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Heading west in the green Prairie of eastern Oklahoma Following the path of frontier people traveled 225 years ago planning to visit the old historic downtown areas of Muskogee, Wagoner and Pryor Oklahoma day 31, 10 campgrounds so far Flat Rock Creek COE Chouteau, Oklahoma

In the Rolla area We went way out in the woods to visit the pioneer cemetery of my ancestors that settled in Phelps County, Mo and visited the house my Great Great Great Grandfather built in 1832. ( permission from the owner ) their house is supposed to be the oldest registered historic home in the State of Missouri I wore the tyvek suit and muck boots for tick bite prevention as this area is crawling with ticks

Not with the Oliver, maybe a cruise🙃

8/10/14 to 5/15/26. I wish I had kept total mileage. Need to check computer when I get home. Started logging Out/In mileage at some point. I will check.😊

I design stuff with a simple and free on-line program called Tinkercad, you can export designs as an STL file that is 3-D printer ready. A simple bezel design would take a few minutes. I started off using Voice-to-CAD, and AI generated designs, until I figured out how much easier Tinkercad is. I just watched a few tutorial videos on Youtube and the printer is pretty much plug and play. Honestly, I'm still re-wiring my brain to think of 3-D printing first, it opens up project possibilities that couldn't be done before. There are literally thousands of free ready to print designs for all sorts of things, including some great gadgets and parts you won’t find anywhere else. Check out websites like Thingaverse. Some designs, such as boxes, can be adjusted to any size, they have working hinges, latches, and sealing gaskets. A myriad of materials are available, including ABS, Nylon, and TPU, a rubber like material for flexible parts like gaskets. That “sealed” the deal for me. For mounting a new stereo in your larger hole, you could use JB weld to glue a couple of overlapping wood cleats on the backside of the hole for the mounting screws. Then make a bezel like Bill’s to fit. Geoff

We flew to Anchorage and rented a Class C motorhome from Great Alaskan Holidays. The motorhome was in fantastic shape (current model year) and came equipped with everything we needed except food and some odds and ends (hatchet, bear spray, firewood, etc.). We had it for 11 days and saw Seward, Homer, Talkeetna, Denali National Park, and everything in between. Stayed everywhere from commercial campgrounds to a night in a roadside pullout. Lots of wildlife (had a moose in our campsite), incredible scenery (the drive from Anchorage to Seward is stunning). Fantastic trip. If you want to RV Alaska but can't/won't take your Oliver there, I can't recommend Great Alaskan Holidays enough. Best trip we ever took. Great Alaskan Holidays https://share.google/KQoSc0xsFRph2wLCU

Watch for our fall trip, Michigan, Michigan UP, Minnesota ( North shore of Lake Superior, and Wisconsin on Lake Superior

@Tideline77Understand about needing a suit, completely. My Sister in Law was extremely sick a week ago until she was diagnosed & treated for Lyme disease from a tick bite, now she is finally returning home from the hospital. She is a bee keeper. Edit: We were camping when I got Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from a tick bite, we saw the symptoms and I received early treatment! 🙂

So, I had this on my to-do list since Mike started this thread... What a difference in two hulls of the same era. Maybe the junction box on hull #135 took some water at some point. You can certainly see corrosion in Mike's pictures. Or maybe Mike got the bad installer on this one, right after the guy messed up something else on hull #113! Inside our junction box it's just perfect, clean as can be, everything tight! I didn't touch a thing, just replaced the cover, and for me this is not an annual inspection item.

Congratulations! We’ve got three left, MN, WI and MI. Not sure when we’ll be able to travel north but will probably hit all three on the same trip. Mike

The 48th state was Rhode Island. We completed the last fifteen (15) states over the past 12 Months. Newport, RI was a fun town to complete the job.

Probably the single most useful thing I got, maybe these are already know to the community Antimbee Transparent Heavy Duty Clear Suction Cups https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B67TRPMX Incredibly handy to be able to slap these on any nearby wall. Most you find are heavy duty but the fit with the decor perfectly For example as a towel dry

Good point and fortunately it turns out it’s all 12V except the 24V floor lights. I’m with you, additionally my piano is 12V so I’m on a mission to convert everything to simplify the wiring

I’ll be watching! I’ve got a preliminary route planned out in my head which includes the above in reverse order. It’s going to be another year or two before we can resume our long trips, though. Mike

Excellent, John!! Fall is a perfect time to go, we did that last fall. Take a Picture Rocks Cruise if you get a chance. Camping can be sketchy up that way late in the season as the campgrounds shut down around mid October. Lots to do up that way. Visiting the Sault Ste. Maire lock was fun. Love'ed that trip.

If you do a cruise, definitely consider one with a land portion at one end or the other. In 2006, we took Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas from Vancouver, BC. From there we spend the next seven days sailing northward along the coast of Canada and Alaska. We stopped in Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Hoonah, finally to dock in Seward Alaska. I wasn't a fan of this portion, because everywhere we stopped, 2500 people got off the ship to see the same few sites. These days, that would be 5000 or so at each port. From Seward, we flew to Fairbanks, and spent the next six days on railcars heading south to Anchorage, through some of the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen! Each night was spent at a wonderful lodge or mountain hotel. This was my favorite portion of the Cruise/Tour, and the part that I'd like to do again. Finally, from Anchorage, we flew back to Ohio

I admit I was getting nutty about the ticks, in northern Mississippi I got one on the back of m6 thigh, it was a tiny one about twice the size of a flea. 5he bite spot healed up quickly but they say it can be 30 days before illness symptoms show Alpha Gal disease , Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever With Alpha Gal syndrome your immune system reacts and you develop allergies to red meat no beef, no pork i spoke with a local rancher and there is another tick disease that actually kill cattle

Maybe an Alaskan Cruise😊

Fumble finger post….. sorry

John and Geoff, Agree, you guys have me thinking of thin aluminum bar glued to plastic behind IRV radio along with fiberglass & drilled through to secure everything with mounting screws. Thanks,

I have thought about putting the switch and LED between the TP holder and the air duct. Bill

As you know, the junction box sits on top of the HWH a couple inches below the fiberglass bed platform. Not like water can spill UP there, but it could be from humidity over time in the basement. Our Oliver has spent life in dry climates, but not that Boerne TX is a particularly humid location. I'd like to see a third picture, from someone who lives somewhere humid. And yes, it's quite a contrast.

The contrast is interesting. I don’t know how water could have entered our junction box, we’ve never had any kind of big leak. Possibly during its time in the factory? Strange.

Glad to help you feel better! 😂 Here's the recommended cutout for the DV 1100 and probably DV 1200, too: I don't have experience with a 3D printer. Thinking about cutting out 1/8" black plastic sheet (1/4" probably too thick) large enough to cover existing DV 1100/1200 cutout/ screws holes securing with black screws in existing holes, also with cutout for iRV unit to mount. Shape plastic sheet corners/edges with belt sander.

Bill, thank you for making me feel better! Now I'm happy ours is still fully working after all these years. I just remounted the bezel and speaker while listening to a CD that with the volume up sounded pretty good. You and I are both going to need that 3D printer! 🤣 Geoff, what does it take to program a detailed shape? I say this because the DV1200 is mounted by the 4 outer screws into the Oliver fiberglass. When you go to a smaller box there will be nothing to screw into. Good that the new units are likely half the weight. Maybe a plastic sheet thick enough to screw into and support the weight and/or a bracket or base the radio can sit on. Not so simple. Should the sheet be black or white?

Congrats! Alaska next.....

Congratulations -- that is exciting! Are you heading to Alaska next?

How long did this milestone take you to achieve? Any idea of the total miles? Congrats! Bill

Yeah, we run our inverter 24x7x365 but it is nice when all the lighting is low-amp running on 12VDC. 😎

Anyone with the Suburban hot water tank should check their power connections annually. Had I checked I could have caught the issue before the meltdown. I’m sure it’s been going on for years. One screw is all that is holding the cover on. Mike

We decided to go with metal valve stems 3 years ago. Shortly after doing so we had a flat, and the metal stem had failed.😣 I took XPLOR Hull #634 to our local discount tire shop and had all new rubber stems installed and all tires rotated and balanced. Zero issues since. We use the TST TPMS system and are very happy with it. The tech who does tires all day long said he sees more failures with metal stems than rubber. That was good enough advice for me. Cheers and Safe Travels!

We stayed at Caddo Lake State Park a couple of years ago and really enjoyed our stay. We are camped just outside of Texarkana this week at Clear Springs COE campground. Very nice, our second time here.

FYI boondocking (and hunting, backpacking and other outdoor activities) is always a whole lot easier when you are located near Federal lands - BLM, Forest Service, BOR, COE, etc etc.. and to a much lesser degree, State lands. Unfortunately that does not include Texas; when it became a state in 1845 the government began selling off almost all of the 200,000,000 acres of public lands to pay for expenses, like a new Capital building. So most of those blank areas on the map, with the exception of designated parks, are privately owned. https://www.adventure-journal.com/2016/04/texas-as-model-for-public-lands-think-again/ For true boondocking meccas, you need to shift further west and north. I am not putting Texas down as a destination, but you will have fairly limited camping choices compared to the very red states. BTW, do you have a Federal Senior (aka Geezer) Pass? I will not ask your age, but if you are 62+, that will save you a TON of money, with free admission to National Parks, and half off camping rates at almost all Federal campgrounds, like the most excellent COE ones. Around here those are typically $18 per night, no hookups, and the rate drops to $9 off season, and you only pay half of that. A great bargain! https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm John Davies Spokane WA