Mike and Carol

Sleeping 5 may be a record! Congratulations and happy birthday! Mike

I’m committed to my 50th reunion at West Point in Oct ‘26 (class of 1976) so we won’t be attending. We’ve got plans already for all of Sept/Oct. Fall at Lake Guntersville should be nice, though! Mike

We don’t use the navigation on our vehicles (Audi and Ram). We’ve used Apple Maps, Google Maps and Waze exclusively with Car Play. I do have an older Garmin that we used before iPhones and I keep it updated and ready to use in case we’re out of cell coverage. We also have the larger Garmin 890 but don’t use it as much as we thought we would. Data usage has never been an issue. I use my iPhone navigation whenever we’re driving for traffic alerts and other information. Mike

Our Dometic has served us well too. We try to avoid the heat, and usually only encounter it as we escape from the south Texas temperatures to cooler climates. I know the time will come when it will need to be replaced, but hopefully we’ll have a few more years of service from the Dometic. Mike

I also ordered a Fitcam at the same time. It was hung up in customs for about 10 days but is now through customs and at the USPS facility in Chicago. I would guess it will be delivered sometime in the next week or so. Mike

It’s generic, we got it at Quartzsite at one of the booth vendors that are always set up selling RV stuff. It slides into the rail on our awning (there are two). The very top part has a zipper so you can drop the main part quickly if necessary. The smaller top part also makes installing it pretty simple.

Yes, it does. They can sit in brackets on the side of the trailer or you can drop them straight down to the ground. You can also stake them to the ground which I have done. With our sunshade attached the awning can withstand some pretty windy conditions. It’s not as easy to deploy as the electrics, but is not really a hassle either. Mike

Be safe!

My 2016 came with a manual Fiamma. It’s been reliable and still works fine. Mike

Ken, you’re headed west, we’re headed east. Wave when you see us! Also, since you’re near Columbus, say hi to my Junior High School classmate that I knew in Columbus.

We’re 6 or 7 years without ours and don’t miss it a bit.

Continuing our drive from south Texas to Kentucky we stopped just outside of Texarkana for the night. There are several COE campgrounds 15 minutes to the south and west of Texarkana on the Texas side. We’ve stayed at a couple but usually come back to Clear Springs COE campground. There are a bunch of FHU sites but the ones we like by the lake are just W/E. This is our site for the night, a little rainy but nice.

They are like fire hoses, they don’t shrink up just flatten out. Very easy to handle and use. We’ve been using these type hoses for years. I don’t have much patience for traditional hoses, especially in cold weather.

We’re heading east to Kentucky and stopped for our first night at Fort Parker State Park in Mexia, Texas. Like most Texas state parks it’s well maintained but the sites are old and not very level. It took some effort and we made it work. Bulldog is almost on the ground! Very quiet with a good view of the lake.

Agree. Use your power cord into the 30a connector. Are you plugging into a 20a outlet at the campground? Tripping GFI must be something with newer trailers, mine never trips the breaker.

I’m pretty selective on window stickers. CGI made the cut.

10 years here with the black. No issues.

Well, it’s a long, long story. Best told over a couple of cold beers. I’ll buy. 🍺🍺

If you’re not familiar with these breakers it can be confusing. Ask me how I know! Mike

Does your breaker look like this? If so, fold the “flag” part back in to reset the breaker like the bottom picture.

I’m not a Facebook user either, so thanks for this.

Looks nice! We haven’t been to that park, will have to put it on the list!

That’s never happened. I might try to fit some grommets just to see what I might be missing!

My trailer didn’t come with any grommets. Still doesn’t have any. I haven’t noticed much of a rattle during windy conditions. Mike

Tony and Rhonda, Welcome to the group! We’re starting our 10th year with our Oliver and it’s been our second home as we’ve traveled the country. Hope you get a lot of enjoyable miles and memories with your “new” Oliver. We’ll be in your neighborhood in a week (Winchester) for a 50th wedding anniversary for Carol’s brother and sister-in-law. We’ll be camping in Frankfort. Small world! Mike