Mcb

Here’s a couple of pictures of the bikes loaded

We’ve got a few blue potatoes from the garden and we’ll pick the last of the Brussels sprouts to bring with us before we push off. Grab some Turkey someplace, rotisserie chicken, something like that.. Thanksgiving at David Crockett in a new Oliver with plenty to be thankful for...sounds kind of perfect to me..

Sure, it’ll be a few days. One advantage of removing the wheels is being able to turn the handlebars, which means the bikes are occupying a much narrower footprint.

Sure does.. but I’ve been listening to the humming, whining, and whistling of ladders, planks and various other gear lashed on top of trucks for years and while I’ve no experience with bikes on the front of the truck, it seems like a potential noise maker.. besides, designing and building stuff like this is way more fun, and a far better distraction... 20 more days til delivery day...

The front tires are removed, forks turned sideways. The bikes are beaters, so being lashed in fine.. not worried about scratches, just don’t want shifting gear in transit. The generator is easily accessed with the bikes and one chair removed, which would most likely be the case if I need it anyway, as we’d have camp set up. I can crawl up in there and haul it out without issue. We plan on using the generator far less than we did with our Casita and it’s single group 27 battery. I have the option to put the generator behind the cooler where it would be easy to rig up a way to slide it in and out and rework the stowing of other gear. As I said, this winter will be a trial run for us on many levels.. next summer will be one full of design, modification, and tweaking of the truck and new camper.

I know I know, this thread ended quite some time ago. But it was quite interesting to me, so I figured I’d add one more thing . Our TV is a Tundra, Leer cap with the flip up side windows. Plenty of room for our gear in the past.. But we decided we wanted to lug a couple of bikes around, and working out a bike rack without the trailer in hand was unsuccessful.... so the bikes go into the back of the truck.. So I built a storage system into the back of the truck, with space for the bikes, and everything else. There are vertical slots for a folding table and 2 chairs. Street side has a deck 19.5” above the bed with storage for the camp stove and propane bottles, screen room, another chair etc on top. There is a hatch in it to access the area below, where the tools, telescoping ladder, shop vac, power tools, generator, etc get stowed. The generator is easily accessed through an opening next to the bikes. There is also a bait tray ( a plastic tub about 18”x 26” x 11” used to carry lobster bait) with a plywood top.. this gets filled with sea shells, fossils, shark teeth, rocks, pine cones and who all knows what else along the way. The top enables us to store things on top of it. All of this slides out easily to the tailgate with a boat hook. The big cooler slides under the deck behind it. The bikes, which were the cause of all this, back into the curbside of the bed standing up. You can see the plywood receivers I made for the back tires to help hold them upright, and they get strapped to the side of the bed. I can get our water jugs and other stuff on that side as well. I can have the whole contraption disassembled in about 15 minutes.. This is a prototypical project, we will give it a try this winter, redesign as needed next summer, rebuild it with more attractive material than CDX plywood and scrap lumber...

I sure would be interested in your recommendations for access holes...and the crimper while you’re at it...

And of those 16 days of summer, 4 or 5 of them are hot and muggy... at which point we all start griping about the weather and looking forward to fall ...

It may take some practice... but we will work diligently to adjust to the rigors of retirement🙂

This discussion sure has become thought provoking...I’ve got a whole new line of gear to research ... retirement clocks... guess I better get on, because not only will we be leaving to pick up our new camper one month from tomorrow.... we will be, for all intents and purposes, retired🙂

I am... 36 more days..

I do it because I have a compressor, live in a part of Maine where some winters the ground freezes solid to 5 feet deep, blowing out seasonal houses plumbing systems is standard practice, and frozen pipes for some folks are as much a part of winter as having a snowball fight.. I know the antifreeze is good to minus 50.... and I know it’ll never get that cold.. but still.. I guess it’s a peace of mind thing...

Thanks for the offer of trays. A Milk crate and Rubbermaid tote ( probably from Renys) are part of the set up. I built a rig to wrap 50’ of electrical cord around that will keep it under control with a compartment for misc small electrical stuff.. I’ll probably build a box for the tools I want stowed in that area as it enables me to get it exactly the size I’m looking for.. it’s all pretty prototypical, we’ll see what works and what doesn’t and fine tune things after the first road trip.. You’re right about the anticipation.. we’ve been having a ball getting ready ever since we placed our order..

Sorry... 11/24... we head to TN the 22nd....

Delivery date is 11/22.. didn’t ask Oliver for the Hull number, it was on the “deposit receipt” we received just before we paid the first half.. right next to the VIN #.. I will share whatever it is I come up with for storage in the effort to avoid pandemonium in our campers basement...

Banana banners is starting to work that out with Deb.. She’ll have fun. I’ve replicated the available space in the “basement” of the Oliver based on dimensions I got during our last visit to see Matt and Nancy’s “Beacon”.. I’m working out / designing / building storage solutions for that area before we get to Tennessee.. My kind of fun..

Can’t wait til you pick up 676... it’ll mean only 9 more to go til 685... which is ours🙂🙂

Mine didn’t come with a battery, but because my business requires a truck filled with tools, and since Im outfitted with Milwaukee gear I’ve got plenty of options. If you’ve got a couple of M18 batteries already, it might be worth it. I originally bought it to move water into the Casita, have ended up using it instead for all kinds of projects. It’ll move water through 30’ of hose with enough pressure to use a spray nozzle to water a garden, but not to wash a truck.. I suspect it has the oomph to easily move water from a creek to an Oliver from quite a distance..

Milwaukee makes a cordless 12v transfer pump... works pretty well..

I use a compressor to blow the antifreeze out of the lines in the springtime as well...

SW Florida for the most part..we made reservations months ago. A late winter run to California to visit family, that will probably involve a few Harvest Hosts, Cracker Barrel parking lots and the like. Got a place to stay once we get there. Back to Maine next spring in time to deal with Alewives.. That’s plan “A”... I guess we will make final decisions as we put Tennessee in the rear view....

59 days til pick up.. 57 til we head toward Hohenwald.. but who’s counting.. Deb’s going to hook her rug while we are on the road this winter. SouthPlatte/Platte/Missouri/Mississippi/St.Croix/BoisBrule/Superior/Huron/French/Mattawa/Ottawa/St.Lawerence/Chaudiere/Kennebec/New Meadows..... no need to go through Panama🙂 St.George open through mid October?

Paddled a canoe from Fort Lupton CO to Phippsburg ME long ago. As a young man from New England, I was blown away by how endless the sky seemed to be. I’ll never forget it..I can’t wait to visit as many places as possible, regardless of where they are once we pick up our new Ollie in November..

The air skirts are an interesting idea...reducing the amount of cold air blowing beneath the camper over the course of a cold winters night can’t be a bad thing..