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I'm not Alison but I also have a 2018 Expedition. It's my first Ford vehicle. Like you I was never really interested in their offerings, but I think the new Expeditions are wonderful vehicles. It handles everything we throw at it, not just towing but from an everyday life perspective. I love having three rows that can all seat adults comfortably. Creature comforts are all top notch, and after 10 hours in the saddle I don't feel sore. 400 hp and 480 lb-ft of torque are nothing to sneeze at. Towing over grades at high altitude is so easy it's boring (which is just how I like it). But I still get 19mpg in combined driving (average over 13,000 miles) and 12.5 mpg towing the Ollie (average over 4500 towing miles). I haven't done any serious offroading in it but on normal forest roads, even rutted out unmaintained ones, it has no problem whatsoever. Clearance is fine. As with any vehicle, choosing a good line is still the most important aspect for success. If you were navigating a rock garden you may be wishing for a different car, or a lift, but I don't do that anymore.

Nice pics. We aren't camping yet but Ollie is at the house to prep for our upcoming trip and we got the same storm that you did. (Colorado Springs) We got 10-12" of wet, heavy snow overnight. So much for spring! I had to dig out the snowblower again.

Nothing comprehensive that I know of, but I did create this thread last year which covers my opinion on a number of the options: http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/reflections-on-equipment-after-shakedown/

My dad and I are both train buffs, and my son is in training. "YOU WILL LIKE IT!!!!" Just kidding. But really, we look for steam trains to ride wherever we travel. Thanks for posting this info as I hadn't heard about it previously. I'm going to try very hard to make it to Cheyenne on the 19th.

Must be a Canadian thing for awful, dated interiors; BigFoot is the same way. Plenty of American travel trailers have uninspired or cheap looking interiors, but the Escape and BigFoot seem to have their own brand of "1980's cabin" look to them.

These two options are in completely different classes. Arctic Fox: higher maintenance (orders of magnitude higher) but more comfortable. Easily accommodates a family of four. Built in genny, 2.5x the fresh water capacity, at least 3x the interior space, etc. More of a residential experience. Too big for a decent number of public campsites (National Forest/National Park/State Park) Ollie: half the weight, half the frontal profile, more maneuverable. Will fit in almost all public campsites. Comfortable for a couple. More of a minimalist / "real camping" experience (it's still not real camping though ;) )

I think it would depend on your mattress preferences. The KTT is a latex mattress, which we prefer, but others may prefer a different material or construction. We did add a 2" topper, at least for the winter, since when temps are cold latex (as well as most foams) gets firmer.

To me, solar is much better than a generator. No noise, no maintenance, no smelly fuel, etc. I can leave the fridge on 12V while we're driving (propane off) and it won't draw down the batteries at all. Yes you get some juice from the tow vehicle but without solar it will still draw down your batteries. How do I know? Driving at night. :-) Like John said you'll need a generator if you are boondocking and need AC but so far we haven't needed it. Beautiful boat, by the way. Do you still have it?

I concur with Bill. On our maiden voyage with the Ollie we took a lot of back roads through Tennessee and then Missouri exploring the Ozarks and stuff, which was awesome by the way. But after a couple days of windy narrow undivided roads with no shoulder to speak of, semis coming the other way in the rain, cross traffic, etc, getting back on the interstate at Kansas City was a huge relief. I did not find towing on I-70 to be stressful at all. Took I-40 to California this past winter, no problems there either. Much less draining to drive on the interstate versus back roads. My recommendation would be to not avoid interstates completely. Certainly take your time, get off and see things, spend a day or two on back roads. But consider not doing back roads for the majority of your trip.

I've seen one of those rigs, Mark. Really nice setup. I hadn't heard anything about this. Can you please elaborate? A quick Google search didn't turn up anything meaningful.

Last October we went to Great Sand Dunes National Park and stayed at their campground. That late in the season we had no trouble getting a spot, and as a bonus it wasn't 100 degrees out either! This was the view out our dinette window: Good exercise!

I saw those when I did my shopping last year. Real slick little units. But at $50 for each sensor it was a bit too much to swallow at the time. Still, I like the data logging capability, and an app is much easier to check from bed in the morning or outside the trailer than an LCD on a bulkhead with limited viewing angle. How do you like them? Is the app reliable at reading temps? Like from the time you open the app, does it acquire the sensors pretty quickly? How well does it handle displaying multiple sensors? I'm curious about your outside sensor location. Do you feel that having it under the propane cover gives you a fairly accurate measure of outdoor air temp?

Would there be any gain by installing the solar controller inside the hull at the port connection? Theoretically you could run higher voltage from the panel to the controller. Thinner or longer wires. Or do all these portable panels max out at 14V anyway?

Overland, you might consider Thermoworks' cheaper design here: https://www.thermoworks.com/RT8100 I use that thermometer at home, as well as several Thermoworks thermometers for cooking/smoking/etc. Love their stuff.

Hi John, this is what I use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FX8ZGOO/ We installed it the night we picked up the trailer and it provided solid service all season. We used lithium batteries (for better performance in the cold) and the base station batteries have just died within the last month (~9 months of life) but the sensors are still going. I used the 3M Command picture hanging "velcro" style strips (https://www.amazon.com/Command-Picture-Hanging-Strips-White/dp/B01N0X6SA5/) to attach them where I want them: on the fresh water tank, in the refrigerator, and outside on the curbside lower hull just behind the steps. I used these so that the units can be easily removed for battery changes. I also added another velcro strip on the interior wall to the left of the entry door, to store the outside sensor while we're driving or when the trailer is in storage. However! As it turns out I am not perfect and sometimes forget to bring in the outdoor sensor. It has remained attached to the outdoor command strip for hours of driving though rain at highway speeds through Tennessee, and over 400 miles through New Mexico including high winds and a dust storm. And the thing just keeps on working as if nothing happened. I am impressed that A) the Command strip didn't fail and result in us losing the sensor, and B) that the water-tightness was good enough to prevent ingress of wind-driven rain. I'm sure the mounting location has something to do with that success, but still. I tested accuracy of the units after purchasing them, but I think they may have drifted over time, or don't track linearly at low temps. When on our way home from CA after New Years, we hit 15 degrees overnight in New Mexico but the outdoor thermometer reported a low of 21. Still, I think they're useful. The display can talk to a total of 8 sensors, if I recall, though it can only display 4 at a time. I am pretty sure you can set it up so that it will flip over to displaying the 5th-8th sensors every 10 seconds or something like that. Also the base station has its own thermometer and that's what it displays as "IN" at the bottom of the screen. Edit to add: I really wanted to get one of the ones that does graphing, with a color LCD etc, but those units are made to be table-top not wall-mounted (the back is not flat), and require a constant external DC connection. In the end this one is fine and I'm happy with it.