technomadia
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Posts posted by technomadia
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We adopted a kitten about 2 months ago - figuring it would easier to raise a cat to enjoy traveling, than it might be to convert a house cat. Thus far.. it's been.. fun. Yeah, we'll go with fun
Most of our challenges are just dealing with dispersing kitten energy in such a small space. The biggest change in thinking is making sure that if we leave the trailer for any length of time that we're leaving it habitable (instead of just turning everything off - such as heater/ac and lights) and making sure she gets reststop breaks too while we're in travel.
We haven't tried National Parks yet.. but we do know that we will need to drop her off at kitty sitters when go to things like Burning Man.
- Cherie
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Chris and I will be presenting at a conference on emerging technology here in California coming up next month. We'll be talking about technomadism - living & working while traveling. We're currently in conversation with the organizers, but I think that we'll also have our Oliver at the conference for tours.
In prep for the conference, O'Reilly did an interview with us over the weekend that got published this week. It's got a nice plug for Oliver in it to and how great they are. You can read and/or listen to it at:
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/02/living ... -life.html
Enjoy!
- Cherie
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Hmmm.. bungee cords. We might be needing to start utilizing those to keep the kitten out of the cabinets. She has figured out how to hop up, open and crawl through them.
Ok, it is kinda cute
Another we use bungee cords is on our swing arm for the computer monitor / tv (which won't apply to folks who opt not to upgrade the standard TV). We use a bungee to keep it in place during transit.
- Cherie
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Well.. the cutting board area (and I agree.. I'd never actually use it as a cutting board and destroy the finish and look of it) really isn't an ideal food prep area (even with the microwave out of the way), but it's just about all we've got. We do have a dish drainer with a lid in the sink that can be additional surface area - but it's not always functional for a stable spot for which I feel comfortable using a knife on. I can sometimes use the double dinette area, but usually there is a Chris sitting there with a computer.
I usually end up with some items laying on the bed while I'm cooking.
The kitchen area definitely wasn't designed with full time use in mind and ease of actually cooking regularly there. But we manage anyway even if it is frustrating at times to work in such limited space.
An overhead light anywhere forward of the fan would be fabulous. It'd help not only with food prep, but also with lots of other tasks.
- Cherie
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In addition to cabinet lighting, I also find myself craving a bit of light over the cutting board area, which is where I tend to do a lot of food prep at. Has anyone else felt a need for this or found any solutions?
Thanks,
- Cherie
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This is really cool... err.. warm.
For those of us not in the know.. can you share what some of the advantages are of going this route? Is it more efficient? Quieter? Etc.
How's your experience been in using it? Does it get warm enough at the back of the bed with the heater in the very front?
Thanks,
- Cherie
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Chris and I will again be organizing a theme camp at Burning Man for other nomadic spirits as ourselves. Please consider this an open invitation to any Oliver owners to come join us in 2009 at Camp Nomadia.
For more information on Burning Man: http://www.burningman.org. This year, the event will be Aug 31 - Sept 7, and it's held in the middle of a desert in northern Nevada.
All our best,
Cherie n Chris
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Brilliant!
My quick and simple solution has been turning the lock to the locked position when shutting the door, which keeps it cracked open and still out of the way. It at least gives the bathroom some warmth overnight to make it a little less torturous. And it's also helping us train the kitten to open & close the bathroom door (as we eventually want to keep the litterbox in there).
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Yeah - I'm looking for some interior shots too! I would love to see what the new stretched kitchen looks like.
Also - how much does it weigh?
Cheers all!
- Chris
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Looks like if you download the Spec Sheets for the model you want, you can get all of their pricing, as well as any additional options you might like to add.
We also had the experience that Oliver was also happy to take away included options (such as we didn't want their entertainment package). So 'fully loaded' is really a bit of a misnomer.. it's more like.. 'how you want it.'.
Best wishes,
- Cherie
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Wow, I am surprised that lenders won't just use the invoice for financing & insurance on a brand new RV. But I supposed in this economy, credit isn't flowing as freely as it once did and lenders are having to be much pickier.
You may have to get creative with financing - such as a personal loan, equity against another piece of property, loan against a 401k, etc. I agree, Oliver needs to get into the NADA - as that will also be essential when these trailers start hitting the resale market.
Sorry I don't have any leads on lenders to try - we paid cash for ours. I'd say keep trying, and of course disclosing the issue upfront.
Best wishes,
- Cherie
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We got a small space electric space heater that we use when we have shore power (which is not often). This solves the problem as well as the loud noise of the furnace (and uses the power we're paying for in our campfees instead of our propane).
We also use fleece sheets.. this reduces the need for heating at night.
- Cherie
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We also don't use the auto-switch because we dry camp a lot too. We want to be very aware of our usage and not get caught off guard with our back-up tank getting depleted. We've also found that our regular full time usage, we get a good 3 weeks out of a 20lb tank (we're using more now, because of winter). We've yet to have to fully deplete our back-up tank (which is a 30lb) before we found a fill station. But figure we have a good 6-8 weeks of gas on board between the two.
As far as figuring out our levels, a lot of it is actually general awareness of our usage. Same as with our water and tank levels (since the level indicators really aren't all that accurate).
- Cherie
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Awesome Pam! I hope you guys have a fabulous time at Quartzsite and that the debut of both the Sport and 22' go extremely well!
Please keep us updated on your travels.. are you going to go back to blogging at: http://oliverroadcrew.blogspot.com/ ?
Hugs,
- Cherie
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Chris, Kiki and I are preparing to spend our first Christmas in our new home. With limited space, we got a bit creative with our decorating:
We found a vinyl cling wreath for the front, and used suction cup hooks to attach LED lights to the exterior.
In the interior, we've used more vinyl clings for our Christmas Tree and Stocking. We even have a Santa, Penguin and Polar Bear too
.We're currently located in San Francisco for a work project that will keep us away from family this holiday season. However, we've found a nice RV Park not too far from a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), that keeps us in easy reach of a lot of cool things and friends.
Wishing everyone the best this holiday season!
- Cherie & Chris & Kiki
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Kiki is doing quite well. She passed her maiden voyage test on our run up to Seattle and has joined Technomadia full time. We're now located in San Francisco on a work project, so we're stationary for a bit.
Our biggest problem is dispersing so much kitten energy in so little space. I've devised various suction cup based play toys for her to save space
She also got an outdoor play tunnel for Christmas that we're anxious to try out once it quits raining. We're hoping she'll calm down long enough soon to start up her new blog.
- Cherie
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Kiki is doing quite well. She passed her maiden voyage test on our run up to Seattle and has joined Technomadia full time. We're now located in San Francisco on a work project, so we're stationary for a bit.
Our biggest problem is dispersing so much kitten energy in so little space. I've devised various suction cup based play toys for her to save space
She also got an outdoor play tunnel for Christmas that we're anxious to try out once it quits raining. We're hoping she'll calm down long enough soon to start up her new blog.
- Cherie
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I would think the vent fan is located too far forward to cause water to collect in that area of your trailer. The area around the air conditioner would be more suspect, it seems to me.
Well, keep in mind with the solar panels, the position of our fan/AC is different that units without the panels. Our vent fan is actually dripping right on the edge of the bed. But I can't figure out how it's getting underneath the cushion. Very confusing.
Will keep a closer eye on if the streetside window might have a small leak - but it's curious, the cushion isn't getting wet on the outside, just on the table side. Very odd.
We've been fighting various leaks since pick-up.. it's getting quite exhausting.
- Cherie
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Our winterizing strategy is working out great so far.. "don't be where it gets that cold"
Actually, we are finding quite a bit of moisture underneath the cushion on the full bed (the head/stripper pole side). We're unsure if this is related to the leak we found in the vent fan (grrr) and it is somehow dripping down during rain storms (it's not let up raining long enough for us to test the theory), or if it's condensation collecting. Has anyone else who's been using their Oliver in cold/rainy weather found this to happen?
- Cherie
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Also notice the hand crank on the front level, instead of the electric one.
Exciting to see it all coming together!
- Cherie
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We get hardly any charging during rain/fog/clouds. You might get pockets of enough sun to flicker a LED light.. but that's about it.
- Cherie
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Ooo... and bonus mood lighting for your shower
Great idea.. things I wish Oliver would have thought of
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Fantastic idea.. I'm going to start bugging Chris to get on this project. Thank you for sharing!
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Was that an Oliver installed option? The one we have is by Wilson, so I'm not familiar with the configuration of yours. Ours is completely wireless and works with all of our cell gadgets.
- Cherie
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Most of our challenges are just dealing with dispersing kitten energy in such a small space. 
O'Reilly Media profiles Technomadia & Oliver
in General Discussion
Posted
Tumbleweed - 5GB is pretty decent for most folks. If you're doing mainly e-mail, forums and web surfing, you're probably fine. The big bandwidth hogs are lots of video, audio, etc. (ie. streaming TV shows on Hulu/NetFlix, downloading movies on iTunes), bit torrent and web development. The biggest thing to watch out for is automatic software and operating updates.. I recommend turning those off, and catching those when you have free wifi access. Chris and I together tend to use about 8GB a month if we're being careful - and we're both online about 12 hrs a day between work & play, doing lots of media right stuff, downloading databases, etc.
Pam - Nope, haven't heard from anyone from Iceland. Enjoy Quartsite! We were tempted to head down there to hook up with y'all.