Issue 2295
Welcome to RV Travel’s Daily Tips Newsletter, where you’ll find helpful RV-related tips from the pros, travel advice, RV videos, product reviews and more. Please tell your friends about us.
Today’s thought
“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Curried Chicken Day! (How about making a recipe by our own Nanci Dixon, Spicy Chicken Curry Soup? Yum!)
On this day in history: 1998 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning. (Whew!)
Tip of the Day
Tips to avoid RV tail swing trouble
By Gail Marsh
Ouch! Can you guess what kind of RV accident many people don’t know about, and perhaps even fewer folks know how to avoid? Ask any company that insures RVs and they’ll tell you that RV tail swing causes many, many accidents each year. We can all use some tips to avoid RV tail swing trouble!
A friend recently finished fueling his RV and pulled away from the station’s pumps. Suddenly he heard a loud, sickening crunch. He immediately braked and jumped out to investigate. The back corner of his motorhome was crushed. His RV tail had clipped a post positioned near the fuel pump. This tail swing incident cost over $30,000 in repairs. Yipes!
Ask Dave
Why does one trailer taillight work but no other lights, whether hooked up or not?
Dear Dave,
I unhooked my RV and lights from the tow vehicle and the left taillight on the trailer continued to shine. I reconnected the RV and the left light continued to shine but no other trailer lights work. The left light shines regardless if the trailer is hooked up or not. My tow vehicle flashed left taillight error on dash while towing RV. —Martin, 2010 Open Range Journeyer JT287RLS
In the RV Shop with Dustin
Upgrade your fifth wheel with Roadmaster Comfort Ride system
Join me “In The RV Shop” as I talk about upgrading your fifth wheel with the Roadmaster Comfort Ride system. The system is designed to improve the ride and handling of fifth wheel trailers by reducing shock transfer and vibrations. If you’re considering upgrading your fifth wheel suspension with the Roadmaster Comfort Ride system, here are steps you can take…
Video of the day
Dangerous RV places to avoid and how to stay safe on the road
By Cheri Sicard
In the video below, Izzy and MJ from Endless RVing discuss dangerous RV places you want to avoid traveling. They also share a frightening encounter they had, along with the steps they take to stay safe while on the road.
The couple stresses they didn’t produce the video to induce fear, but rather to share knowledge and help others stay safe. The purpose of the video is to help reduce the chances of your becoming the victim of a crime while still being able to take advantage of free overnight parking in your RV. In the quest, they cover several topics and places they say are less safe than others.
Our favorite camping directories
At RVtravel.com we have worked closely with Roundabout Publications for two decades, our favorite publisher of campground directories. Here are some of their most recent titles:
Camping in America’s City & Town Parks • Camping in America’s County Parks • Camping in State Parks (Western USA) • Camping in State Parks (Eastern USA) • Corps of Engineers Camping • National Forest Camping • Bureau of Land Management Camping • Van and RV Camping at State Recreation Areas • Camping in America’s City & Town Parks
The last Airstream built before WWII
By Paul Lacitinola
When this 1941 Airstream Clipper came up for sale, the Gulleys were extremely excited and jumped at the chance to own another piece of trailer history! Thinking it may be a rare piece, they didn’t hesitate to seal the deal and take possession. Turns out it wasn’t the trailer they were told it was; however, it did have an even more desirable provenance! Learn more.
You may have missed these recent popular stories…
- Used motorhome prices “drop like a rock,” says wholesale market watcher
- Factory trailer tires cost just $20 each. “Trailer companies should be fined by Feds for putting cheap tires on!”
- BLM, SEC maneuvering to sell off public lands; future of camping could be significantly impacted
- New RV broke, no help from manufacturer until TV station steps in
Reader poll
Have you visited Hawaii in the last ten years?
Fire-resistant bag keeps valuables safe!
This silicone-coated fire-resistant bag will save your money, documents, jewelry, passport and other valuables from a fire. Its two layers of supreme fire retardant fiberglass material make it resist fire and heat up to 2000° F. It’s waterproof, too, so when the hoses arrive, your valuables won’t be harmed. Learn more or order.
Quick Tip
An easy way to help control food costs
Keeping food costs down can also result in keeping time spent in the galley reduced, providing more time for other pursuits. Here’s a tip for the rolling chef: When preparing meals, consider if your menu choices can be prepared in larger portions and reprised at a later date. Can you make double or triple portions, and put the leftovers in the freezer? You’ll save on time, often on ingredients, and later, after a long day on the road, your frozen meals can be popped in the microwave or gently reheated while left in the bag and warmed up in a pan of water.
On this day last year…
- Tip: What if disaster strikes and you can’t get back to your RV?
- Ask Dave: Does RV’s fresh water tank need to be full for water heater to fill?
- Video: Creative and innovative gypsy wagon DIY RV build tour
- Featured article: Absolutely DO NOT try to squeeze a 40-foot motorhome into a tent site!
Website of the day
American Heart Association “Find a Course” map
If you haven’t been trained in CPR, the American Heart Association has created a “Find a Course” map where you can find a CPR course near you. Sign up—you might save a life!
?? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??
Ummmm… This will come in handy if you ever need to fight off a mouse, or a miniature Chihuahua, or a bumble bee or…???
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.
• RV LIFE Trip Wizard: Make your RV road trip planning easier than ever.
Recipe of the Day
Grilled Chicken Patty
by Dana Beavers from Fort Worth, TX
Want to sneak some veggies onto your kids’ plates… and they enjoy it? Try these delicious grilled chicken burgers. There are vegetables cooked within the patty, lending tons of additional flavor and they keep the chicken moist. A tasty alternative to beef burgers.
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Trivia
Common gray squirrels play the most significant role in the seeding of North American forests. It’s true! The cute little gray squirrels we know and love spend almost half of their adult lives hunting for and burying their food. Unlike other squirrel species, they don’t just hoard their collection in one place but, instead, bury their food in hundreds of locations. Later, they forget where they hid all those nuts and seeds, which results in millions of new saplings each year. They contribute to more forest growth than any other animal, including Mother Nature herself!
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“14.5-year-old Booboo (Pomeranian) is always ready to go anywhere with me. She prefers the back seat. We’re headed out to a new adventure with a camping buddy.” —Karen Talley
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!
• RVing with Dogs group on Facebook. You’ll love it.
Device keeps fresh water tank clean
Tony Barthel writes: “The RV Inline Sanitizer is the simplest of solutions. It’s essentially a reservoir in which you put bleach and then use a source hose and a delivery hose to fill your fresh water tank. The sanitizer effectively adds the bleach as you fill the tank. It is truly that simple.” Read more about this nifty device here.
Leave here with a laugh
This made us cry with laughter!
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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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Don’t feed the squirrels- Tree Rats- once they get into your house it is THOUSANDS of dollars to get rid of them and fix the damage they do.
But to the uninitiated they’re so CUTE!
Yeah, not so cute when one gets into the back of your rv refrigerator and destroys the wiring and then gets electrocuted for doing it. You get it repaired for several hundred dollars and 2 years later another one does the same thing again.
This happened to me. $1300 to repair and they found 5 dead baby squirrels when they pulled the fridge out to fix it. I hate them.
After spending just over a week in November, at a nicely wooded creekside campground in the Smokies, we discovered a nut hidden in our battery compartment. We discovered another in the engine compartment AFTER we drove some 200 miles! They obviously make use of what’s available. We haven’t found any more….yet.
Thank you, Emily and Diane! 🙂
Quick Tip.
We do this all the time. Prepare the food at home then use the vacuum sealer to make individual or meal size portions. Freeze them and put them in the TT freezer. You can also put some in the frig for the first couple of days since they are vacuum sealed.
There are also microwave safe bags available.
Ah squirrels, play in trees at nights, drop nuts and debris on the roof of my trailer from midnight to dawn…
I had to get rid of the feeders because the squirrels were chasing the birds away and after seeing this? OMG that is so classic.
True squirrels can do a lot of damage, but they make good pot pie.