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Unless you're filthy rich you usually hunt for and pick a more economical place to stay. I know, I know, there are some of us who don't care what it costs to stay in a campground such as my nephews who probably make seven figures a year and more. But I'm just a conservative guy hunting for a deal and I'm not crazy about making someone from the East rich while they let the motel go downward and the roaches and bedbugs take over. I've stayed in some pretty nice places and my mate woke up with bites all over. And I've heard lately that some of the bigger national hotels just straighten and smooth the sheets and you get to sleep where some foreigner slept the night before on the same sheets. No thanks, I don't care for that. We stayed in a National Brand Motel a couple years ago and had no idea that there had been dog shows in San Marcos a few days before. Boy did we get an awakening when we found dog hair ingrained in our carpet and then I pulled up the pillows on the second bed and was astonished to find a dog pillow with more dog hair than a years worth on that little doggie pillow. I was not a happy camper. We had rented the room for a week and demanded they re-clean it which they did. One of the main reasons I chose to purchase a RV was to pay less for traveling. A nice motel room on the road now runs about $90 and on up to $200. And the second reason is convenience and then cleanliness. I just found out that some campgrounds are not so economical especially when just staying for a night or two. If you're keeping your home and not full-timing then you always have to keep your place going too so you have that expense, which we do, so one of the main objects is to keep costs down while traveling. Hey, it's ok to splurge sometimes, but I don't want to eat at Texas Road House every night either. And I can understand why campgrounds near and in large cities cost more. There is more demand and more things to do so there should be higher prices in our "Capitalist" country. As I'm writing this I am thinking about what RVers talk about when sharing information about how other campsites operate and why one may or may not want to stay there again. If I'm expressing myself to you I'm going to tell you how the management acted, the amount of fun and peace we had, and the cost of staying. There are lots of variables in life and so out on the road while RVing too. I've heard stories of campers being kicked out of campground for no reason and knowing the people telling me these things I believe them. Some camp managers are crazy. I've heard of trailers being lost because the management didn't warn the campers soon enough that a flash flood was coming downstream and several trailers were swamped and ruined in a flood. Be aware of your surroundings and where you camp. I've just heard stories and some of you have been camping for years. Let's hear some of you interesting stories. What's the most you ever paid to stay for a week end? What is the main reason your purchased your trailer/camper/RV/truck/Van? What are some of the problems you've had a long way from home. Maybe your trailer is your ONLY home. I bet you got some stories to tell! Anyway, I kind of got off subject as my main point was the high cost of staying overnight in a motel vs. the cost of staying in your camper for a small camping fee. How many nights will I have to stay in my Ollie before it's equal to motel bills?? LOL I immediately learned that some camping fees are not so small. I know, there are lots of reasons people camp too. The social life is nicer in the campgrounds and talking and eating around the campfire too. It's bringing back something we've lost in the cities and used to have back in the 50's and 60's and that's neighborliness. God Bless the human race.

Started camping in a canvas pup tent in our back yard when about 10 years old. Eventually back packed with the tent to the local woods camping and loved it. We took our daughter tent camping when she was 6 months old on Ocracoke Island NC. Now she is 42 and just purchased their first travel trailer a few months ago. We camp mostly in State Parks and Federal Parks around the nation. Will obtain our Golden Access cards later this year for further discounts. The most expensive campground camped at was a KOA close to Glacier NP MT. As far as planning goes, we found while traveling, some places camped at are not far from great places to visit, so we leave extra time for spontaneous side trips. Try to travel around 200 miles per day keeping the combined fuel/campsite cost under many motel nightly cost. When we stay multi nights, it's far less expensive compared to motels, with beautiful scenery, too. Our camping cost does not include the TV, Ollie, insurance, and maintenance, for some unknown reason! :) We started camping around the lower 48 and love camping with a travel trailer. We enjoy taking too many photos while camping, so here's a few.

Here's my version of the TV relocation. Not too difficult. I took my time and measured multiple times before drilling and cutting. Here's the mount I used. Also, an AppleTV mount, HDMI splitter, 3' HDMI cord, lightening to HDMI adaptor and a 1/8 sheet of aluminum. I used 1/4" bolts that were 1 1/2" long. The aluminum is 6"X8" (I left the plastic backing on). I relocated the hole insert. It takes a 2" hole saw to cut a new hole. Removing the two sides of the attic compartment entails unscrewing the two bolts at the bottom of each. It was somewhat of a rats nest of wires behind the side on the left. Once I got them sorted out I pulled the TV associated wires back to the middle. They use duct tape to secure them, so I had to pull some of that up. I also used duct tape to secure what I moved. Once the insulation is back down and the black mat in place there is only a slight hump in the back where the wires go through the new hole. I used 3M Command tape to mount the HDMI splitter to the side. The HDMI out of the top of the splitter goes to the TV. The two HDMI going in to the bottom are from the Furion and the AppleTV. The power cord is for the Apple TV. I have a lightening to HDMI adaptor cord that I will use when streaming video from my iPhone. Our AT&T/DirecTV account includes unlimited data when streaming video but the ability to send it to the TV via Airplay is blocked. Using the adapter to direct connect works. To do that I will have to unplug the AppleTV from the splitter. So many campgrounds have great wifi.... I wish. I also used 3M Command tape to mount the AppleTV. It's back near the new hole. When the TV is down you can't see it but the remote still controlled it fine. I used a neoprene wire wrap (Amazon). It was more flexible that the plastic the factory used. I zip tied it to a hole at the top of the mount so there's not much wire movement when moving the TV. The mount is adjustable up/down and right/left. You can also adjust the tension to remove any free play. I have it adjusted so I have to apply some force to move it. In the up position. I can see I need to adjust the left/right so that it is more level when stowed. To the left of the window I used while plastic door knob protectors to cover the old holes. Also, on over the old wire hole. They are less noticeable in person. AppleTV streaming from the house. I will share my only frustration. I left removing the old mount until the end. I thought I would just unscrew the two phillips head screws from the inserts in the wall. There were no inserts. They weren't screws. They were bolts that were connected on the back of the inner shell by some sort of lock nut. Whatever is on the back of the inner shell moved with the bolt so that no amount of unscrewing even with a lot of outward pressure did anything. You can see around the upper screw where I tried to get a small screwdriver in to hold the insert (that wasn't there). I ended up using my Dremel to cut the mount around the bolts so I could pull the mount off and then cut the heads off the bolts. I then pushed the remnants back into the holes so that they are flush with the wall and covered them. I think we'll look for something to hang that might cover the cover.... Mike

Mike, That's an excellent installation! Nice job!

These photos help me understand the hot water tank valve operating positions. Color coded hoses, red (hot), blue (cold), and white bypass hose. Looks like a brass check valve installed in the top of the tank with an arrow pointing water flow direction. Here's the hot water tank valve in the standard operating position, cold water flowing into the bottom inlet of the hot water tank and hot water coming out of the top outlet through the check valve to the red hose: Here's the hot water tank valve in bypass position with flow bypassing hot water tank inlet through the white hose to the top outlet with check valve preventing back flow into the tank with flow back to the red hose:

J-Rhett, I've read a number of studies regarding the economics of the RV travel. In the main it seems that these studies argue that between the initial cost plus yearly maintenance, the cost of gas, the cost of fuel, etc. the monetary "savings" to be gained by owning an RV are not terribly great and may even be higher than some other types of travel. I'm sure that one can argue this and depending on one's "normal" lifestyle traveling in an RV may or may not be more expensive. In any case, money is not the main reason I chose to mostly travel via an RV, but, it sure can help. Similar to owning and traveling via motorcycle, there is a sense of being self sufficient and not having to rely on others for my basic needs, comfort, and, ability to get to places I want to see or things I want to do. Indeed, not only is this accomplished, but, many times an RV also allows me to be even closer to places that I enjoy (forests, hiking, fishing, nature, etc.). I basically see it this way - without an RV (or camping in general), one is pretty much stuck with seeking out motels/hotels and, therefore, staying in towns of some sort or staying home. As I see it, there are a number of "problems" associated with all three of these - some of which you have pointed out. On to your questions - Most I ever paid for a night of camping was at the KOA in Jackson, WY ($60/night for a space just big enough to put my tent on and this was right at 10 years ago too). Problems while on the road - I'd be willing to bet that those of us that have spent any time at all "on the road" have had problems. However, in hindsight, these "problems" are part of what makes life interesting and in some cases even exciting. I'm not saying that I go looking for problems or even enjoy these things when they occur, but, it sure does make life interesting and that sure beats sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch. I try to prepare as best I can to be able to take care of whatever "problems" that might crop up. Bill Sometimes you just have to call for help!

As a California gold miner, camping is second nature to me. For years I didn't even use a tent because this is how I was taught. We'd take the bed roll off of the back of the horse at night and sit around the campfire just like in the old westerns, then roll over and sleep on the ground. It was a great way to be brought up and I did the same with my children when we went camping as they were growing up. I've had a bear try too push me off of my foam pad at night as he was snuggling up to me to stay warm... True story... Then when I was a boy scout, I woke up to another bear sniffing my face and we both smiled at each other, the bear and I. It was second nature for me to be in nature all of the time. Then in 2005 I inherited my first motorhome, a 32' Pace Arrow and it stayed down at the mining claim for the next 5 years. It was nice having an RV and always having to fix something but I gave it to a friend because just having it sit down at the mining claim wasn't doing it any good. Plus, I still love tent camping and I have a lot of great camping movies on YouTube about them and some of our mining adventures. So I'm used to staying in the woods and not paying for anything other then food. Today at 57, I spent last summer tent camping again and this is where I will be for the rest of my life, tent camping when possible anyway. My wife and I were in a car accident in 2013 and for a couple years it was really hard to put up a tent and then take it down when we were moving to a new area, so we bought a Casita and used it for a couple of years. Our Olli went on to the assembley line last week and being retired now we wanted a trailer that we can depend on year round. Here it is 1am and tonight I am sitting in another $150.00 a night hotel room because tomorrow I am towing another friends trailer home for her because her car blew up... As far as paying the most for a camping spot for the trailer, at Carpentaria State Beach in California, the 25' space was $80.00 a night for healthy people but with our disabled tag that we earned in the accident, it cost us $20 for the 1st two nights and then $40 for the next a week later. But we were on the beach at the Pacific Ocean and it was a great place. Being on the beach was great but being next to the water was even better at Emma Wood State Beach a campground just down the road. Having a trailer makes it easy to keep a home away from home. Now that retirement has set in we have started touring and so far have hit 13 States and many great places that we could call home even if it was for just a few days. Spending all of my days camping at the river while gold mining is a thing of the past now with all of the new laws here against mining anything in our country and my way of making a living ended in 2009 with California's ban on Gold Dredging, but my mining from days gone by has set me well enough that we can make ends meet and still do what we love to do - Travel. I still miss those days as a child just camping on the ground and sleeping with the bears but these days the real reason for having a trailer is to sleep in comfort, in your own bed at night, nice and warm. We've traded out the wood burning campfire these days for a propane campfire and it has honestly become a great piece of equipment in our arsenal. It's nice not having to find a place to stack half a cord of wood in the back of the truck with all of our gear, so today we have 2 auxiliary ports on the Olli just for that. Typing on a tablet is OK but tomorrow is a new day and we will be making the 7 hour drive home while towing our friends trailer for her, so I will check back and add some more next time ;) Reed

Looking closer at my rollout battery tray I began to see a couple of things I don't like. BTW, I have the (4) T-105 battery option. First is the catch mechanism. It has about 3/4" of play that allows the batteries to roll out and in just enough to hammer the catch while driving. Second is that the batteries pinch the wires against the back of the battery cabinet. With the wires crossed back there, there will be a short eventually. I fixed this with a 5/8' thick piece of wood dropped in front of the catch to take up the play. It's about 3" X 15 3/4" and fits nicely. Then I slid some split loom over the wires and routed them over the top of the batteries as I pushed the tray back in. This should make the battery box much safer and less likely to break the catch. Check yours out to make sure it's OK.

If I remember correctly, either Casida or Egg/fiberglass groups had a gathering at Boulder or Dam West ACE campgrounds a few years ago. Don't know if they currently have gatherings there. Both have nice laundry facilities. There's a WalMart close to the Dam West campground.

Wow, that last picture looks just like the site we had at Millford Lake at Junction City, KS. We attended a rally this past September, which was 70% Casida trailers with the rest being other fiberglass trailers. Had a good time, but would not trade my Oliver for any of the others we looked at. Stan