Gadgets & Things
There are a few gadgets we use that make our life easier -- ones that we think will benefit other people as well, so I am sharing those on this page.
One of the neatest gadgets we use is the Instant Off Water Saver. If you have one of those single ball water faucets, this gadget is something you need. As you know, it's a pain to adjust the temperature and water flow every time you want to use it. We installed it in the bathroom so the water does not constantly run when I brush my teeth or wash my hands or face. With the water saver, the faucet is set to the temperature and strength we need, and to use it, you just hit the white rod and there's the water, as needed.
While at an Escapade, a company called Blue Streak was there to demonstrate an easy way of getting chemicals into your RV toilet without the hassle of having to measure. This was another must have. No more measuring, no more hassles. Just pour a bottle of Blue Streak into the container and it automatically dispenses into the toilet every time you flush. I must confess that although I still use the dispenser, I have started using Thetford Campa-Chem. It's cheaper and I like the smell better than the Blue Streak.
While at the same Escapade we discovered another company with a great product. It's called Almost Heaven. They use the best quality for their microfibers - 80% polyester and 20% polyamid (and it's NOT made in China). This is another company with great products that you need to check out. Along with Almost Heaven products, I also have a supply of Power Rags, which I use to wipe up water, clean the stove, wipe dew off the windows, and general cleaning. The rags are made in Indonesia using Korean microfiber yarn (which is the same that Almost Heaven uses).
We saw an ad for a Bug-A-Salt and Jim said he had to have one. We were on vacation and went into a small store in Pinedale, Wyoming and there was one sitting on the shelf, and yes, we ended up buying it. The Bug-A-Salt costs about $40 but it's well worth it. As its name implies, it shoots salt - regular table salt. There is a small reservoir to put the salt, and it only shoots a couple of gains, so there is no salt residue to worry about. And then you get to shoot flies. Fun - fun -fun! You can buy it direct from the company, or from Amazon.
Our stove in the trailer usually starts with the spark, but over the years the spark is not working as good as it should, so I would buy grill lighters, which always seem to be child proof, and is really aggravating. The cheap ones keep breaking and the expensive one I bought was so hard to push on, I needed two hands and that did not work all the time, so I eventually stopped using it. But, I still needed a lighter, and after much research, I found one on Amazon. Here is one I found on Amazon (they don't have this particular one). I love it. No flame, instead it is piezoelectric, and works so easily I wonder why I never bought one sooner. It just needs to be kept charged up using a micro-USB cord.
We found a great way to tie down your awning to keep it from being damaged when the wind starts blowing. We have a great system, even when the wind is blowing up to 25-35 mph. Any higher than that, we take it down, but our system will keep your awning intact up to 35 mph. Click on the link to see what we use and how I set up our awning.
I also have a great set up for our coffee pot and toaster oven. I do not have a regular toaster as the toaster oven takes the place of a toaster and can be used to bake in and toast bread. As our counter space is limited, I had to figure out a place for the coffee pot. You can check out my pictures and explanation here.
A lot of you have dogs and cats who need heartworm medicine, flea and tick medicine, or maybe tapeworm medicine? Unfortunately, heartworm medicine requires a prescription and it's expensive. When I adopted Lucy, the lady told me about a company in Australia where I could get Heartguard without a prescription. I have been ordering Heartguard and Frontline (or K9 Advantix Plus) from them for about six years now. I have done a price comparison from Petmeds, Petsmart, Petco, Petcare RX, and Amazon. I have found that Amazon has a good price on the K9 Advantix, but I always order my Heartguard (and tapeworm medicine) from Equine-Mega-Store in Australia - they have the best price. They ship promptly and I have never had a problem with them. If you have a question, Robert answers promptly. I would recommend them wholeheartedly.
A website program I use is called "zee maps" which allows me to map different things ~ I have one for Campgrounds around the United States which allows me to map our route from Point A to Point B. On my campgrounds map I have all OCP properties, Coast to Coast, Thousand Trails, Passport America, Good Sam, Escapees, state parks, and just regular campgrounds that do not offer discounts of any kind.
There are a few gadgets we use that make our life easier -- ones that we think will benefit other people as well, so I am sharing those on this page.
One of the neatest gadgets we use is the Instant Off Water Saver. If you have one of those single ball water faucets, this gadget is something you need. As you know, it's a pain to adjust the temperature and water flow every time you want to use it. We installed it in the bathroom so the water does not constantly run when I brush my teeth or wash my hands or face. With the water saver, the faucet is set to the temperature and strength we need, and to use it, you just hit the white rod and there's the water, as needed.
While at an Escapade, a company called Blue Streak was there to demonstrate an easy way of getting chemicals into your RV toilet without the hassle of having to measure. This was another must have. No more measuring, no more hassles. Just pour a bottle of Blue Streak into the container and it automatically dispenses into the toilet every time you flush. I must confess that although I still use the dispenser, I have started using Thetford Campa-Chem. It's cheaper and I like the smell better than the Blue Streak.
While at the same Escapade we discovered another company with a great product. It's called Almost Heaven. They use the best quality for their microfibers - 80% polyester and 20% polyamid (and it's NOT made in China). This is another company with great products that you need to check out. Along with Almost Heaven products, I also have a supply of Power Rags, which I use to wipe up water, clean the stove, wipe dew off the windows, and general cleaning. The rags are made in Indonesia using Korean microfiber yarn (which is the same that Almost Heaven uses).
We saw an ad for a Bug-A-Salt and Jim said he had to have one. We were on vacation and went into a small store in Pinedale, Wyoming and there was one sitting on the shelf, and yes, we ended up buying it. The Bug-A-Salt costs about $40 but it's well worth it. As its name implies, it shoots salt - regular table salt. There is a small reservoir to put the salt, and it only shoots a couple of gains, so there is no salt residue to worry about. And then you get to shoot flies. Fun - fun -fun! You can buy it direct from the company, or from Amazon.
Our stove in the trailer usually starts with the spark, but over the years the spark is not working as good as it should, so I would buy grill lighters, which always seem to be child proof, and is really aggravating. The cheap ones keep breaking and the expensive one I bought was so hard to push on, I needed two hands and that did not work all the time, so I eventually stopped using it. But, I still needed a lighter, and after much research, I found one on Amazon. Here is one I found on Amazon (they don't have this particular one). I love it. No flame, instead it is piezoelectric, and works so easily I wonder why I never bought one sooner. It just needs to be kept charged up using a micro-USB cord.
We found a great way to tie down your awning to keep it from being damaged when the wind starts blowing. We have a great system, even when the wind is blowing up to 25-35 mph. Any higher than that, we take it down, but our system will keep your awning intact up to 35 mph. Click on the link to see what we use and how I set up our awning.
I also have a great set up for our coffee pot and toaster oven. I do not have a regular toaster as the toaster oven takes the place of a toaster and can be used to bake in and toast bread. As our counter space is limited, I had to figure out a place for the coffee pot. You can check out my pictures and explanation here.
A lot of you have dogs and cats who need heartworm medicine, flea and tick medicine, or maybe tapeworm medicine? Unfortunately, heartworm medicine requires a prescription and it's expensive. When I adopted Lucy, the lady told me about a company in Australia where I could get Heartguard without a prescription. I have been ordering Heartguard and Frontline (or K9 Advantix Plus) from them for about six years now. I have done a price comparison from Petmeds, Petsmart, Petco, Petcare RX, and Amazon. I have found that Amazon has a good price on the K9 Advantix, but I always order my Heartguard (and tapeworm medicine) from Equine-Mega-Store in Australia - they have the best price. They ship promptly and I have never had a problem with them. If you have a question, Robert answers promptly. I would recommend them wholeheartedly.
A website program I use is called "zee maps" which allows me to map different things ~ I have one for Campgrounds around the United States which allows me to map our route from Point A to Point B. On my campgrounds map I have all OCP properties, Coast to Coast, Thousand Trails, Passport America, Good Sam, Escapees, state parks, and just regular campgrounds that do not offer discounts of any kind.
As you can see, there are a lot of different colored icons, all representing different types of campgrounds. I also made a map for Places to Visit and National Parks and Monuments. I like using this system as I plot our travels. A lot of people use RV Trip Wizard, but I have not decided if I wanted to use them yet. It is less expensive than Zee Maps, so you might like that program better.
For those who do not use satellite for television, we have a go-to website that I use to find the closest antenna TV stations. The website is TV Broadcast Tower Locator. Just put in the zip code of your location, click "put the coordinates in the form below," and it automatically inserts the longitude and latitude. I usually use 65 miles as my tower range, click Find Towers, and there you go. I look at the degrees where the stations are located and point the antenna in that location. Of course, you need a compass to see the degrees.
I replaced the old Delta TV antenna on our RV with a Winegard Sensar with an amplifier. After a couple of years the antenna fitting on the roof got very loose and was wobbling a lot. We were afraid to put the antenna up fearing that it might come loose totally and fall off. So we called Winegard to ask them what the issue was. The customer service lady was very nice and told us that the bolt holding the antenna to the roof came loose and needed to be tightened; told us what tool to buy and how to do it. The tool is called a Winegard TT-1000 Tenna Tool, which is just a 9" long deep well socket, which I was able to order from Amazon. To tighten the bolt, the inside handle and gear needed to be removed, and the Tenna Tool put into that hole to fit onto the bolt. Just be sure not to tighten it too much because you still want the roof antenna to be able to swivel around.
Even though we do enjoy over the air stations, we did break down and get a dedicated hotspot for the television so we could watch our LG channels and Roku. You can read about the internet service we picked here.