2022 #12: End of season

Well, we made it to the end of our camping season. Columbus Day is pretty much the end of camping here in the Northeast. Most campgrounds close for the winter after the Columbus Day weekend.

We spent 39 nights in our new Oliver trailer. We had plans for more, but Steph was diagnosed with a serious illness that cut into our camping this year, and will probably have some effect on our camping plans going forward.

This season's camping was a mix of dry camping at state park and Corps of Engineers campgrounds (25 nights) and full hookup camping at commercial campgrounds (14 nights). The Oliver is an excellent RV for the type of dry camping we did, where the campgrounds had bathhouses we could use during the day. When using the trailer's bathroom only at night and for emergencies, and being judicious with water and toilet paper use, we never had to use our portable waste tote tank. We can easily go 6 nights without using the dump station, probably several more. 

As for electricity, the Lithium Platinum package in Eggcelsior gave us virtually unlimited power to play with. The only time we used the generator was when running the air conditioner extensively. The batteries are enough for 4-5 hours of air conditioner use, but the solar can't refill that much every day, so we needed the generator when we ran the air conditioner more than a couple of hours daily. In cooler weather the batteries and solar were more than enough for everyday living, including running the furnace at night, making coffee, using the microwave, watching TV, etc.

We're starting to learn the value of minimalism. We have a ton of things loaded in the truck. In the past we'd set up lots of stuff, even for a weekend: tiki torches, solar lights, outdoor mats, a canopy or screen room, etc., etc. For Columbus Day weekend we left all that stuff in the truck. The only things we set up outside Eggcelsior were a door mat and a tablecloth for the picnic table. Easy setup, easy pack up. Another new thing: early on checkout day I disconnected everything but the sewer hose and black tank flush hose (we had a full hookup site). With a little water still in the fresh tank and full batteries we could use the trailer in boondocking mode until right before we left, so we could enjoy the day more. When it was finally time to go, the only thing left to do was dump and flush the black tank and hitch up. The little Ollie definitely simplifies things.

It's been a challenging year in many ways but we enjoyed our 39 nights in Eggcelsior. I'm starting to feel like we've got most of the bugs worked out now. It's hard to predict what the future holds but we're hoping to join some friends for a longer road trip next summer and I'm sure we'll do lots more state park camping in New England, too. 

Time to winterize Eggcelsior. Here's some pics from this summer:

Oliver factory - TN






























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