Mike and Carol

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Scott and Debi, great news! I guess Bill is quite persuasive.... Happy Thanksgiving! Mike

I’m waiting for the front winch and running boards.

Welcome, Chuck, and congrats on your “new” trailer. Enjoy your trek across the US to California! Mike

Welcome to the forum, if you have questions this is a good place to be! Good luck with your search. Mike

I’m glad folks are thinking and innovating. The appearance doesn’t do much for me. The window fail makes me wonder about other design features. Impressive towing if that was a real contest with the Ford. Not very practical for what I need from a truck towing a trailer around the country. It is encouraging, though, to see someone pushing the envelope.

Agree! My Ram is my daily driver, everywhere.

I agree with John here. I’m not going to tow in snow. I might move off of a remote campsite in snow to a road that has been cleared. I’m fairly confident in my abilities driving in snow, but don’t trust others that are on the road. We will head out in early January for a month or two, but will stay clear of slick roads. Mike

Don, I think it will be a good match for your new trailer. The quad cab gives you more bed space so plenty of room for bikes. Congrats! Mike

Sounds like you’re having fun! I’m going to be driving a new truck sometime after the new year and am having some of the same indecision issues. I think the Rebel and SR5 are different model levels. The Rebel is a little more upscale with the interior, skid plates, etc. The SR5 is more mid-level? I like Toyota’s and had an SR5, but you are right that the Toyota design is old, the new Ram design is, well, new. The Tundra and Tacoma are made right here in San Antonio, but I’m still leaning Ram. Mike

The twin bed riser option is no longer being offered by Oliver. There were only a few produced. If you can find one used (there was one that recently sold) I think a full sized guitar would fit. Even without the riser, you could travel with your guitar laying on the bed. I have a parlor size guitar that fits neatly on the floor under the lip of the twin bed upright and out of the way.

I don’t have any experience with Diesel engines. I’ve read mixed reviews on the Ram 3.0 diesel. The reviewers generally say it’s a good engine but not as good as diesels in competition half tons. I did read that you can drive across the entire state of Texas with one tank of fuel!

Don, the Tundra is a good truck. This is the first Ram I’ve owned and now have 85K+ miles in a little over 3 years. 50K miles towing. No problems at all. I had heard of Ram reliability problems too, but couldn’t pass up the price for features 3 years ago. I had owned multiple Ford and Toyota trucks previously. I am planning on either a Rebel or Power Wagon after the first of the year, depending on available options (split tailgate). Just FYI. I wish I needed a Touareg! My son had a diesel and loved it. Mike

Don, the Rebel should be a good match. We’re looking at the 2020 Rebel as well. The Ram Box and split tailgate options are a must for me. It gets tool boxes out of the bed and puts tools in an easily accessible spot. The new tailgate works even when hitched and makes reaching for items in the bed easier. I’ve played around with it at my dealer and like it. If the 2020 Power Wagon can be optioned with the split tailgate I’ll probably go with the bigger truck. Mike

Don, that’s quite a trailer! It’s got some nice features, like a parking brake which seems like all trailers should have. I’m sure you’ll be able to explore much more with the off road capabilities. Hope to see it in person soon. Mike

Brian and Maria, welcome! You are from a beautiful part of the country with plenty of great camping spots! Take videos when you get your orientation. We did and they came in handy a couple of times. Mike

Technomadia, Chris and Cherie, started in a teardrop and graduated to an Elite way back when Pete, Steve and Sherry got their Elites. They then moved up to a restored class A. They are pretty down to earth and provide a great service to RVers with their videos and posts on cell phones, boosters and other tech. You can do a search and find a number of posts by them on this forum. Not sure what the focus of this new show will be but might be interesting. If you have cell phone or tech questions their web site is a good place to go.

It’s a great way to do retirement. We’ve really enjoyed camping and traveling in ours! Mike

Dates for Quartzsite 2020 are: Big Tent RV Show - Jan 19-26 Fiberglass Rally - Feb 3-9 There’s information on the rally over on Fiberglass RV Forums: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f57/2020-quartzsite-gathering-88194.html

We don’t use a tote, but if we did it would have a larger capacity than the black tank, I’d go with at least 21 gallons. If you go smaller, say 15 gallons, and you’re trying to put 16 or 17 gallons of stuff in your tote I would imagine once the tote was full everything would stop and you’d be left with a hose full of stuff and no elegant way to disconnect from the tote without a mess. Mike

I’ve been using a Champion 2,000W inverter generator I got at Tractor Supply for $399. Very quiet and 38lbs. It will start my AC (with Easy Start). We’ve only used it to charge batteries on a few very cloudy/rainy Wyoming days. If you are going to use a generator in a camp ground please go with an inverter, they are quiet and have a significantly lower “annoying” effect on your camping neighbors.

Speed - no comparison. Error messages - no comparison. PM/PM notification - no comparison. All are significant improvements. I’m sure we’ll find other improvements as well. Format? Personal preference. Administrators are still working through implementation.

Coy, will you have one installed on your trailer at Dome Rock? Would love to see it in action! Mike

We’ve been the last three years, either to the Big Show or the Rally or both. Dome Rock BLM is where to go. You can find it on Google Maps, it’s a large area and will have a few hundred campers scattered about. I think it’s Exit 17 off of I-10W, there’s a Love’s on the south side and a Pilot on the north side. Dome Rock road goes west parallel to I-10 on the south side, you’ll see it just in front of the Love’s. Follow it for a few miles west and you’ll see the fiberglass gaggle to the south. Can’t miss it! Mike

Great work by Jason to get us this new platform. It will take some getting used to but should be a great improvement in the long run! Mike