Steph and Dud B's RV Screed

Sometimes you find a campground that just fits the bill. Aces High RV Resort in East Lyme, CT has been that place for us for decades. There's really nothing special about the place itself. A nice campground, but nothing exotic. Large-ish sites, heated pool, a small river and pond. We've been going there since they opened. The trees pictured above were freshly-planted saplings in a field back then. The location is pretty good. Close enough to visit the casinos or the shore, and there's a nice oceanfront boardwalk in town. They're open year-round, too (unusual in New England). But the best thing about Aces High is the people. The owners are very nice and have treated us very well for a long time. And the other campers tend to be a bit more mature than you might find elsewhere. Well-behaved children, fewer barking dogs. Quiet at night. We've rarely experienced any campground drama at Aces. What's the catch? It's not cheap. $95-$120 a night this year. So, we won...

First trip of the season. We took Eggcelsior back down to Hohenwald, TN for some warranty work at the Oliver Trailers service center. On the punchlist: check some drawer glides, replace some interior trim (the silver strip around the belly joint) that fell off, and (top priority) replace a faulty jack mounting plate that had a hole too big for its carriage bolt. This would be our first big trip with the Oliver after we brought it home, and the first real Oliver trip where Steph was feeling well. We ran short hops - 4 to 4.5 hour drive times according to Google Maps. Our days of 8 hour drives are in the past. Our first stop was Locust Lake State Park in Pennsylvania. We had advance reservations and chose a site right next to a bathhouse, (which we didn't really need because we were able to dewinterize before we left). A little unlevel, as you can see, but OK otherwise if you have a smaller RV. Wouldn't recommend for larger rigs. The next day took us to a commercial campground, W...

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, ...

We've had the Oliver for more than a month now but, due to unforseen circumstances, we only have a couple of trips under our belt. We've done some dry-camping in Connecticut and some full-hookup camping in Cape Cod. The Oliver has had some issues. I already mentioned the problem with the axles. That wasn't Oliver's fault. Dexter was great to work with and it was fixed by a mobile tech who came to our house. Next, the flange ring for our toilet broke, probably due to incorrect installation at the factory. Oliver shipped us a new flange ring and I installed it myself without too much difficulty, but it did put us out of service for about a week. The electronic keypad lock failed and I discovered the cause was improper installation at the Oliver factory which led to water intrusion into the lock. Oliver shipped a new lock, which I installed myself and I added sealant to prevent a recurrence. There was an issue with the air conditioner running very short cycles. Oliver ship...