SeaDawg

Thanks for all your replies. I think we'll order the 1550, since we can eliminate the amp when boondocking. Sherry

Actually, it may be 15 pounds, not 17, in a Blue Rhino or another swap tank, according to this article and others that I've read. Like the shrinking Hershey bar of other years, Blue Rhino and other swap vendors have opted to put less propane in the tank, and charge the same, rather than raise prices. Unfortunately, unlike the Hershey bar, you can't see the difference. Most people can't feel the difference in picking up a tank that's a pound or two lighter.... We like Tractor Supply, where we can find them. We pay only for the gallons filled, no guesswork. PS Until last year, I always thought I got 20 lbs of propane swapping a 20 lb. tank. Foolish me. Herm filled me in on this forum in another thread, and opened my eyes to that situation. Apparently, it's only become worse. Sherry

Hi, William & Georgia. Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your Oliver purchase. Looking forward to posts & photos of your adventures! Sherry

Nice tables, Mountainborn! Beautiful grain, and certainly sturdy. We've done the same with some cutoffs from a nice hardwood log up in NC. They make nice seating for campfire tall tales and marshmallow roasting.... Your ancestors and mine did it one better, though. The old Norwegians took a longer log section, and carved out a back, creating a kubestolen (or cube chair.) The old ones, decorated with rosemaling of the region, are highly prized. We found a similar idea in Australia, in the tree fringe next to the beach: Someone, long ago, had hacked out a seat from a stump, perfectly situated to enjoy the sunset over the water. A beach kubestolen, downunder. Sweet, I thought. Sherry

DCKiefer, Bugeyedriver, Chris, Cherie, and all the others who have purchased various models of RCA flat digital antennae, thanks for the info. How have the various models worked for you so far? With the digital conversion, there are a number of local sales on these antennae, and we're thinking about adding one to the Oliver. (Compusa, for example, has the 1450 for $19.99, and the 1500 for ten dollars more.) Chris & Cherie, were you able to by-pass the power requirement for the 1550 as you originally thought, so it can be used as the 1500 when boondocking? Thanks. Sherry

At 8 am this morning in Orlando, it was 85 degrees in the shade according to our Oliver's thermometer. I wouldn't mind seeing a little of that fresh white stuff! (I suspect you had no mosquitoes, either, and we had plenty....) Glad you're having fun!

We had a great time this week catching up with relatives from both Florida & Texas. We don't often get to see the Texas transplant cousins... Met the new cousin- in-laws, too... great folks. We had a blast. We had to laugh, though, and I think you will too. We were assigned a space next to a 45 foot motorhome... beautiful coach, too. Our group managed to wangle sequential spots in the premier coach loop... pretty funny for us... Yes, we feel our little trailer is premiere, but it's hardly of the size of the rest of the guys in the loop. We wound up with a great space (for Ft. Wilderness, anyway...), twice as wide as our truck/trailer, and twice as long, too. It was designed for the big boys with toads... oh, well. The extra space meant room for chairs & tables for the fourteen or so of us who gathered for the cookout. For the bigger coaches with slides, the spaces really only allowed for the coach, toad, and one picnic table.... We had great shade, and nice trees and a little breeze, too. Really lucked out.

Herm, We'd like to meet both of you, too. We're looking forward to camping in Minnesota, and visiting friends and family there and in Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin. I'll send you a pm with our contact information. Haven't figured out whether to circle east or west first.... and, without any birthdays or weddings this year to attend, we'll probably make up the route as we go along. Sherry & Paul

Ohhh, that looks so good! Crispy trout and home fries. Does life get any better?

We're home. Getting ready for a family reunion trip to camp at Disney's Ft. Wilderness next week. Then on to North Carolina, the Midwest to visit my family, and then... see where time allows and the road takes us. Summer plans?

Last month, we caught a great sale fare on Qantas (wonderful airline), and rented small class C's in New Zealand and Australia for about a month. We really missed our little trailer, and the familiarity. It was so much fun, however, to camp in two countries where camping and rving is just as much fun, or more so, for the locals, as it is here in the U.S. In New Zealand, recycling is far more important than it is here, even in our city, where we have curbside pickup for many recycled items. A couple photos of our last campground in NZ: There were so many recycling bins at the campgrounds, it was difficult to have much for trash at the end of the day. This campground also had a worm farm, and a butterfly garden, so there were very few rubbish only cans left, or needed. Sherry

Most of us on the moderator board have been out camping, and out of touch. We apologize that you've not received your welcome messages. Welcome, phoneciansailor, shezonit, and peaceandquiet. Sherry

Glad to see you finally made it! Have a wonderful summer... Sherry & Paul

Congrats on your many adventures. We follow your blog, and posts. Our Oliver has also served us well, now into our second year, and working on 18,000 miles. We're finishing up three plus weeks in New Zealand and coastal Australia in rented motorhomes, and I can tell you, I wish I had my Oliver here... Our Australian built motorhome has a panel where the water heater, water pump switch, and most other switches are located together overhead, taking up the space of one storage cabinet. Nice, but I'd rather have the cabinet. I keep three big bins under the bed in the ollie, and have had the water heater switch come on by accident only once or twice. A switch just beyond the bed, or near the water pump switch, would be great, if the wires didn't interfere with the generous drawer space. We have one thermostat, for the furnace. Controls for the fan are on the fan, and on the A/C for the A/C, which we almost never use. So, I guess it's ok for us. On our rental unit, we have an electric heat pump, and an extremely confusing remote, which gives us problems all the time, getting heat when we want AC, and vice versa. I guess we'd get used to it if we had one... (It is quiet, though...) I think a permanent place allowing for a grey water connection is an excellent idea. Grey water often fills faster than black, and it is ok to leave that connected where you have full hookups. (Black will get "clogged" without enough liquids...). In Australia, many campers have a grey water connection with a faucet and connector up forward, on the triangle of the frame, and it works well. Many with small tanks drain into a bucket, and water the trees (with the park owner's permission) as they're battling drought conditions in many parts of the country... though floods in others. Both our camper in New Zealand and here in Australia had "cassette toilets" something new for us. The whole (small) black tank pulls out, and is dumped like a blue boy at a dump point, no hose. Grey tanks are very small, too (30 liters instead of 30 gallons)... in our rentals, and it's the same in most other campers we've seen as well. Lots of ultralights and popups here, and tiny tow vehicles. Tiny everything. But campgrounds are set up with camp kitchens, big amenity blocks, gas grills, and lots of extras to make camping on the small side easier. (Australia has very strict rules on campers, caravans and motorhomes. The Queensland camper guide warns against even minimal modifications made to campers... warning owners that they may invalidate the state certifications for their vehicles. Our rental in New Zealand had a very annoying vent in the door... very cold at night, and drafting in vehicle exhaust on the highway during the day. The Australian motorhome has a permanent vent on top. Each country requires fresh air exchange, even in a drafty motorhome. It is also against the law to drive with the propane on.) Our rental here in Australia has European swing up cabinet doors instead of sliders, with push in positive latch buttons.Beautiful cabinetry, and full access to the interior spaces. However, after only 6000 kilometers (this camper is just about brand new), one of the hinges has already broken in our rental, and several of the cabinets have popped open going down the road, sending the contents tumbling everywhere.... Not fun. If Oliver goes to swing up doors someday, I hope they find a better system than this camper has. I think we'd all agree that Oliver came up with an amazing, tough little trailer, and has an equally amazing, willing, and friendly staff to repair any problems that arise, or do any modifications that we may desire. After three weeks in rentals, I'm so looking forward to being in my own Oliver again! Sherry

Thanks for the link. We'll take a look when we have more bandwidth. Sailboats being near and dear to our hearts... for all our adult lives. The wind is the fuel, the journey is the adventure.... Sherry

Love the trees on the Mongolian rim... I'm sure it's a lot cooler there!! Can't imagine 100 in mid-may... just too hot for me. (I know the old adage, it's a dry heat... but heat is heat, I think.) Wishing you both a great trip up to Colorado. Sherry

Happy Mother's Day, everyone. Larry, Betty, Chuck & Geri, looks like you're having a grand time at the Spa!!! Sherry & Paul

Yup, it's "Grapes of Wrath" revisited.... But knowing you two, I'm sure you need everything you're carrying. Good luck, and have a great summer... Sherry & Paul PS See you in Trujillo Meadows, we hope. (Missed the spring catfish... going for summer trout... ) Seriously, have a blast. In MHO, the management is so lucky to have you two up there on the mountain. Sherry

Thanks for the updates, Aubrey. Looking forward to hearing how it works out in practice when you go camping. Perhaps it will also help in some of the Hot/Cold jolts when showering with the cutoff. I'm going to have to take a look at how this works, but my assumption is, it keeps the hot water line (and supply) full most of the time, instead of the pump filling the little space in the line with cold... Sherry

Ps My mom and dad are the heroes of my life. I suspect your kids feel the same. Happy Mother's day, early, because I"ll be out of touch on the real day next Sunday. Sherry

Jennifer, My own mom is such a great role model for me... and I can perfectly picture the guitar minus one string, and all the fun.... Sounds so much like my mom years ago with our daughter and my nephew. We still laugh today that the only quarrels Kate and Jonny had in six years were about a twenty-five cent flyswatter... they both spent at least two months together, every summer with gramma and grampa in their young years... What memories you are making, parking in the driveway. Grandkids, according to my mom, are the best gift from God ever. I know you share her sentiments from your writing. I wish you all the best. My heart if full, thinking of the little kids, the exploration, and the guitar (minus one string... totally fun). Even the beat home, to escape forecasted weather. I remember one night when I flew home to pick up the kids, and stay a few days, and we had an non-forecasted tornado rip through. Gramma sensed it, got everybody up and into the cellar. Our damage was confined to a picnic set ripped from the backyard, bouncing off every car in the driveway, and landing in the street. Neighbors on the next street lost trees and shingles. Us? Oh, we were cosy, and laughing, and having fun with word puzzles in the basement, thanks to my mom. If my mom could see your posts (I wish she could, she's just not all that keen on computers) I know she'd be cheering you on. And , in my mind, she' s A1 Gramma Supreme .... (totally the same image my daughter has.... many years past spending the summer with Gramma) Safe and happy travels, Sherry

Now that's a well-traveled travel bug! Cool. Sherry

Chris and Mountainborn, Thanks for the input. If we get a Verizon aircard, I guess we'll have to watch the bytes. Ouch. (I know this is very important to Chris and Cherie often actually work via aircard. My use is mostly "recreational" and staying in touch with family and friends.) Sherry

I'm curious as to how the antennae have worked out for all of you. We're getting ready for summer camping, and thinking about adding an antenna to the mix. Thanks. Sherry

We use both Verizon (Paul) and T-mobile (me and daughter, family plan). In many places we get great coverage with T-mobile, and they have some family services we love (at least on our old plan...) like unlimited texting for a small fee, and international service at a reasonable charge. However, in the mountains of North Carolina, T-mobile has zip for coverage most times, and Paul's Verizon almost always works. We got the cheapest single plan (and cheapest phone) in Ashville, because we got tired of driving down the road for a mile or two to find a few bars on T-mobile. Since we carry two phones with different services, we have pretty good coverage now in most places. Thinking about adding an aircard in the future, and I think we'll probably go with Verizon. Sherry