What we learned about you last week (February 16-22)

By Emily Woodbury

At the end of every week I like to ask myself: “What did I learn this week and what did it teach me?” I spend some time thinking of all the things I did this week: the places I went, the stories I read, the adventures I went on, the movies I saw, etc., and I encourage you to do the same. Did you go someplace this week that taught you something? Did you read an interesting news article that skewed your perspective a bit? Did you visit a museum or a historical monument? Think about it and tell me one thing you learned this week in the comments below.

I’m lucky because I get to write this article every week and have you teach me about yourselves, and think about not only what that says about the RV industry, but also what it says about us being human. Thanks for continuing to teach me.

As you know, we’ve been trying to make things better for you, our readers, here at RVtravel. We’ve redesigned our website and our newsletters, we’ve cut way back on advertising, and we’re brainstorming every day (taking all your comments and emails into consideration) about what we can do to continue improving our reader experience. So, in last Saturday’s poll, we asked you, “Is this newsletter too long?” Well, we know it’s long (can you blame us with all the information we have to share with you?), but is it too long? Well, 52 percent of you think it’s just the right length, and 27 percent of you think, yes, it’s long, but we shouldn’t shorten it on purpose. Deal! A small 5 percent of you think it’s too long and we should shorten it, and a few of you think we should divide it into two newsletters (though some people disagree). Well, you’ll have to wait and see what happens! 😉

On Monday, we wanted to know how you most often keep in touch with your best friend, other than in person. It was almost a tie (34 and 35 percent) between phone calls and text messages, though 17 percent of you answered you keep in touch by email. Some of you, 12 percent, keep in touch through social media and 0 percent remain in touch by letter. Goodbye, snail mail!

Chuck probably wrote Tuesday’s poll question after he woke up from yet another one of his reoccurring dreams (he has them often), and he wanted to know if you have any too. It turns out that most of you aren’t like Chuck, since 73 percent of you do not have a reoccurring dream. However, 20 percent of you have multiple reoccurring dreams, and 7 percent said you have one. Reader Marmot commented, “My recurring dream is that one wall in my house is completely saturated with water. I ask myself, ‘How did I not notice this?’ and ‘What can I do about this?’ It’s probably due to my constant fear of water damage to my RV (Texas rains are incredibly huge and powerful), though my RV is never in the dream – it’s always my house.” And Alpenliter had an interesting one to share: “I had a recurring dream that as I walked through my grandmother’s dining room, a monster came through the window and grabbed me. Years later I mentioned that dream to my mother, and she told me that when I was about two years old, I was walking through that dining room when the roller shade unexpectedly and noisily retracted, scaring me to hysterical tears. After that explanation, I never had that dream again.” Interesting!

We were pretty surprised by Wednesday’s poll, which asked, “Throughout your life, have you been closest to relatives on your mother’s or father’s side of the family?” Nearly half of you, 45 percent, answered that you’d been closer with your mother’s side of the family, and only 19 percent said you were closer with your father’s side. I wonder why that is! Almost a quarter, 22 percent, said you were close with both about equally, and 13 percent said neither. We had 58 comments on Wednesday’s newsletter (maybe our next poll question should be: On what day do you drink the most coffee? Wednesday! Har har…), so you can go read some of those if you feel like being entertained.

Thursday’s poll wondered where you typically buy most of your clothes. Probably at a large store like Costco, Walmart, Macy’s, Target, etc., according to 73 percent of you. Some of you, 12 percent, say you buy all your clothes online and 10 percent of you shop at thrift or used clothing stores. Only 5 percent of you shop at small stores such as local boutiques, breweries, restaurants, etc.

Okay, folks, onto other things for me – we have to get this weekend’s newsletter up and running for ya. Enjoy your weekend and please remember to tell me one thing you learned this week in the comments below.