Mike and Carol

In our years living in Hawaii, I never saw an RV park or RV camping area. Is this just traveling or camping in your Oliver? Mike

Welcome, Greg. As you get ready for you trailer, keep tapping in to the expertise here on the forum. We had a May pick up also, just in 2016. It’s a good time of year weatherwise. I agree with John on the 4X4. Depending on how you like to camp, it can come in handy. We’ve used ours. Your future truck sounds pretty good to me. There are some Ford drivers with the 7.3 gas engine towing their Elite II’s and they all seem to be happy. Mike

This will be a good rainy day project! After 10+ years and 100K+ miles I have a few pictures….😳

I hesitate jumping into vehicle discussion and what is best. I will say our half tons were good TV’s and good daily drivers. Our 3/4 ton is a great TV and a good daily driver. It’s fine around town, hauling grandkids, and is our preferred vehicle for trips without the trailer. So, it’s really just a matter of personal preference. Mike

I agree with Bill. We’ve towed our E2 with two different Ram 1500s. We spend a lot of time in Colorado since our son and family live there. Both 1500s did a respectable job towing, with the typical high revs going up the mountain and lots of braking assisted by the engine going down the other side. Payload was below max but we don’t travel with a lot of stuff. We’ve been towing with a Ram 2500 diesel for the last 6 years and towing is night and day, especially in the mountains. Engine brake going down the mountain means very little braking needed. Payload never a concern. A 1500 will do the job, a bigger truck makes it less tense. Welcome to the group! Mike

Looks like they are opening a new state park in Hohenwald, Dry Branch State Park. Not open yet, info at the link below. Mike Dry Branch State Park

Our daughter graduated from NAU in Flagstaff so we made many trips north from Sierra Vista/Ft Huachuca while she was there. We always looked forward to seeing her but also enjoyed the area around Flagstaff a lot. Walnut Canyon was worth the visit!

We stayed at Henry’s Lake SP and had a very nice experience. Close to Yellowstone and a relaxing place to stay!

We stayed a few days at Wallowa Lake SP, OR on our way back from our PNW trip last year. Quite peaceful and scenic!! Mike

I had the same issue with the plug and the outside outlet. Just buy one of those cheap 2 prong to 3 prong adapters and it provides enough clearance to use the outside plug. Fortunately I discovered this issue at home while testing my Mini and various mounting spots.

I just went back and read the early posts from 2016. Interesting some of the names that were on the forum a lot and now are not. Lots of old timers still here though! Mike

10 years and still going strong. Everyone has had adventures to share! Mike

Life events have put our travel on hold this past year, but on our last long trip to the PNW last fall we did see lots of crowds at most of the 7 national parks we visited. Less crowding durning the week, but weekends were busy. We stayed at some really nice state parks in WA, OR, ID and UT that were not crowded at all. $100K is a lot for an Oliver, we’d be stretched if we needed to buy one now. Like Bill, ours seemed like a lot of money in 2016 ($51K) but not as scary as 100K. There have been some significant changes and upgrades, windows, shades, bathroom door, convection, and more. Not to mention batteries/power options. We thought 4 AGMs was a big deal 10 years ago! Welcome back! Mike

It’s the Starlink router, RJ45. The dish came with a pretty long power cable and we got a similar length cable for the router. We ran the cable from the dish back to the trailer, through the dinette window (screen slightly open) to the router that we set on the dinette table. Beside the tonneau cover and tongue box we’ve used the picnic table to set the dish on, and we’ve also just set it on the ground. Just wherever has the best shot to a clear sky in the right direction. If we’re gone for the day I just bring it inside until we get back.

After a lot use of our Starlink Mini, our normal method of deployment is to use the outside plug on the side of the trailer to plug in the power supply and then set the dish on the tongue box if we’re facing north-ish or on the bed cover of the truck if we’re not. That’s it. No mount, no tripod. The back of the dish has the right angle if it is on a level surface. I do have the router and we used it once when we were camping in Washington state under a heavy canopy that required the dish to be a little too far from the trailer for good bandwidth. If the dish is on the trailer tongue box we get plenty of bandwidth. Even on the back of the truck it’s no problem. I did have one mishap one evening in New Mexico when a thunderstorm popped up out of nowhere and blew the dish off of the box. It still works fine after its flight and hard landing. Just a scrape on one corner. Mike