SeaDawg

Reed, I thought they would. Have you ever tried the gel powder material like this? One trip, a long time ago, we tried the kitty litter and trash bag thing, and it was a HUGE fail. Good experiment, but not my favorite memory... Sherry

So, Bill, I've added another item to the bucket list. Blue fireflies. I read a little. Looks like the Dupont forest in early summer is the place to see them. Our camping property is not that far from there, but we've never seen the blue ghost flies. The yellow white in abundance in the summer evenings. I'm grateful for those. We have none in our part of Florida. Sherry

We bought an inexpensive heater about eight years ago. We used to go to the solar decathlon every other year when it was in Washington DC. It's been moved to California. In October,one year, the campsite was beautiful, but the rain and cold was awful. We bought a little heater because we had power at our camp site. That was pretty much our experience of camping with electricity. I'd recommend this... Get a heater with tipover and overheat protection. Ul. That's pretty common, even in budget heaters. For $40 mol, at Costco, you can get all the above, and maybe a remote, and certainly, a timer. And, ceramic. Which reduces the contact heat ????, and can make life safer for your pets I think the ceramic and oil filled heaters are primarily chosen for safety reasons.. We don't have a lot of experience, as we have about five or six days on electric hookups... But, I have to say, I remember how nice it was to have that heater. .

John, Did you get a stone stomper!? I'm jealous ..

Well, unless you enjoy winter camping, and cross country skiing, ice fishing, and snowmobiling, Minnesota is probably off the radar... My friends had their last sailing regatta last weekend in the freezing temps in the twin cities. The frostbite regatta... The lakes aren't frozen yet, but it won't be long. Sherry My sister's garden a few hours after the first snowfall last week. Pretty, isn't it?

The beginning of the road, lined with miles of smiles, I hope. Travels with our Oliver, and rentals overseas, had opened our eyes, and extended our world. Camping is truly the way to see our beautiful country, meet new people, and just get out and get a new attitude. We're never happier than on the road in our Ollie. Sherry

I would add that camping in the Carolinas and the upper Midwest in shoulder season often brings freezing temps, and below, overnight. We've camped down to around 18 overnight, with day time temps in the high thirties/ low forties, without issue, but it's a lot different when the day and night are both sub freezing, days on end.. The pink stuff rules... In our 2008, in those conditions. Top gun, would the wag bags just fit in the Ollie toilet, instead of a collapsible frame? Never tried. Only times we've used anything like that has been in rental campers without full facilities. Losing the outdoor shower to the freezing temps was our fault. We winterized and went home in the truck... Forgetting about the outdoor shower. Never again.. Sherry Sherry

We chase good weather, but we also enjoy the relative calm of shoulder season camping, even in Canada. Would you share your cold weather ( below freezing) camping tips here, please? If we know we are venturing into freezing temps, we winterize. We lost our outdoor shower once when we left our Oliver in the cold too long in storage without winterizing... Routinely, we winterize if we think we will encounter sub freezing temperatures in our travels. But, we have a 2008... Sherry

Maybe we should start a winter camping thread? What do you think? Good questions. Sherry

You're welcome. I was curious, too, as you showed a valterra handle.. Sherry

Here's the answer to my question on etrailer. The guy actually said he tried it with an m6 bolt. The product code was to the replacement for the old style valterra.

I guess I wouldn't recommend watching Robin Williams' "RV", then.???? Any system can go wrong. Especially if it's not managed or maintained. Composting toilets work for a lot of boaters, where pumpout stations are a big hassle... Sherry

Actually, in our area, most homes have an accumulator tank. It might even be code now. At Lowe's, they're located in the water tank area,, and I'd have to look up the name, but they're called something like an expansion tank. Designed to eliminate said issue. At home, at, least. Never had that issue in our older 2008, but we don't have the same tank fill/drain issues, either. Sherry

That's what my dad did for our campers and trailers in Minnesota winters. When we leave our trailer in storage in NC, we don't have power, much less an air compressor so the pink stuff rules. We never use tap water for drinking, so. .. not the same issue for us. I can certainly understand that hesitancy One year, we forgot to winterize the outdoor shower. Of course, we had a week of hard freezes, in October, and it blew out. Bummer, but live and learn. Never again . One expensive lesson was enough.... Sherry

Canoe12, Yes, we're old school, I guess. We collect the rainwater from our roof, and filter it 7 times before the uv sanitizer. And that is solar powered. Whole house pv, grid tied. Battery availability wasn't great when we built, but we've ordered battery backup now since hurricane Irma blew through. Post Irma, we shared one of our camping gensets with the neighbors for a week.... Enough to keep two fridges, a few lights, a few fans, and the cistern pump running... On the bigger Yamaha. And power the ignition on the gas instantaneous water heater, so everyone who wanted to could use our outdoor shower. It's amazing what 3000 watts can do, if you are careful, and have good extension cords. We were sad that our trailer was in North Carolina... That would have given us more options. But, it was safe. The new battery backup should allow us to live off grid, when the grid goes down, even in town, except for sewer. Septic is no longer allowed here... We collect 100 per cent of our water, and more than 100 per cent of our power needs, and no polluted groundwater discharge to the bay behind us. Paul put a lot of time into research and planning on the rainwater collection system and cistern. Our project engineer had to jump a lot of hoops to get it done in code, because no one does it anymore, so few people understood what we were trying to accomplish. ... But, we got it done. And we are very happy to collect our own sweet, naturally soft water and power our home with quiet, clean solar power. Sherry

#firstsnow is beautiful #butyouknowitsmonthstil14hoursofsunshine

If you are in the northern Midwest, as I am, get it done. It's cold, and the cold will continue all week, at least at night. Another crappy Halloween, just like my childhood. Always wanted to be tinkerbell, but the weather was never accommodating in Minnesota. A costume that fit over a snowsuit was so much better. ,

We have the same "composite" ie plastic accumulator on our boat. It helps a bit. I think it's about a pint and a half... Pump still runs, but not immediately. That tank has been there for many years, but the boat is bigger, and much more complicated, than our trailer. On our home system, we recently upsized our accumulator tank. So many water efficient appliances take water for a few seconds, and quit, making the cistern pump run unnecessarily. We're trying to find the sweet spot for our house. We don't (yet) have an accumulator tank in our trailer. Looking forward to find out if the little surflo actually makes any difference..... Sherry

Upinor PEX in our home bends once, easily. You can even use a heat gun to seal a leak.. one time. Ditto on bends. A second run with a heat gun was not recommended, at least with our type of PEX. Great thinking and invention, John. Thanks. Let us know how it works for you.

That looks awesome. We've seen a lot of awnings ripped from stakes and subsequently ripping off the roof attachments of trailers and motor homes. We stake only when we know we will be around, as you do. I would never trust stakes when I am away from my trailer. When the wind picks up, we disconnect and roll the awning in. Too expensive to replace. The wind stretches and distorts the fabric even if it doesn't rip. Gusts can take you by surprise. Sherry

We carry drinking water in rectangular, stackable five gallon jugs. We also have had a bladder since 2008. It's about 40 gallons, about the size of a crib mattress full, and folds up to shoe box size. If not used frequently, we sanitize it. It's clunky, but a great way to transport water for 2 to say 20 miles. I wouldn't want to haul it around full for great distance, as it takes a lot of room in the truck bed, but it's really useful in campsites without a water source at the site. To transfer to our tank, we hook the freshwater hose to the bladder, drain to a bucket, and put the intake hose from the tank into the bucket. Like I said, it's a bit clunky, but it works. Sometimes we have a number of tent campers with us, using our shower, and this really extends our water range. Sherry

I think that's a terrific idea, kathy. Sherry

The first big option we didn't get was a solar package. But, back in early 2008, it wasn't an option. A few months later, we figured out a retrofit. Likely not possible now, with the added insulation in the new Ollie. At least ask for a solar prewire, if not the whole package. It makes a world of difference in the boonies, where we love to camp. So many other items we've added since 2008 are now standard. My faves, other than solar, are the double step entry, and instantaneous water heater We can, and do, live without tv antenna and Kingdome, even though we have them. Not a part of our lifestyle. Ditto on the now broken microwave. These were part of our package, but we don't ever use them. We bought a partially completed trailer in early 2008 to take early delivery. So, we got a few lux items, unnecessary for us. Sherry

Big bite... Happy Halloween.????️????️????️

PS, Uno is going to love the extra room in the new Ollie.