Hi J-Rhett and All,
Very interesting thread. Laura and I have just finished our first season RVing with our new-to-us 05 Casita. We love it and plan to use it several more seasons. We wanted to start small and used to make sure we liked RVing as much as we thought we would. I love to research and I discovered that molded fiberglass egg campers were going to be my choice. In my opinion, the Oliver represents the gold standard within the molded fiberglass niche. With 8.5 years of work left until retirement and two kids in college, an Oliver is not in my immediate future! ;) However, we attended the Oliver Rally in September. The tour of the plant and the opportunity to see our first Olivers (14 of them) and to meet the trailer owners further confirmed our interests in the Ollie. It also helps that we only live 2.5 hours from the plant.
Laura and I both LOVE the interior of the Ollies when compared to the drab brown of most other RVs. However, Ollies are SO MUCH MORE than just pretty faces. The quality of materials and construction are top notch. Plus, I think the Elite II represents about the perfect size being as small as possible yet large enough to to live comfortably for extended periods of time, including full-timing. I also like the idea of doing some winter camping, hiking, cross-country skiing, etc. One of the great things about RVng is chasing the 70 degree days, but I am open to some camping in the cold weather as well.
Despite being 100% happy with our Casita, the Oliver is our aspirational rig and the standard by which we measure all other RVs.
Happy Holidays,
Dean