Mike and Carol

Quite a pile of bicycles!

At 71.5” the Elite II is no problem. I did meet an Elite II owner at Catalina State Park in January who seemed to be at least 6’6”! Maybe he @Mountainman198will chime in! Mike

I read through this thread on Airforums this morning about the dangers of overfilling of propane tanks. I usually get mine filled locally at a propane supply place, it’s all they do. Something to be aware of, the fire danger is real! Does anyone have experience with this? Here is a quote from one of the posts: “This is correct, DO NOT use any propane until you open the 80% bleeder screw on the valve of the tank and vent in an open area / safe place until only vapor comes out instead of liquid LP. It is possible to have liquid LP go through the regulator and to the appliance and cause a BIG FIRE!!! I had a tank overfilled once like you, I hooked it up to a BBQ to burn off the extra LP. The flames were over ten feet high! I turned off the LP and the flames continued for ten minutes with just was in the hose!!! DON'T DO IT.............!!!!!!”

Congratulations! June is just around the corner….

We had a bunch of buffalo stroll through our site a few times while we were there. We went inside because they were literally rubbing up against the trailer. Quite a sight/site. Mike

If you’re going to be staying at Guadalupe River State Park here are some suggestions for things to do. It’s worth a day to spend in Fredericksburg. It has a nice old downtown (Main Street) with lots of shopping and antique shops and has about a dozen wineries along highway 290. Our favorite is Becker Vineyards just outside of Fredericksburg in Stonewall. There are a bunch of other good ones. Also, the LBJ Ranch in Johnson City is a National Parks Historical Park. I’m not a big LBJ fan but we spent several hours there while camped at Blanco State Park and it was time well spent, interesting and educational. If you keep driving west on 46 from Guadalupe, you’ll run in to Boerne (“Bernie”). Main Street (Hauptstrasse) has a lot of antique shops and other nice shopping. Several good restaurants Peggys, The Creek and Cypress Grille are upscale with good wine lists (my brother owns Cypress Grille and is the chef). Several other more casual places to include a couple of microbreweries. Dodging Duck is casual with live music and make their own beer. It’s just off Main Street across from Cibolo Creek on River Road. I’m not sure there will be many Bluebonnets in bloom yet, but you never know! Mike

In the Blue Sky days they put the controller under the street side bed right next to the pantry. Not sure what is there now, but there is plenty of room. Mike

Since the Texas Hill Country is our neighborhood the database resides in my head! But, when venturing to other geographic areas my favorite app is Ultimate Public Campgrounds, followed by Allstays and Campendium. Ultimate Public Campgrounds lists all the National Parks, State, county and municipal parks, COE and Forest Service campgrounds, BLM campgrounds and dispersed areas and utility campgrounds. Allstays does the same but also includes commercial parks, and other things like truck stops, Costcos, Bass Pro Shops, etc. We’ve used RVParky too. Carol always checks rvcampgroundreviews.com once we narrow down our choices. Campendium also gives good reviews. Recreation.gov is what most national and state parks use for reservations and we spend time there too. Hope this helps! Mike

Hey John, it will be interesting to see your funny looking not an Oliver! Looking forward to seeing you guys again…. Mike

Guadalupe River State Park in on highway 46. Or, once on 46 you can go north on highway 281 to Blanco and there is a nice little state park there. If you keep going on 46 to Boerne, there is a commercial park in Boerne that is okay, not great. A little north of 46 is Canyon Lake and there are a couple of COE campgrounds there. Mike

Welcome Ron and Phyllis! East Tennessee is a beautiful place to live. We’ll be anxious to hear about your towing experience with the Subaru. My daughter and her husband have an Ascent and like it a lot, they are local so we see it frequently. August is right around corner! Mike

If you’re looking for states parks in the hill country, there’s Blanco, Perdenales, Guadalupe River. There’s a municipal park in Fredericksburg (Lady Bird Johnson), there are also some good commercial parks around Fredericksburg, one is brand new and just opened in the middle of all the wineries. Also a couple of commercial campgrounds around Kerrville. State parks here fill up on the weekends almost all year round, so reservations are important as early as you can make them. As you head this way I would try to avoid going through Austin, traffic can be pretty bad. Mike

We have one of each. They both fold up to about 3’ X 12” X 8” and the small one is 3’ X 12” X 6”. Sometimes we use both when we put the Clam up. Typical camping mats/rugs, lightweight and porous. I wouldn’t plan on storing them in the basement, you wouldn’t get much else in there. Mike

Congratulations! We have good friends who live in Duncanville. Hope to meet you at the rally. Mike

Good to know. It’s not a priority right now but nice to have solid options if needed! Mike

We’ve got USB’s under the dinette, over the kitchen and on the nightstand. Mike

Most former military folks and even Boy Scouts remember their land navigation training. Back in the day, while at West Point, part of our summer training was being dropped off somewhere in the hills/mountains in pairs. We had a map, compass and some C-rations (early 1970’s). We had to figure out where we were and find our way back to camp. For most groups it took 2 or 3 days. My buddy and I made it back in 2. Slept under the stars and gathered fresh blueberry’s in the morning. Now, back to our regular programming, new fangled handheld land navigation devices…. Mike

I left my charger on all the time when I had AGMs. Between the solar and charger the batteries were almost always in a good state of charge without me worrying about anything. With lithiums, the Battle Born rep recommended turning the charger on only when needed to charge. So, ours is off 90% of the time. The solar charges the batteries to 100% pretty quick on a sunny morning and on cloudy days by early/mid afternoon. I’ve used the charger on really dark days a few times. Mike

We like the Natchez Trace parkway. Relaxing, scenic.

I used to raise the pressure in the rear tires, but don’t anymore. I’ve never raised the pressure in the tires on my current truck. I’ve got about 15K miles towing so far and have noticed no unusual pressure changes while driving and towing. I also had the Michelin LTX tires on a previous truck and liked them a lot. I’m getting ready to change out the tires on my 2500 and am sure I will go with the Cooper AT3 XLT. I put them on my trailer last January and I like them. Why not have the truck and trailer match? 🤪. Mike

We’ve been through South Dakota, camped near Spearfish and enjoyed Cheyenne Canyon and surrounding area, but want to do the Badlands. Looking at going there this fall. Mike

The Diamondback looks very sturdy. I have been generally pleased with the Bakflip covers I had on my half tons. This one on my 2500 is a bit leaky and with the extra section can be difficult to open all the way. For those with the Diamondback, is accessing bed contents easy? The middle section that doesn’t move doesn’t block access at all? I could probably sell my bakflip for something to mitigate the cost of an upgrade. Mike

We are probably one of the ones with a lot of outlets. We have 8. The one outside, outside of the bath, in the closet, under the dinette, microwave, kitchen overhead, under curbside bed and attic. We use them all, just not at the same time…. Mike

I used my table saw. Set the fence like I was ripping a board. Mike

The current location for the batteries provides a semi-climate controlled area when the trailer is occupied. In cold weather camping, if you have lithiums, they have four sides that are at cabin temperature. On the tongue, if you’re camping in 20 degree weather then your batteries are at 20 degrees. You might be able to figure out a way to mount the batteries under the dinette seats somehow. I’d have to look at it. Mike