SeaDawg

@Mainiac, I know one of my friends has a "I ❤ my Casita" sticker in her back window. Not a bad idea. We see a lot of Olivers on the road when we're not towing.

How cold does it get where you are in the winter? Fla, sla, or lithium? Our trailer typically winters over in Florida, so we don't pull batteries. I doubt that I would consider it, outside really frigid zones, if I could plug the trailer in and keep temps at 32 or better. My opinion. I'm sure you'll hear others.

It's good to take your time. We went to rv shows, private sellers, and looked at well over 150 campers before we settled in our oliver, 14 years ago.

That "stranding" actually happened to my friend's brother. A neighbor heard his calls. Not a great situation.

We set our city water at 45, also, though we rarely use it.

100k is just barely broken in, imo, with a modern truck. 😃

Yes, I think that's what jd was asking. We've been talking about both types of softeners, rv and home in this thread. My question was more fore future readers.

Sak, that's at your home, not the Ollie, right?

Good question, Mike. Tesla builds their batteries in Nevada. I don't know about the others.

Do you carry that often? @Overland Some dishes, I use a pie pan to (sort of) seal the wok skillet. Your cataplana would be much more efficient, I'm sure, with the "globe" convection effect. Yes. I'm a cooking nerd. I'd love to hear more on how you use it. Does it reduce time in cooking? I've never used one.

I know. Rivian in Illinois. Ford in Tennessee. Tesla truck in California or Texas? I'm super excited to see manufacturers coming back to their roots, with evs, in the US. And then, all the other benefits of evs. Let's think about it. ..

When we had Albertson's in our county, my daughter and I would do similar. Sometimes, half a loaf would disappear, on the way home. No butter. I also love local bakeries and farmers markets.

And, I heated the heel of a rustic baguette, cut almost halfway through, on the side of the wok skillet.

@Landrover, great idea to stock the evacuation pod ahead of season. I do a bit of camp kitchen shopping at the dollartrees, too. Boxed milk, shelf stable, is $1 for a quart, and the thin aluminum pans , 3 and 4 for a dollar, are great for some types of campfire cooking.

Love that custom spool, @Mcb. Everything in one space!

In remote areas, there are few choices. In Alaska, if I can find a 3 bears, in a smaller town, I'm really happy. At home, in Florida, most of my grocery dollars go to publix and aldi. In North Carolina, I love ingles, and aldi. On the way up, we often stop at the Lidl in Spartanburg. Not a huge fan of Walmart, food lion, and some other chains. Chains are usually regional. Though we've shopped at aldi stores in many countries, they're not present in many parts of the USA. Do you have favorites you watch for?

Tonight was what I call heat and eat camping dinner. Last week, I made about a gallon of gumbo. Sent some home with a friend, froze a quart for camping. The three of us enjoyed it, first time around. We often get up at 2 am to avoid traffic. Gets us to North Carolina from Florida by early afternoon. By dinnertime, after setting up, I'm not very motivated to cook. Gumbo was great. And quick, and easy. Especially, since we were tired.

I agree with that, entirely. So many of our current Oliver upgrades and options have come, at least in part, from customer custom requests, and successful owner upgrades. Starting with the solar package in 2008, continuing with instantaneous water heaters, and lithium batteries, today, among others.

Congratulations! We picked up #12 in February, 2008. Just the beginning of 14 seasons, and counting, of travels and fun with our Oliver. Hoping you, too, enjoy many years of fun with yours.

It's official. Rivian is the first all electric truck in the US. First customer launch edition rolled off the assembly line this month. https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/14/rivians-first-production-r1t-electric-pickup-truck-rolls-off-the-line/

Since this is a fairly rare occurrence, I don't personally see it as a big issue. The Oliver folks have always tried to be very fair, imo, in my 14 years of dealing with the family, and staff. A contract is a contract. A slot is a slot. The factory needs a schedule, too . Most manufacturers don't allow selling a slot. Actually, none that I know of. The contract wording is pretty straightforward and clear.

I'm guessing, the latter. Short-handed seems to be the rule, these days. Everywhere. I was on hold for 45 minutes, last night, with a vendor. Customer service agent apologized, as usual. Not enough people. I'm looking forward to more normal days, soon.

There are other no option Oliver trailers out there. The base model is hardly "base" compared to most. A base model is really, really nice, imo. My experience has been, the more people who ask, the more likely something is to change, eventually. But, it can take time. Especially in these days of fragile supply chains, and covid. Considering all the new trucks sitting on lots without chips, and all the sob brand rv dealers sitting without or with limited inventory to sell, I think Oliver has done a remarkable job, keeping up, personally. It will get better. I'm sure of that.

@wolfdds, that's interesting news on spray 9. Thanks. I've never used it. Somehow, I've missed it in Practical Sailor reports. It's always done well. Cruising forums report marine and household formulas to be similar/same. Practical Sailor warns against use on glass and lcd, so I'd be very careful to not get it on surfaces other than the fiberglass, and make sure to rinse well, as you do. (Marine formula is as typical, 2 to 3 x the price... household formula is under $5 at my local Lowe's) https://www.practical-sailor.com/boat-maintenance/marine-maintenance-multi-purpose-cleaners-test

Scubarx brought up an important point on the Norcold. I, too, advise owners to manually select the power source each time. The older dometics didn't ever default to dc. The norcold will, if left in auto, and can leave some with depleted batteries unknowingly. There are a few areas where you must turn off propane tanks, not just the fridge. Many ferries require it, and some check and tag the bottle at boarding. Some tunnels, either because they're heavily trafficked, or don't have the typical little rise in the center. They're usually clearly marked, and have an alternative route, or have a pullout area to turn off tanks. Most can be avoided with planning, and if not, it's just a minor inconvenience.