage casserole looks yummy. But with just me I would be eating it for a week.
Has the contest page gone away? I look every day to see if my RV is featured
Hi, Susan. “Is this your RV?” was going to “go away,” but due to the “outcry” from our readers, we’re continuing the contest. The only difference is that it will now be in the newsletters on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Good luck! And have a great day! 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
The Trivia posting reminded me of my youth, when at 14yo I always helped my friends parents in their pet shop, where the would buy a horse carcass and we would cut it up in cubes and package it to sell to pet owners who would purchase it for their pet dogs at 7lb or 3lb packages that the shop sold… There was some instances where a customer would come in with their pet and buy a 7lb package of horse liver, that we did not think their dog could finish in two weeks, but came every week for the same amount… That was in 1958
My best friend went to college to be a forest ranger back in the 70’s . His parents found out that ranger pay was barely above poverty level. He ended up being a Mining Engineer.
I went to college to be a forester in the early 70’s. Upon graduation I hired on with the USFS and took a 40% cut in pay from being a high lead logger. But I am still alive and healthy today. An unlikely event if I had stayed a logger.
Had to chuckle at todays thought. April 2nd and 14 inches of new snow and still snowing. Thank you for it but it’s time to turn it off and send rain.
I agree! It’s supposed to be “April showers bring May flowers” Of course you know what May flowers bring . . . . . Pilgrims.
“…everything you need to know about becoming a National Park Ranger. We think it would be fun!”
People tend to glamourize a Park Ranger’s daily duties. After all, they just hang out in beautiful locations chatting with visitors all day, right? That is the part of their job we frequently see.
While visiting the Kentucky Horse Park – National Horse Center (managed by the NPS) a couple of years ago I was fortunate to talk to two of the park’s mounted Nat’l Park Rangers for quite some time. I learned a lot about their daily routine and make no mistake…they are law enforcement. As such they deal with druggies, drunks, fights and other violence, thefts, people in medical emergencies, rude people not following rules, and even crazy people coming onsite to intentionally try to harm the horses!
While their jobs are interesting, certainly necessary, and I’m sure personally rewarding, it is no “walk in the park!”
Park Rangers and Forest Rangers are vastly different. The first manages people and the second manages trees.
Trivia article doesn’t completely make sense as World War 1 ended in 1918 so how did that affect introduction of canned Horsemeat Dog Food in 1922?
I was wondering the same thing. Something is wrong with this article. 😁
When I was young, my grandmother lived on acreage in CA and had well over a dozen cats and more than a half-dozen dogs. She bought chubs of horsemeat to feed her animals because it was cheap. This was in the 70’s and I was a teenager working at a horse ranch! I still remember the look and the horrible smell of the horsemeat and it upset me to no end! I don’t know when that practice was discontinued…
Yes that practice continues to some extent. Some large breed horses such as Clydesdales are being bread exclusively for meat, for Japan, and are being shipped from Alberta to Japan for horse meat. The Japanese pay top top top dollar for this delicacy. I find the practice of breeding horses for slaughter hideous personally. There is strong opposition to this practice in Alberta. It is being compared to the annual Japanese whale harvest.
Not sure why horse meat isn’t a good dog food. There are literally 10’s of thousands of wild horses in the custody of the Interior department that cost we taxpayers millions of dollars a year to maintain. I say let’s get back to more healthy food for our dogs…
Pertaining to hot spots in the oven, a pizza stone placed on the rack works extremely well. It maintains an even heat while cooking.
For the Trivia information, horses must have a better PR agent than cows and chickens. 😉
lol, totally agree! Horses just happen to look nicer than cows and especially chickens. We used to raise chickens and I can’t believe how good something can taste that is so utterly stupid and ugly!
Exactly. Wild horses are loved by all, except those of us that find them in our front yards crushing our sprinkler systems, stomping on wifey’s hard-earned and beautiful flower beds, and leaving huge ‘land mines’ up and down our streets. And we live in the city!