Mike and Carol

We’re camped in Almont, halfway between Gunnison and Crested Butte. Showers most of today, more rain tomorrow. Hopefully the rain will help with the drought and fires. Mike

Looks nice! Where is Cannon Beach? Mike

We are leaving Palo Duro Canyon, TX this morning for Sand Dunes NP. Will move to Crested Butte this weekend. Keeping an eye on the situation. Thanks for the update. Mike

Sherry, we would be very interested in your experiences and insight. Alaska is on our list! Mike

Looks great! Agree with Don, it’s good to have a family and not just a couple of old folks!! ? We’re on our way to Colorado now.... Mike

The answer to your question depends somewhat on your personality. Carol and I are both planners and check list people. We like to know where we’re going and that there will be room for us when we get there. If it’s not summer, we usually have a destination planned but do not plan the return - we just wing it. If it’s summer, we plan the whole trip. We’re getting ready to leave for Colorado and will return through NM. We have reservations at BLM, COE and TX State Park Campgrounds for the whole trip. Our go-to App is Ultimate Public Campgrounds. It’s very accurate and shows all the non-commercial places to camp. Mike

Looks great! Have a fun trip and learn as you go. Plenty of expertise here when you have questions. Mike

If there was Oliver stuff in an Oliver store I’d sure be loading up a shopping cart!

I’ve seen this video before. It was good to watch it again to really appreciate the time and care that goes into building an Oliver. In addition to the near wreckless speed of the workers I see a lot of safety issues. I wouldn’t want to be associated with that operation. Mike

Welcome from another Thompson family. I’m sure you’ll be happy with your decision. This is our first trailer as well. The hard part is waiting to pick it up! Mike

We avoid the A/C whenever we can. Texas can be hot anytime of year so when we use it quite often while here or further southwest (AZ, NM, southern CA). I find it loud and don’t like sleeping with it on, but like John, I don’t sleep well in the heat. Generally, we will go to bed with it on and I’ll shut it off sometime after midnight and just open the windows and turn on the fan for the rest of the night. We don’t camp much in the summer because of the heat and crowds. We are headed to Crested Butte next week and will spend a few days on Palo Duro canyon on the way which will be hot and I’m sure the AC will get a workout. BTW, with a 30 amp connection you can run the air conditioner, hot water heater and fridge with no issues. Mike

George, I agree with the answers given so far. We’ve got a lot of miles on our trailer and have no noticeable rock damage. When we decide to go to Alaska we will go with some kind of protection. John Davies has done a lot with this. Pete Marks (Bugeyedriver) also has a good rock protection solution. We got the upgraded mattresses that were available in the fall of 2015 and would definitely recommend it. We have the four AGM battery upgrade with the solar and are happy with the off grid capability. We have a single awning and regular toilet and have no issues. We had a couple of QC issues early on that were addressed under warranty but since then it’s just been routine stuff. Mike

I’m a big Tommy Emmanuel fan. Also anything by Mark Knopfler.

Hey Wade, welcome! We looked at getting an Airstream 23FB for a couple of years, but went with Oliver. The Oliver wins the off road/off grid contest easily. The Airstream is probably more comfortable - it’s a foot wider and does not have a wet bath. For us, our Oliver is plenty comfortable and we value the off grid capabilities. After 2 years and around 30K miles we remain very happy with our decision. Mike

Hey George and Joanie, welcome to the group. Airstream makes a good looking trailer but the Oliver is something quite different! Don, this is a great place to get your questions answered. We picked ours up 2 years ago and it is our first travel trailer. We had lots of questions too. After about 30K miles since May 2016 and mentoring and help from fellow owners I think we’ve got it figured out! Mike

Y’all didn’t know that?

The softener I got is from ABC Water. It’s about the size of a propane tank. You recharge it every few months with a box of table salt. Amazon has several models and sizes. I also use it to wash my truck and car.

Water flow to our toilet slowed then finally stopped. After cleaning the hard water crud out of the line going into the back of the toilet flow returned to normal. I was using a filter (blue Camco) but apparently that was not enough. I’ve added a water softener since, which will hopefully help. Mike

My set up as well.

Ken and Judy, that’s great news! Now the wait begins.... Mike

I did the same thing last year. Home Depot only had white handles, so that’s what I got. A little retro, reminds me of our screen doors when I was a kid.

This is what I do too. Just pour some bleach in the hose, hook it up and turn on the faucet.

We left the rally this morning and had a short drive east into South Carolina. We’re at Twin Lakes COE near Pendleton, SC. Our site is on the lake and we can’t see any other campers near us, just a few across the lake. Water and Electric for $12 a day. The only sound is water against the shore and some birds.

We had a great time these past few days at the rally. Big thanks to Coy for all his planning and hard work to make this a well executed event. Also thanks to Foy and Matt for their work. These rallys wouldn’t be the same without the support of the company, so thanks to Scott Oliver for providing company resources and for being an active attendee. Carol and I thought the location and facilities were outstanding. It was great seeing old friends and meeting a bunch of new friends. We’re looking forward to next year already. Mike

Welcome, Pete. Your Ollie will pop up eventually. As more are produced more used ones will be up for sale. Mike