Mike and Carol

This is Aguirre Spring in January…

Lance, we love that campground too! Mike

Yes, using reserveamerica.com. I tried some other dates and looked at the availability view and did see some openings, thanks. Once I nail down our dates hopefully there will be a spot for us. We are right on the edge of the 6 month reservation window, so that might work in our favor too!

Just checked Beverly Beach SP for availability in August. All reservable sites are reserved. It looks like a 6 month reservation window and a number of sites are not reservable, I’m assuming they are probably first come first served. Big park! Will continue to check.

I’m starting the planning for a trip to visit some National Parks and states we haven’t been to. This will be a late summer trip, August/September. Planning to visit Lassen, Redwood, Crater Lake, Mt. Ranier, Olympic and North Cascades National Parks. Would also like to work in some coast driving (101) and camping. We’ve never been to either state so if anybody has any recommendations or advice it would be appreciated. I’m sure the weather is somewhat cooler there in late summer than it is here in south Texas! Mike

yonder. You know,

John, we’ve always had good experiences overnighting at Cracker Barrel’s. Stay safe if the roads are slick! It’s cold in Texas, 21 degrees here this morning, colder up north.

When we were thinking about retiring in Arizona the only places we considered were high country. Sierra Vista (5000+’), Payson (5000+’), Prescott (5000+’) and Flagstaff (nosebleed’). Our daughter graduated from Northern AZ University in Flagstaff, it’s easy to get used to the cool summer temperatures there! Plus, there isn’t any humidity anywhere which makes the heat very tolerable. 90 degrees in AZ is 20 degrees cooler than 90 degrees in San Antonio!!

Just finished ours!

Carol and I have been together since 1969, married 49 years this year. For someone who wasn’t very enthusiastic about getting a trailer and camping, she has become the best camping partner ever. SInce I retired in 2016 we’ve been pretty much joined at the hip, we do everything together. Mike

We go where we go, no gentle treatment here. You should see the front of my trailer, there’s enough chips and rock gouges to qualify it as a replica of the surface of the moon. The rest is pretty shiny. 😎

John, despite my efforts washing and waxing on a regular basis our old trailer was looking a little dull. The CGI guys made it look better than the day we picked it up. Much easier to clean now.

CGI does great work…

We haven’t tried them either, they just came out a month or so ago. We’re using the same as you.

Hey Jay, congratulations and welcome! As you get to know your trailer don’t hesitate to ask questions. Mike

Ours originally was going to be delivered in December 2015. But, due to my work schedule I asked to delay until May 2016. They had already started building it in the fall of 2015 and just set it aside, finishing it in the spring. So ours is a mix of 2015 and 2016, not that it matters any since there wasn’t too much standardization then.

Congratulations on your new Oliver! It is a good looking trailer and does tow like a dream. Wishing you many happy travels in the coming years. Mike

My valve installation looks very different than yours. Bends in the cable will definitely cause binding. My cable was straight with no bends at all. Interesting because our hull numbers are so close. Mike

I think we were at Quartzsite some years ago camping next to Steve and Tali @ScubaRx and I was complaining that my black tank cable was getting difficult to pull out. Steve said to take it out, lube it and stick it back in. With that bit of technical instruction I did exactly that and problem solved. Mike

I will just add my experience with the long black tank cable. It is very easy to lube. Loosen the set screw on top of the black tank valve and the cable easily pulls out. Wipe down with your preferred lube/grease and it goes back in as easy as it came out. Tighten down the set screw and you’re done. I’ve done this 3 times over the years since 2016. A shorter cable run would probably be better and an electric valve better as well, but the current set up has been fine considering how many times we’ve dumped! Mike

Art, have you tried the new ceramic Berkey filters?

Hi Jay, welcome to the group and congrats on your “new” Oliver! You probably know about the Texas Oliver rally that’s in the fall. Hope to meet you there. Mike

Maybe we should start a thread on managing resources while boondocking. When we had AGM’s we did a lot of no hook up camping, mostly at National Parks, COE and FS areas, Harvest Hosts and of course Quartzsite. No 30a hookup meant fridge on propane, hot water on propane, boil water on propane stovetop for pour over coffee, etc. The only electrical load on the batteries was the furnace fan, lights and water pump. We seldom use the inverter, an occasional minute or two of microwave and maybe a blow dry after a shower. Keeping an eye on where the battery charge was happened frequently. If we weren’t back to near 100% by mid-afternoon the generator came out (happened at Glacier and Grand Teton, some dark cold days!). Our AGM’s lasted 5 years and got replaced because two were starting to leak. Now with Lithiums (just 300ah) we still camp the same when boondocking and rarely get down to 80% charge by morning. It’s a mistake to think that solar allows the same kind of camping off grid as with FHU. Mike

Sage advice, for sure! Like most folks when one tank runs out we switch to the other and start looking for a place to refill. It takes a while for the big tanks to run out. When we lived in Belgium our home was an old (200 years) farmhouse and hot water was propane on demand, one in the bath and one in the kitchen. Propane was supplied by two tanks outside that didn’t switch automatically. More than once my not water stopped in the middle of a shower on a cold Belgian morning requiring a trip outside to switch tanks so I could finish my shower. That was better than when the well ran dry, though. Sometimes living in that house felt like we were camping. Mike

Paul, welcome! Nice looking setup. There’s great camping in Colorado! Mike