Mike and Carol

I-10 west of Houston is a good road without a lot of traffic except when you go through San Antonio, El Paso and Phoenix. You can make good time through west Texas, NM and AZ. It will be hot but efficient time and distance-wise. Mike

I don’t know the resale potential of an R-Pod. I’m sure it is not anywhere near that of an Oliver. Olivers have had consistently high resale values. Mike

What about converting the dinette bed with some sort of raised platform or bunk arrangement? I don’t know of anyone who has done a modification for a fourth bed. It would be pretty close quarters…. Mike

Used Olivers sell for way more than 50% of their original cost. 90% would be a better estimate. Mike

That certainly breaks up the white walls. Does it make it seem dark inside? I notice that they have a bunch of shades. Mike

We started out towing our EII with a 2012 Tacoma. It did fine. We had to stop often for gas (150-200 miles) and couldn’t carry much cargo. If you limit your towing to flat lands and short trips you could get by with your Tacoma and an Elite II, it’s just not an enjoyable towing experience and you’ll want to upgrade to make any longer trips or mountain towing. If you go with the smaller trailer the Tacoma would be fine long term, there are a number of Tacoma owners towing an Elite I. I can’t comment on living in the Elite I, but there are a lot of owners out there that may offer their views. Mike

Glad the issue was resolved quickly. What you’ve done looks great. Like Steve, ours have held up well for about 60K miles but now I’m inspired to do some plumbing work! Mike

Interesting stripes.

Welcome and I’m glad you are enjoying your Oliver! Full timers eventually end up with lots of insight and give great so we’re glad to have you here. Mike

That’s pretty good. As a comparison, I have two 100ah Battle Born batteries and with about the same usage I read around 85% in the morning. Mike

Looks like an interesting and scenic drive. Seems like the exhaust brake on a diesel truck would come in handy on the descent. I’ll wait for the after-action report from those brave enough to go! I still want to do Alaska, but when…..? Mike

It would have been nice. Nothing provided in 2016. Hope they are doing it now.

Good idea, but Oliver should be providing serial numbers for components. Mike

914 is a good number! Congratulations - Mike

Glad the trip home is complete. Each trip will be a learning experience and soon you’ll be giving advice to new owners! Mike

I just replaced my inverter before leaving on this trip. The serial number is on a sticker on the outside of the box of the new inverter. Peel it off and stick it on the manual. I did the phone picture thing when trouble shooting my old one and Xantrex wanted the serial number. Oliver should put it in the owners book. Mike

The aluminum shell of Airstreams can be tough to maintain, hail, rocks and turkeys too. But they still look cool.

Congratulations - looks great!

Fall in the west can be very nice.

We’ve been working our way from San Antonio to Maine since early July, stopping at state parks, COE parks and HH locations. We recently stayed at a Winery/Farm in Rhode Island, Leyden Farms, a HH location. Their wine is good, the outdoor event area is great and they have really paid attention to where their HH guests park. A great location!

I know there’s an Oliver owner in the Bozeman area…. Mike

Sounds like it should be a great trip. Will be interested in your lessons learned. We hope to make it to Alaska sometime! Mike

Yes, wow to 1000 Olivers soon to be out there. As a “new” moderator with Hull #135 I’m feeling quite young. We placed our order only 6 years ago! Mike

Dan and Ruth, welcome! I think you have a pretty sweet trailer. Look forward to meeting you. Mike

I did this mod twice. The first time it was spring (April) and the temps were in the mid 80s. I installed the gutters then took my trailer back to storage. That night we had a norther come through and the temperatures dropped to the 30s and the next morning all the ends of my gutters had flipped up. The second time It did it was summer. Hot. No temperature drop and the gutters have remained in position for a couple of years. Like John, I did all the prep before installing. Positioning before sticking them on. Slowly remove the red backing and stick in place. I left the tape on overnight. I also let it sit in the sun after sticking the gutters. Finished product. I didn’t go down as far as John, but they still work well. We’ve had lots of rain this current trip and the run off from the roof is shunted around the windows.