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This is Lakeport State Park in Michigan. Site #24 (our favorite site) has a beautiful water view of Lake Huron. Spectacular sunrises! This park also has a really good camp store. IMG_6498.MOV

To my knowledge, GasBuddy is the reigning champ of apps to find the lowest price fuel. We have used it for many years and find it very easy to use. You can specify the type of fuel you required, including diesel. We search ahead when on road trips and plan our purchases to get near the lowest price without significant departure from our route. It is available for iPhone/iPad and Android devices, as well as a browser based website. GasBuddy relies on crowdsourcing for updates on prices.

Took the Tundra for the recall and the dealer needed less than an hour to perform recall work. 🙂 Been experimenting using cruise control while towing Ollie with over 10,000 miles on the Tundra’s odometer after this trip. Tundra’s on board MPG is accurate and was used for two test using cruise control. Both test were over 300 miles each on interstates. 2WD 3.5L 10 speed Tundra with street tires on Ollie & Tundra. TV tire pressures 40 PSI and Ollie’s tire pressures 50 PSI. LE2 Ollie’s weight between 4900 to 4950 pounds with empty grey and black water tanks. Rig weight is around 10,900 pounds. Check Rig & TV/Ollie weights periodically with CAT scales. Set cruise at 63MPH yielding 61MPH GPS speed. Tow haul mode used with 7th gear. Engine speed was 2150 RPM. During the test while climbing a 5% grade reduced speed to 55MPH and dropped down to 6th gear. One way test from Crossville TN (TN plateau area) to Denver NC yielded 15.8 MPG. Round trip from Crossville TN to Howenwald TN and back to Crossville yielded 15.5 MPG. Should see better MPG in the flat lands, will see.

WooHoo! Costco $3.74 this morning in Wesley Chapel, FL. Mossey

Always enjoyed checking fuel economy MPG even when gas prices were less than $1.00 per gallon. For me it’s fun to check our camping rig economy that helps understand how one might reduce fixed operation cost to save money for other hobby adventures. Retirement is so busy, hard to have time do everything, but having fun trying, hope we maintain our health. 🙂

I agree with you Bill, if one has to begin to study fuel prices and/or counting mpg’s they just might be in a hobby that maybe too costly. Whether driving a motor coach or pulling a travel trailer and all expenses that go along with it, suffice to say, RVing is not by any stretch a money saving endeavor. We looked at long range costs closely before diving in to pulling a TT, camping and travel and planned accordingly. Like you and others we are not going to let fuel prices keep us from traveling and fulfilling retirement travel goals and dreams. Fuel prices are what they are at least for now and we are just going to absorb it.

I paid $3.79 for regular this morning. Fuquay-Varina, NC (south of Raleigh)

Here is your plumbing diagram. I don’t see any easy access location to add a fitting at the bottom edge of the grey tank. It is pretty much obscured everywhere by other parts. John Davies Spokane WA

I don't remember that, but will get a DVD for the next camping trip to "them thar hills" on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Alvin said he could do some thinking up thar! 🙂 Thanks,

That was a great movie and is also where I first learned of Sgt Alvin C. York. After the war he was very instrumental in bringing things like electricity to his home town. If you remember the movie... you might remember that when he went to the rail way station to join the Army.... there was a sign on the depot that said Crossville, Tn. (hence the reason I got everybody side tracked on this little story 🙂 )

STRONGBACK Elite Black 2.0 Creating a hyperlink to a webpage is super easy. Click the “link” symbol, it looks like a chain link. Then a window will appear: Copy and past the url (address) in the top section. If it is screwy looking, either enter your own text description in the lower box, or copy and paste the official description from the webpage. That way a viewer knows what the link means. When you are happy, click Insert into post.. John Davies Spokane WA

We've been fascinated here by tooletries for years. A lot of folks use them. Great products from two Aussie brothers. Glad you like them. Several more owner experiences here if you search "tooletries " . Have you seen the shower beer video? It's quite entertaining. 😅

Fun Story- Nearby Crossville, in Pall Mall, Tn., several ,years ago my father was touring Sgt Alvin C. York's (highly decorated WW1 soldier) home. While taking the tour, the man giving the tour seemed to have a lot of personal information on the life of Sgt York. Afterwards my father pulled him aside and asked him about that... and the tour guides simple answer was "Sgt York was my Daddy." Just six years ago I also passed thru and took the tour and while I didn't get to meet Alvin York's son, I was told he still gave tours from time to time.

Common sense says you should add a bleach solution to all three of fresh water inlets, because they can breed bacteria just like all the other parts of the system. (You can skip the black flush port….) If you never ever drink the water straight out of the tank, you can maybe get away with not treating those areas. But if one does get contaminated, the next time you use that port, for example the City Water connection, it is going to carry the bad stuff straight into your tanks and water lines. I once spent most of an afternoon sitting in my camp chair at an RV park watching the nearby dump station in operation. I lost count of the number of owners who filled their fresh water tanks straight from the non-potable water hose, which was painted red and attached to a labeled red post. The fresh water hose with its blue post was prominently positioned 100 feet away, in direct line of sight of the driver….. So I guess you need to ask yourself that famous Clint Eastwood line, “Do you feel lucky?” Treat the entire system or not at all, because doing it part way won’t work. Read this: https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/ecoli-symptoms.html John Davies Spokane WA

Current prices for fuel certainly cut down on "fun" money but will not stop me from any of my planned summer trips - to include the annual Owner's Rally in May. Bill

Last week before we picked up it was suggested that a "Where's Ollie" thread might be good for folks to post pictures of where they've been, maybe with a few comments about the location. I'll get it going.... This is Hillman Ferry State Park in KY at Land Between the Lakes. Nice campground, with lots of lake water activities. You can get a site right on the lake to fish from!

Will get that app! 🙂 Thanks

Beautiful and spacious!

@rideandfly Thank you! Michigan definitely has so many beautiful areas to camp at being it’s surrounded by the Great Lakes.❤️

Katjo, Beautiful campground, nice work with the photos and video! We have family in Michigan, time for another visit with family and to this campground, too!

Yours is located under the starboard side bed near the water pump. It consists of a short length of hose that you can drop over into a container of water. Just like in the current models you will have to reverse your valves, although yours will be two 3-way valves instead of four on/off valves. Turn on the water pump and you’re putting water in the fresh tank.

That sounds like a winner for anybody who wants to retain a flush toilet. How often would you have to change the filter element, and what is that cost? Are you planning to do the work yourself? The only tricky part IMHO would be drilling the hole in the grey water tank and installing a PEX fitting for the pump supply line. Have you located a suitable place for that, one that has good access for a drill? The big black waste pipe is blocking it all along that left side of the cabin. I hope you will post pictures. It sounds like an interesting mod. About how much water is used by the toilet per person per day? John Davies Spokane WA

@rideandfly, I was excited to see $3.85 here in Florida at a Costco. That's awesome. Well, as awesome as it gets, these days.... 😁

One of my favorites (and there are so many!) was on the Gaspe peninsula, Quebec. Most of the Provincial and national campgrounds were closed, so we "settled" for Camping Griffon. Simple rv park, we were one of maybe three campers there in early October, and we watched whales from our campsite. The owners were so very nice, even though we spoke little French, they spoke some pretty good English. Our camper was so small, they gave us a seaside tent site. The showers were older but clean and heated, and a very short walk in the brisk evening! Things have possibly changed. That's 12 or 14 years ago. But, the Gaspe is a beautiful drive.. do it north to south, if possible, as you generally are on the land side, not feeling like you're hanging out on the edge of the cliff (though you are, sometimes. )

Wow! We visited Sgt Alvin C York State Park a few months ago, beautiful area. First learned about Sgt. York in a movie with Gary Cooper playing the part of Alvin York.

Last pics.

Has anyone had a problem or failure with the 2" hitch? I see posts on upgrading, but I've not seen a solid reason to do it.

I would be thrilled for a 4 in front. Kinda sucks being here on the Left coast

Wow! Been a long time since I've seen a "3" in front place. Awesome !

Ageed, there are enough loose nuts in this world 😅

Apparently there's nothing worse than "have certain nuts that can loosen over time."

Just saw this, heads up to 2022 Tundra owners - updated post. https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-is-conducting-a-safety-recall-involving-certain-2022-model-year-tundra-vehicles/#.YsINIbrV30Y.link

I've found owning an Oliver gives me more options on places I can fill up at.

It seemed very strange to be happy about finding regular gas at "only" $4.14 as we did yesterday, at a Murphy's near the Asheville Airport. We "saved" 25 cents a gallon filling up there, as most stations near us were $4.39. My brother reported $4.76 in Florida, today. If I owned that diesel pusher at 5 mpg/over $1 a mile, it would have a for sale sign in the window. Or, trade it in on a nice sailboat. The wind is free.

Curious, gas prices here just dropped a nickel yesterday now back down to $4.39 regular. I would go back to tent camping before I spent $400 or more to fill up, let alone way above that for a summers outing. There comes a point where it just doesn't make sense.

DEF seems to be in supply around here. It’s not a fossil fuel product, basically ammonia and water. I get it at Costco for about $10 a jug (2.5 gal). We’re packing to leave for Colorado next week. Diesel prices here seem fairly stable, not sure what we’ll see in NM and CO. Mike

My initial reaction to that sign when I saw it on the news last night was WOW! But when I saw geO’s picture this morning I thought, WOW I’m going to go fill up with premium gas. I don’t remember ever seeing premium just 4 cents higher than regular. Maybe it’s a California thing.🙁 The couple parked next to us for the first couple of days at the rally we’re in a 40’ class A diesel pusher that got 5 MPG. It had a 100 gallon tank and their fill ups were in the $400 plus range and at today’s California prices, they are looking at nearly double that. So they would spend over $100,000 following Geronimo John on his summer trip. Now that’s a WOW! Edit: I recalculated my estimate for the diesel pusher following Geronimo John on his 12,000 trip and the $100,000 estimate I made previously is inaccurate. The cost should have been $22,056. Which makes the previously stated WOW, just a wow. Please except my apologies! Mossey A wise man once said, "it’s easy to appear smart, just keep your mouth shut"

I have a 21 gallon Camco Rhino tank, looks just like Frank C’s, but a little taller. I carry it upright in the front basket on the optional Camco carry bracket when traveling. When empty, it’s light, easy to lift in and secure. There is only enough room left for the chocks and Beech Lane levelers, but that’s ok, I want to keep my tongue weight low. When camping, the tote tucks out of the way under the rear bumper horizontally. We then use the front basket for coolers, etc. I fill up the tote with gray water every other day when camping, and tow it to the dump station, very slowly as Frank C mentioned. On the way back, I usually put it in the truck bed to save wear and tear on the tote wheels. It’s not gross as it is only used for gray water. We have the Natures Head toilet, so the black tank has never been used. For those that are considering getting a tote (or have one but don’t use it), allow me explain how we use it, you may get some ideas. If you are staying in a conventional campground, and it’s popular, as most are these days, then you know there might be a traffic jam at the dump station before check-out time. I don’t know about you, but this is my least favorite camping time. If you have a tote, you can hook it up and head to the dump station in the afternoon, and have that pleasant experience all to yourself, take your time, and not get anything on you. The head back to camp to wash up and start on happy hour and dinner.

No need to lift or carry a full tote tank to empty it. We have the Camco 15 gallon tote and it’s worked well on the few times we’ve needed it at campgrounds that weren’t full hookup sites. The tank comes with a hitch attachment to hook to the ball on the tow vehicle to drive it (slowly) to the campground dump station. Sewer hose, connectors and rinse hose also included as well.

We'll be covering over 12,000 miles this summer. I figure that with all that is going on in the world, to delay our Canada/Alaska trip may result in a lost opportunity... forever. My recommendation is that if you have the means to do so, roll your Ollie's this summer and do that trip while we still can.

I just cringe, and hold onto my wallet, and please sir beat me some more. Still doing a 2500 mile trip in June

We leave in less than 4 weeks from home here in Florida. Up to Atlanta for a couple of weeks. Then its off to Alaska via the rally. The only worry we have is if they start to ration diesel. The silver lining is there may not be the great influx this year due to pent-up demand. That and we are now towing an Ollie instead of driving the big DP motorhome we sold in 2019. 😉

Today, our lowest grade of gas in this area $4.68. We are committed to three long trips totaling more than 10,000 miles this summer. Ugh. Charlie.

No impact to travel. Potential increase in Ramen purchases. 🤣

With the exception of our delivery trip to Hohenwald, all the trips we planned this year are within 5 hours of home, so we got lucky there.

Saw my first 2022 Tundra in person today. Cement, Limited crew. Owner tows a 27’ Airstream and says it handles well both on flat and in Mtns (lives near Big Bear). Have to admit that it is not as butt ugly in person as it was in print. Grill not as billboard-ish in person.

As I said, I am a huge fan of solid axle(s) with good articulation in a truck that will be taken off pavement. When one wheel drops and the other goes up, the axle pivots in the center and the truck stays relatively high and close to level. The differential stays off the ground. The passengers do not freak out….. Toyota does know how to do this well. This looks a little disturbing: John Davies Spokane WA

John, Looking forward to Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks, Bill

I hope it arrives on schedule, what a great Christmas present. John Davies Spokane WA

We didn’t go back to Quartzsite for the rally. We’re at a COE campground between Fresno and Yosemite. We’ve been working our way up CA, head to Napa tomorrow. We had a great visit to Death Valley NP and also Yosemite NP. Yosemite was a ghost town yesterday, hardly anyone there. Great weather but 5 feet of snow forecasted for today and tomorrow. Hidden Lake COE campground.... Yosemite yesterday....