Issue 2353
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
“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 Walk Day! Go for a walk!
On this day in history: 1860 – The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins.
Tip of the Day
Need a new place to walk? Try this trail-finding trick with Google Maps
By Emily Woodbury
Enjoy walking but tired of the same ol’ trails or routes every time? Here’s how I’ve found dozens of trails close to home that I never knew about…
I thought I had walked every trail within a walk or short drive from my house, but boy, was I wrong. So, other than looking up “trails near Seattle” repeatedly on Google, I found a new, easier trick.
You’ll need Google Maps on your phone (it’s an app for both Apple and Android) for this. If you don’t feel like downloading the app (which I recommend you do for instances when you’re not at home near a computer), you can go to www.google.com/maps.
Once you have the app or are on the website, all you have to do to find nearby walking trails is…
Ask Dave
Can you elaborate on why you are a “big fan” of Coach-Net?
Dear Dave,
Would you be willing to elaborate on why you are a “big fan” of Coach-Net? —Michelle, 2021 Lance 1985
RV Reviews
2024 Salem Hemisphere 310BHI: Big, but it makes sense
By Tony Barthel
Today’s RV review is of the Salem Hemisphere 310BHI travel trailer. Make no mistake, this is a gigantic travel trailer at just under 39 feet in overall length and weighing in at over 9,000 pounds dry. In fact, you might wonder who in the Wide, Wide World of Sports might want something this gigantic. But several people have asked me specifically about something like this. What you have here is a very large travel trailer that features the opportunity to be a number of things.
In the RV Shop with Dustin
How to check for and repair RV slide-out failures from hydraulic ram leaks
By Dustin Simpson
Join me “In The RV Shop” as I explain what a hydraulic ram leak in the slide-out mechanism of an RV can look like and how it can lead to operational issues and potential damage. If you notice hydraulic fluid leaking from the ram, it’s essential to address the issue promptly to prevent further damage and ensure the proper functioning of the slide-out.
Video of the day
DIY grilled Mediterranean meal prep for easy RV meals
By Cheri Sicard
I love pre-prepping for meals in my RV. You mess up the kitchen once but have enough food to make multiple easy, healthy meals. Plus, having a plan helps you use ALL of your groceries. In this video from Pro Home Cooks, we get some great tips and recipes for healthy Mediterranean meals.
Can you RV camp at a military campground?
By Paul Stimers
Are you or a member of your family on active military duty? Are you retired or disabled? If you are, did you know you’re eligible to camp on military campgrounds? If you’ve never heard of the program, it’s called the MWR branch. And all branches of service have one. It stands for the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) branch. Learn more.
Reader poll
Do you wish your RV were five feet longer or five feet shorter?
Helpful resources
• NATIONAL TRAFFIC AND ROAD CLOSURE INFORMATION
• ROAD AND TRAFFIC CONDITIONS ACROSS THE NATION
• WEATHER ALERTS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
• LATEST RV RECALLS
• DIRECTORY OF RV PARKS WITH STORM SHELTERS
• THE BEST RV TRIP PLANNER APPS AND TOOLS
Did you buy a lemon RV? Here’s more about RV lemons and lawyers who will represent you if you need help.
Quick Tip
Help for emptying tanks on a slope
Pull into a dump station with a slope away from the dump? Getting the tanks empty can be difficult—until you crank up your leveling jacks on the far side of the rig to give your sewage a little lift.
On this day last year…
- Tip: Don’t let charcoal go to waste. Use it around your RV!
- Ask Dave: Is the Schwintek slide mechanism any better now?
- In the RV Shop with Dustin: Prepping your RV roof for resealing
- Video: 5 things to NEVER do in an RV
Website of the day
Work for the National Park Service
Tired of working INSIDE? Want to try something new? Need an extra income? Try working for the National Park Service. This page gives you all the information you’ll need to get started.
?? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??
Some people died who may be alive today if only they had this under-$5 product handy! Keep this in your RV or car. Always! You never know.
Recipe of the Day
Chicken Cordon Bleu With Sauce
by Betty Graves from Germantown, TN
With its beautiful swirl of chicken, ham, and melted cheese, chicken cordon bleu is a fun dish to serve company. The chicken is seared, so the juices are locked in. Making the cream sauce in the same pan lets the caramelized drippings incorporate into the savory sauce. When sliced, the chicken cordon bleu is smothered in the sauce for a delicious and comforting dinner.
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
“Testa is a 7-year-old rescue I saved from a third-owner family with six kids. Part Rat Terrier, part Chihuahua, always thinks she’s the ‘big dog’ in the park, but friendly to most. The chi barks too much, and the terrier has the nose to the ground. Her name means ‘hard head’ in Italian. I’m elderly, and she is my full-time companion.” —Denise Hood
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.
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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Contact information
Editor: Emily Woodbury
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Editorial (all but news): editor@rvtravel.com
Editorial (news): chuck@rvtravel.com
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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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Perfect name for the cute little dog.
Sorry to have to correct you on the horse meat in dog food. My wife’s father hauled horse meat to a dog food plant when she was a child. She wasn’t born until many years after WWII. A fact I wish I never knew.
PS The pop up ads seem to be taking over the screen worse than ever before.
On the quick tip: DON’T just crank up the jacks on one side! On many trailers that is a bad idea. Drive up on blocks to get level.
Yes, the ‘stabilzer’ jacks are not meant to support the the weight of the trailer, even for a short period. The jacks can be damaged.
Yes, I suspect many people still don’t know the difference between leveling and stabilizing jacks. Leveling jacks can take the strain, stabilizing jacks might but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Quick tip didn’t say anything about trailers! Also said leveling jacks, not stabilizers!
Snoopy
Same at the dump station to get a better drain.
Pop up Ads are getting very annoying!………….Even for us paying subscribers.!
Use the reader option in the address bar to avoid the ads. Easy fix for the annoyance
With an appropriately configured PC web browser, I don’t see ANY embedded nor pop up ads when reading this newsletter. Fewer options and a little more effort to secure phones and tablets, but still doable. Educate yourself and learn how to secure your web browsers, it’s not difficult, and eliminate your frustration.
Privacy Badger (Chrome extension) is currently blocking 31 web activity tracking web sites lurking behind this web site. It is restricting another 4 sites to the use of essential cookies that are not shared beyond this web page.
Chuck & Emily, that is about the highest number of entities I have seen for a single page trying to track all my web browsing activities. Many of these cross-site activity trackers are well known for injecting ads that make it nearly impossible to actually read the host page. In my opinion, they may generate revenue, but ultimately your readership will fall and the revenue gone. And once gone, they tend to stay gone.
Testa looks like the perfect companion.
Thank you, Emily and Diane! 🙂 Have a wonderful day and safe travels! 🙂
Testa is a genuine cutie. However, Testa just translates to ‘head’ from Italian to English. Testa Rossa ‘ (a model of Ferrari) translates to Red Head.
Trivia;
When at the ripe old age of 16, my best friend’s parents owned a pet shop, which they let me do a lot of activities at the shop, and on Friday, they would bring in half a horse to cut up and package, which I would cut up a lot of the horse meat. One of the biggest sellers was a 7lb package of horse liver. every week to one customer for her little Pomeranian, every week, some how, I do not think that little dog could eat that much in a week!!! Now this was back in 1959…
I have two pom chi and one mixed and yup they eat more then you can imagine.
Rat Terrier Chihuahua. Wow. Those are high maintenance dogs. I know someone who has one. From someone who has rescued Chihuahuas and mixed these dogs these dogs I really believe know where the Mayans went. They became these dogs. The attitude and loyalty are incredible. I have a 4 year old rescue and she is high maintenance but so OCD. But I love her to pieces. But yes truly lovable.