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With "Roamy" home and in his storage place, I thought back to our first week of camping as we headed back to Florida from Hohenwald. We had wonderful times gazing out the windows at nature with morning coffee, dinners under the awning with fireflies and really peaceful nights of sleep. Being newly retired, I am still learning to slow down and relax so, this morning I decide to head out to the shop and build our first upgrade. So much for relaxing! Space being a premium, I want to give us some extra kitchen counter room by making a cutting board that would fit over the sink. In fitting out our Oliver we selected a flooring which emulates the deck of a sailboat. I wanted the cutting board to match that look. So with some quick measurements 2 5/16" for the darker strips and 1/4" for the lighter strips, I turned to the sink to get the overall dimensions inside of the raised aluminum band around the sink - 15" by 17". Looking over my wood supplies, I knew rock maple would be a great match for the narrow strips but the darker wood would be a challenge. I decide on American cherry knowing it would darken with age. Couple hours of milling, cutting, gluing, sanding and a few coats of mineral oil, my first upgrade was ready to use. Pictures below.

We spent last week visiting Big Bend National Park. It's one of the least visited National Parks and is somewhat off the beaten path. From Fort Stockton on I-10 you head south for about 3 hours. It is on the Rio Grande with Mexico in sight all the time. Even with the hot weather (low 70's at night, high 90's during the day) we had a great time. Lots of hiking, great views and no crowds! At times we felt like we were the only ones there. It's a fairly large park, bigger than the state of Rhode Island. This is at the end of the Boquillas Canyon hike. The bluff is in Mexico. This is where the Rio Grande enters a huge canyon that's been carved out of the mountain. After a hike to the top of the second highest peak (7550') this is the view down. It's called the Lost Mine Trail. Views are great all the way up and it's a nice little workout! We sat at the top and had some snacks and water while enjoying the view. At the other end of the park (western end) is the Santa Helena Canyon. Mexico on the left, US on the right. The upper water flow is the Rio Grande, the lower (muddy) is the Terlingua Creek emptying into the Rio Grande. You can wade through the Terlingua to the bluffs on the right and then climb up about a quarter of the way to a lookout platform. Another nice hike was Grapevine Hill. It's not too far, a couple of miles through the desert then some light rock climbing up to this balanced rock. Carol is enjoying the shade! It was right at 100 degrees when we made this trek. This is the view from the balanced rock looking back down at where the path goes back to the start through the canyon. We stayed in Lajitas, TX at a very nice, full hookup campground. There are three RV parking areas in the park, one has full hook ups. No reservations, first come, first served. If we do it again we will look at staying inside the park. None of the park RV areas were full. Peak season is November through April, so it may be more crowded. We think the Chisos Basin has the most scenic camping areas. It is surrounded by the highest peaks and is close to the start of the Lost Mine Trail. Most importantly, bacon was consumed!

George, When at the recent Oliver rally, the Truma representative gave a presentation on the Truma tankless water heater. After the presentation, I won a http://www.levelcheck.com/us/ propane level indicator by answering one of his questions proving I was paying attention. :) It works most of the time, you need a good clean contact between the probe and the tank. It works using ultrasound, and the light turns either green or red, and there's an audio sound that represents propane or no propane. There's a video on the site to show how to operate it. I think it's a little pricey at $70, but I'm happy to have won it. I see something similar on Amazon for $18 and another for $40. Search for "propane level indicator". )

On the way back from our trip to the east coast we stayed a few days at Lake Ouachita SP just outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas. This is one of the nicest state parks we've stayed at. Most sites in our section had great lake views. Sites had large, level concrete pads and full hook ups (water pedestal was marked "frost resistant"). There was a large picnic table area and another area behind the trailer pad. Good separation between sites. Lots of big mature trees with good shade. We were there the last week in October and the weather was great, 40s to 70s. There was no cell coverage, which could be good or bad depending on how connected you need to be. A 5 minute drive up the hill and our phones got a few bars. $26/night.

The picture on the web site of the sample colors are not great. We had Anita send us samples. We selected Paradise Beach the lightest of the four.

It's not something that Oliver offers, but a few people here have gotten them and seem pleased. We decided to go with them since Oliver cut their mattress choices down to just the two foam options. They're a good bit less expensive also.

I use this at home with grill and generators. Great Bluetooth iPhone App interface and very accurate in all weather. They also sell a remote monitor module. http://AP Products 024-1001 Propane Tank Gas Level Indicator https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C5RQJHS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_NqwuzbXXMR1RC

Would be nice to have but, waaaay too much $$$. I have taken mine off and just weighed them. I saw somewhere that someone was using a luggage scale to weigh their tanks. Much cheaper solution. Thanks for sharing.

Depending on how tall you are, adding anything to the shower floor may make it to where you can't stand straight up. Definitely test it first. I have to tilt my head sideways after brushing my teeth and rinsing with nothing on the floor. Karen bought the teak wood shower floor and we gave it away because I couldn't stand up in there anymore. Then she went to rugs, which we pull out when showering.

Hello Cobra, Randy is right, white is the new standard. My wife felt the same way and we were so delighted to see white at pickup. Rich Carol told us the tan version was out of stock and they had to go with white. Made no sense to me but white looks great, see our profile we have a picture of them.

Another option for you! I purchased a set of these after returning home with our new Oliver in April. Hull # 204. Yes, it cost but never guessing at amount of propane in the tank again. The gauges are viewable thru the porthole option from OTT using a flashlight. I use one of the new/slightly used 30 lb. cylinders that came with our Ollie on our back deck for Camp Chef and Weber grill. Obviously can go a long time without needing propane at home. Sold the other to a friend who was tired of his cylinder on his deck running out. He grills several times a week! http://www.propanetankstore.com/30-lbs-7-gallon-manchester-propane-tank-with-gauge/

We boondock a lot and leave both tanks open, I check the gauge every week or 2 and go from there. If it's still green in 2 weeks, I'll plan on filling them both in another week. Or I just plan on filling them every other time that we go out to dump the black tank unless we are using the propane Campfire a lot because that will run a tank out in around 20 hours of use. You can also use the condensation mark or tap on them, but being we live in ours full time, I plan on filling up every 3 weeks. My personal estimate for us is one tank every 2 weeks and so far I have been right on, not having them take over 11gallons so far. So I fill the empty and top off the other basically every 3 weeks. Reed

When I was at the Oliver rally in May I won this tool http://www.levelcheck.com/us/ and recently noticed one of my tanks is getting low. Once I refill I'll get a better understanding how accurate it is.

Hey Bill, Your on point is on mark and we appreciate the thoughts. While I have been lucky in life, I now do what I want, and to my level of whereever I set the mark. Its why I own an Oliver :)

Randy, Maybe this sketch will make it more clear: The dip tube is the water pickup for the fresh water to the trailer. It is 5/8" OD and is currently what I have in my Ollie to pick up the tank water. The suggested modification to this would be to add a tank fill through the same tank port. This would be done by adding a 1" Tee around the dip tube with a 1' pipe that screws into the top of the tank. Then the dip tube would reach down through the 1" pipe Tee and on down into the tank to pick up the water, as before. The side of the Tee is connected to a fill pipe that goes outside and gets water poured into it. The incoming water enters the tank through the space between the dip tube and the inside of the 1" pipe. It's just a way of using one fitting for two purposes and I'm not sure we'll ever do it, but it's a nice idea if space is limited. Tank venting is still done with the stock vent.

Just an FYI, it's inexpensive, and works great for us. We carry a little Rubbermaid folding two step ladder for access to the truck bed. When not use, it holds a home Depot water cooler, with ice,at the campsite . My friend installed one if those drop down tailgate ladders. I feel much more stable on the inexpensive, wide base rubbermaid that we've toted around for nine years.... Sherry