After retiring a year ago, I have earned a new freedom I always dreamed of. The opportunity to hook up the camper and take off to anywhere I want, whenever I want. I frequently get asked when I describe a trip I'm about to take why I will be gone so long, and the answer always is "Because I can." It wasn't until I retired that I was able to say this and this freedom means enough to me to use it as the blog title.
Many of you reading this now may have read my blog of my 2014 travels to some of the Western National Parks. ( https://edscasitatravels.wordpress.com/ ) I appreciate the positive feedback I received from many of you.
This year Marsha and I will take another lengthy trip out west to see mountain and desert scenery, drive scenic highways, flyfish the trout streams, and camp in beautiful places. We expect to visit Rocky Mountain N.P. in Colorado, Flaming Gorge N.M. in Utah, Grand Tetons N.P. and Yellowstone N.P. (of course) in Wyoming, and Glacier N.P. in Montana. When not in the national parks, we'll be camping in national forest campgrounds. We are not as formal in our planning this year as we were last year, so anything may change as we go.
We have a new camper this year, which we took possession of June 8 in Hohenwald, TN at the factory. The Casita served us very well for the five seasons we had it. Marsha follows the forum, www.fiberglassRV.com, which is a forum for owners of molded fiberglass RV trailers from manufacturers such as Scamp, Casita, Bigfoot, and many others. One of the premium makes is Oliver. The owners, the Oliver brothers, both owned Casitas and owned a fiberglass factory that makes tubs and showers. They decided to make the ultimate Casita with all the bells and whistles and very high quality components. In 2008, they halted production of the trailers due to the recession. But in 2014 they resumed production of the original 17 ft. model and came out with a new 23.5 Ft. model called the Oliver Legacy Elite II. These are premium trailers, even envied by Airstream owners. And they are priced like an Airstream.
When Marsha discussed it with me, I told her we should go down there and look at them, which you have to do at the factory. We immediately called the 800 number and set up a factory tour on Thursday of the next week. This was on a Friday in February. The factory is in Hohenwald, TN, about 1.5 hour drive south of Nashville. We thought nothing of it. Why? Because we can. We were so impressed with the quality, the friendly skilled people building them, the materials, customer input, and how they will customize things for the customer like putting electrical outlets or hanging hooks where the customer wants and allows the customer to pick colors, graphics, flooring, etc. Very few things are optional.
They use a double fiberglass hull, with an inner and an outer shell. Insulation, tanks, wiring, heat ducting, and plumbing is between the two hulls. Our camper has a king size bed, with mattress (not cushions), double pane windows, Delta faucets, stereo with 4 speakers, Bluetooth, DVD, that connects to 24" HD flat screen TV, commercial grade microwave, LED lighting, pantry lights, closet lights, ducted heat, remote control Maxair fan, 2000 watt inverter, 4 6-volt deep cycle batteries (405 amp-hr), electric tongue jack, electric stabilizers, tank level monitors, air conditioner, dual steps, welded aluminum frame, 16" commercial grade BF Goodrich LT tires, dual axels with self adjusting electric brakes, machined aluminum wheels, shock absorbers (not common an any trailers) and awning. Of the items mentioned above, only the king size mattress, upgraded batteries, and inverter were optional.
Here's some pictures:
The Oliver at Canoe Harbor SFCG near Grayling, MI in the Mason Tract
The Oliver at Autrain NFCG near Munising in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
An inside view:
Note the king size bed, counter space, dovetailed soft closing drawers, window blinds, mirrored cabinet doors, stainless steel marine hardware, under bed storage, and lots and lots of other features.
We will be leaving on our trip out west on Wednesday July 29th. We will start out taking I-80 across Illinois and Iowa and stop somewhere halfway across Iowa. I'll try to blog everyday, but may not post every day, depending on cell phone coverage or WiFi availability. So there may be days with no posts, and days with several all at once.
Hope you all enjoy reading about our adventures in our new camper.
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