Living is easy in our new Oliver! Introducing Ollie Oop, hull #269

[GrumbleandTwist]

During the long wait for pick up day I admit to spending a lot of time lurking on the Oliver forum - so much great info and experience, thank you so much for all your contributions!  But as a newbie to towing and trailer camping, somewhere in that process I began to get very anxious about the learning curve we were facing.  There was so much discussion about the different systems and modifications and configuration options and work arounds and etc etc - all of it great info btw, this is not a complaint in any way - but it was all so foreign to me that I began to form the impression that this new life we were embarking upon was going to be a lot of work.   It didn't take long in our Ollie for that anxiety to melt away.  This trailer has everything we need and then some.  Lights?  Flip a switch.  Hot water?  Turn on the faucet.  Below freezing outside?  The furnace works great.  Everything you need is there and easy to use out of the box.  Yes, you do need to learn the systems...but not overnight.  Over the last month we've slowly made our way further away from the mothership as we gained confidence in the abilities of both ourselves and our new trailer.  The wealth of info in the forum has been an invaluable resource as we figure out how it all works and get our travel legs built up.  But I'm very happy to report that nothing yet has felt like hard work...and that anxiety?  Disappeared before we checked out of Fall Hollow after our first weekend:)  We're Greg and Theresa Kopish, we'll be posting as Grumble and Twist.  Looking forward to meeting you all at the rally in May!  Twist

[SeaDawg]

So happy for you!

Congratulations on your new Oliver.

Wishing you many miles of smiles.

We love our 2008. I suspect you will feel the same in 2027.

Get out and camp. And enjoy your investment.

Sherry

[Mike and Carol]

Isn’t it amazing how fast things become second nature?  We were like you, first trailer and weren’t campers. Traveling in our Oliver is like being in a second home.

 

Welcome to the group and looking forward to meeting you at the rally!  Mike

[topgun2]

My Oliver Twist says a big HELLO to the human Twist.  Hopefully the two of you will get a chance to meet at the Owners Rally.  Glad to hear that everything is going well.  Enjoy the ride and that nice new Ollie of yours!

 

Bill (and Twist)

[Mainiac]

Welcome to the clan. I am sure you have already experienced the thumbs up, the smiles, and the "nice camper, what kind is it" remarks. When they follow you into the gas station to talk to you, you know you made the right choice. (How was it driving into that tight gas station, the first time?). Be sure to carry plenty of the post cards that have the web site on it. Easier than finding a piece of paper during a light rain. I found, turning around on a dead end narrow gravel road on a mountain top, while listening for banjo music; towing and maneuvering an Oliver is easy to do. No concerns...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kayrae51]

Congratulations Greg & Theresa

 

Many happy travels await you,,,,,,welcome to the Oliver family!

[John E Davies]

Welcome. I'm glad your Ollie is working well. It is indeed important to learn the systems, how they are supposed to work, and how to go about finding out how to fix them, if one day you should turn on the hot tap and cold water comes out, or a fuse blows, or a board fails and the furnace won't come on.

 

The RV learning curve is steep at first, but keep at it and things get easy.

 

Please update your personal information, and post some pics of your new trailer. ... 

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[ShallowGal]

But as a newbie to towing and trailer camping, somewhere in that process I began to get very anxious about the learning curve we were facing. [/quote]

 

Whew, me too! Weather pending, we pick up our Oliver late January. Thank you for sharing & easing my anxiety.

 

Chris

[topgun2]

In the beginning (and perhaps middle) checklists are your friend.  Consistency is my key - do everything the same way each time - that way nothing is overlooked.  In a sense this is also very much like having a checklist except unlike a checklist my memory can not remember what was left undone in the event I'm interrupted while trying to do the same thing the same way each time.  Interestingly I find with the Oliver that there are more of these interruptions - people see that I'm packing up and make it a point to come over and check out this "strange" camper before it leaves.  This is when I MUST  force myself to remember exactly where I left off.

 

Bill

[Mainiac]

We had a Navy Chief that used to camp seasonally with us. It was like the preflight checklist he used to use when he was taking care of P3 Neptunes. One check list for arrival and one for departure. You interrupted him he would start over. Never heard of him having an issue.

[Mike and Carol]

I have the things I’m responsible for and Carol has things she is responsible for. Then, we check each other!  For us, it’s important to have a routine that we do every time both on arrival and departure.

 

I’ve had to politely tell folks that we would be glad to show our trailer as soon as we’re done setting up -please come back in a half hour or so.  Mike

[Spike]

Speaking of Checklists:

 

Here are the checklists that we use when setting up and breaking down camp. Liz takes care of the inside, while I work on the outside. We keep the inside lists on a clipboard in Ollie and the outside lists on a clipboard in Stan (our Tundra). So far--knock on wood--we have avoided major--expensive or dangerous--errors. They are composed in MS Word. Feel free to download and modify.

 

P.S. "Hank" on the checklist is our dog, who is secured with a "seatbelt" in the backseat of our Tundra. Also, we have the Nature's Head composting toilet, so no sewer hose, etc., is mentioned on the lists.

 

--Jeff

Breaking-Up-Camp-Checklist-OUTSIDE.docx

Breaking-Up-Camp-Checklist-INSIDE.docx

Setting-Up-Camp-Checklist-INSIDE.docx

Setting-Up-Camp-Checklist-OUTSIDE.docx

[Mainiac]

Questions: if boondocking...turn on water before turning on pump?? How does this work.                           On departure...hopefully she is done on the inside before you lock the door???

 

 

[GrumbleandTwist]

Thanks for all your welcoming comments.  We've been on the move the last few days.  We're now on the West Coast, in a very nice county park just outside of San Diego.   Its a great launching spot for exploring the city.

 

A little bit about ourselves.   We're from Wisconsin.  I retired a couple of years ago, Grumble retired in March.  The dust hadn't settled after his retirement party before we made the decision to radically downsize and go see the country, a dream I've had for years.  That led to a crazy busy few months as we worked through the very stressful downsizing process, our daughter got married, and I got some pesky medical procedures out of the way (eyes and wrist - nothing major but enough to knock me out of commission for a few valuable weeks of the process)

 

Needless to say, by the time we picked up Ollie Oop on Nov 9 we were ready to chill for a while.  Literally, since Holenwald was unseasonably cold during our pick up week.  We've been tent, backpack and kayak campers for years, so life in the Ollie feels luxurious and easy.  We spent a week in Holenwald, then a second week just a bit down the Natchez Trace in Tupelo.  Then on to Chickasaw, Guadalupe Mtns, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, and Tucson.   We finally found warm weather in Tucson, so we stayed there a bit.  We'll be heading to Joshua Tree after the holidays.  That's as far as we've planned out, although we will be circling back to WI in June.  Oh, and we will be at the rally in May.  We're finding that we like to stay put for a week or two to explore an area.   National, State and County parks seem to suit us. 

 

I printed out every checklist I could find on this site before pick up - the Stan and Ollie checklist has become our standard.  It has saved us from ourselves several times already!  

 

Twist (the person, not the Oliver:)

[topgun2]

Twist & Grumble - Glad to hear that the three of you are doing well.  There is a section over on the main Forum page for Campgrounds and Parks.  Reviews and pictures are always welcome.

 

I have never experienced the Christmas holidays in a warm climate so I would think that it would be a bit strange.  However, as I type this I am thinking about that dirty car in the garage that should be washed today.  A temperature higher than 47 degrees sure would be welcome in getting that chore done!

 

Bill and Twist (the Oliver not the person ;)

[MrBig1]

Welcome G&T.

 

Nice to have you with us. How fortunate you are to already have your memory making machine. LOL, some of us still wait. Quite a diverse group of people here all united by a common interest, Oliver Travel Trailers. As you have surely noticed, there are people here with more than a few years experience that freely share their knowledge. This atmosphere will significantly reduce the duration of your learning curve but the vertical component will still be steep. I don't believe this is a bad thing because the sooner you learn the more comfortable you will become. Again, welcome.

 

Ray

[Commanche]

Bill, wait till next weekend when the temps drop to low teens, you will wish you were in a warm area. I thought when we left KC we got away from that cold stuff. We are trying to plan a trip to Florida in late January.

 

Merry Christmas,

 

Stan and Carol