skipr Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 Hi, My name is Skip and my 22 footer will be ready in June. I presently live in Tucson and I'm a total newbie to RVing. I have been thinking about it since I was a kid and saw an Airstream on top of a billboard next to I-5 in LA. I started to get serious about it when I was getting close to retirement. I didn't consider roaming earlier since I thoroughly enjoyed my work (contract engineer) and it required that I be at the job site, though I could have done it all remotely. I roamed the web trying to learn as much as I could about RVs and RVing. My search started with Airstreams since that was all I knew back then. I stopped by a few dealers and felt that those units were poorly insulated. I then met a couple who own one. They told me about how their big window buckled on them. I then looked into truck campers. They didn’t excite me until I happened upon a few fiberglass ones. I was quite interested in their design, but they were just not my thing. It then occurred to me that there may be a few fiberglass travel trailers out there. After some more roaming I happened upon the Oliver site. I was immediately impressed with the quality and how tightly integrated they were. I then drove out to Quartzsite to see them and was even more impressed. I then happened upon an interview of Chris and Cherie of Technomadia. They had nothing but the best to say about their 17’ unit, though the need for more space pushed them to replace it with a converted bus. So here I am patiently waiting for my “Base Camp Oliver” to be finished. A few days ago I drove out to Stair Case-Escalante national monument in Utah to do some hiking with a friend from Montana. We drove 40 miles off-road to get to the red rock trail heads. The only people we saw that far out were on ATVs. We camped in the back of our trucks, which was miserable due to the wind that stirred up a bunch of dust and pollen. The gritty meals were also an experience. I was trying to sleep on an inflatable mattress when I started to think about how pleasant it would have been in the Oliver. The thought of it kept me awake the rest of the night. It’s the perfect place to hang out when the outside conditions sucked. I guess boondocking is going to be my thing. More later.
Moderators mountainborn Posted April 18, 2014 Moderators Posted April 18, 2014 Great introduction Skip ! Betty and I are looking forward to seeing you out there on the road ! I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold)
Flyrod Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 Great post Skip. Picked my 22 Oliver a couple weeks back and my feet still haven't touch the ground! The dream has come true and it is better then the dream.
towbert Posted April 18, 2014 Posted April 18, 2014 Congratulations. We arrived at the same decision with the same reasoning, with a brief ownership of another brand. As former Live Aboard Boaters, it was a logical move to a Oliver Land Yacht even though they refused to add a bow roller & anchor. We depart Tucson to Hohenwald to pick up ours next week. TOWBERT
Moderator+ ScubaRx Posted April 19, 2014 Moderator+ Posted April 19, 2014 Hey Skip, it's good to have you join the most exclusive Fiberglass RV Owners Club in the world, the Oliver Owners. Nobody else even comes close to the quality of an Oliver. I know you are excited and the waiting is the worst. We waited a year from the time the Oliver folks decided to reopen the trailer line until a few weeks ago when we picked up the new Outlaw Oliver. Having owned (and sold) one of the original 17 footers, the anxiety was awful while we didn't have an Oliver sitting in its garage out there beside the house. We will be taking her to Townsend, TN soon for the rally there. We are loading her and getting her ready to travel. I've been through all the systems (heating, cooling, water, etc.) and everything is ship-shape. We are meeting a couple of your fellow Tucsonans (is that the correct term?) in the Smokies just after they pick up their new Oliver. I love your name "Base Camp Oliver". Steve, Tali and our dog Rocky plus our beloved dogs Storm, Lucy, Maggie and Reacher (all waiting at the Rainbow Bridge) 2008 Legacy Elite I - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #026 | 2014 Legacy Elite II - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #050 | 2022 Silverado High Country 3500HD SRW Diesel 4x4
Moderators SeaDawg Posted April 22, 2014 Moderators Posted April 22, 2014 Skip, thanks for the great post! Welcome to the group. Boondocking is awesome in an Oliver... almost enough to make you feel guilty... Are you adding solar? Just curious. We've found it really extends our ability to remain off the beaten path. Towbert, the jacks are so much easier to deploy than our heavy anchors. We're sailors, too. Sherry 2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4 2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12 Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes.... 400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries . Life is good.
Moderators SeaDawg Posted April 22, 2014 Moderators Posted April 22, 2014 Skip, thanks for the great post! Welcome to the group. Boondocking is awesome in an Oliver... almost enough to make you feel guilty... Are you adding solar? Just curious. We've found it really extends our ability to remain off the beaten path. Towbert, the jacks are so much easier to deploy than our heavy anchors. We're sailors, too. Sherry 2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4 2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12 Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes.... 400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries . Life is good.
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