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Following the Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia - Summer 2015. Stunning scenery, friendly people . . .

I changed the view of the Forum homepage to show the sub-categories and latest activity for each... Is this a better user experience? Let me know of any other suggestions!

Last week before we picked up it was suggested that a "Where's Ollie" thread might be good for folks to post pictures of where they've been, maybe with a few comments about the location. I'll get it going.... This is Hillman Ferry State Park in KY at Land Between the Lakes. Nice campground, with lots of lake water activities. You can get a site right on the lake to fish from!

As the introductory title would imply, I have not yet purchased an Oliver trailer but am scheduled to do a factory tour mid June. Heather at Oliver has been extremely helpful thus far and I have spent days here exploring the forums. I have had the desire to purchase a travel trailer for many years but now being recently retired in 2013 I finally will take that plunge. My background is that I have been an avid backpacker and tent camper for my entire life since a young age in Boy Scouts. My other interests include fly fishing, photography, motorcycles, dogs, wolves (I'm a volunteer at a local wolf habitat) and as a private pilot I enjoy my Cessna 172. There have been many challenges amidst this life journey but I'm hopeful of enjoying the travels and adventures that will take me back to the West and onward to many other areas. I have visited the entire lower 48 states by motorcycle and truck, always camping, I dislike hotel stays with a passion, and ultimately my aspiration is to make it to Alaska, and yes hopefully in an Oliver. Seems like a great forum here and hope to learn as much as possible.

This is at Table Rock Lake State Park just outside of Branson, MO. This is a great campground and just minutes from Branson and all the shows and activities. We had a good visit to Silver Dollar City during their BBQ and Bluegrass week. The park is right on Table Rock Lake for those who like water activities.

The Wonder Egg's rear bumper is too short to accommodate the new rear hitch option. After almost having a front receiver hitch mounted on my truck, I went to a specialty hitch shop and found a 6000 lb tow rated, long tow bar with the correct rise for the main ball which can accommodate a 600 lb tongue weight. We took some measurements and they firmly welded a hefty new receiver with a 17 inch rise for the bike rack. My rack is a Swagman XC2 Platform. I think this is going to work better than putting the bike in front of the truck where it would be the first item to hit the air, resulting in a huge parasitic drag issue.

Final update on the EZ Flex install and how it works. Just took our Oliver back out to storage but took the scenic route adding quite a few miles on some skinny back roads full of patches, ripples from frost heave and various other whoopty do's on the road bed. No question about it the towing and ride are much smoother and more compliant with this suspension upgrade and again quiet as a church mouse. In fact I'll go so far as to say the ride out with the trailer in tow was smoother than the ride back unencumbered. Decided to take the same route on the return leg. Granted not a 100% exact comparison but close enough for this purpose. It will be interesting to see if Steve's response and assessment coincide with mine. Good luck with the project. Be glad to answer any questions anyone has.

Ok... I have fixed the time issue. It will display in Central Standard Time.

Laps... From the moderators standpoint, and I'm sure everyone else's, we love pictures. Post anything you like especially your dog and wolf pics. Wolves are near and dear to my heart. This a picture of my wolf we named Marabou that I had from the mid 80's thru the mid 90's. She was such a joy. All I had to do was look up and stick my lips out and she would begin begin to howl! I know you are excited about the prospect of Oliver Ownership and I sincerely hope you can make that happen. You probably have a million questions and this is the place to ask them.

Matt, Thanks for making this modification. I like it! Don

Thanks for the welcome Bill and the photos from Montana, been there many a time and one of my favorite places ever to go. "Heaven on Earth" is how I refer to Montana. Regarding your red wolf sighting, hate to burst that bubble, but was probably a coyote, many experts have difficulty in telling the two apart, and the red wolf is endangered and mostly confined to the Albemarle Peninsula: "The problem is, the 100 wild red wolves are believed to inhabit a fairly limited area. Their native habitat includes a mere five counties in Eastern North Carolina, specifically the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Here, the Fish and Wildlife Service planned to monitor and help the red wolf packs to recovery." I am a huge advocate for all wolf recovery, but that is another story. I am very familiar with the Little Switzerland area via the Blue Ridge Parkway and yes, on a bike. Hope to hear more about your Oliver!

Welcome!!!! We are new Oliver owners purchasing a used Ollie last month. Also like flying, riding, and photography. Saw a Red Wolf close to Little Switzerland NC last year while riding the Vstrom. Had to look it up to be sure what I had seen. Took these shots while on a camping trip last year. Somewhere in Montana: Flying & Riding shots :) :

Quick followup, just picked up our Oliver from Toms Alignment here in the Bozone. They did check for alignment but said it was dead nuts perfect. The EZ Flex suspension system is now installed and it is quiet as a church mouse either going over bumps on the road or leveling the trailer. Its only a short drive from our house to the repair shop so I haven't put it to the test for ride quality but from what I could tell the towing did seem somewhat smoother and more compliant, a good thing. The guys working on it thought the kit was awesome. Inspecting the old parts, the following is what we observed. Some plastic bushings in fairly rough condition but not as bad as I would have imagined, but rust and lots of it everywhere, inside and outside of the bushings as well as the bolts and races the bushings fit into. If there ever was any grease in these areas, and I doubt it, that grease had long left the building. Some bushings did have cracks and splits along the length while others still inside their through holes or races had some flaking. Will try and do a test ride later today or tomorrow and report back on the ride and towing improvement if any. Hope this helps.

Since they are right on the Natchez Trace they cater to cyclists biking the Trace. We had breakfast with a guy from NH that was on his last day of biking up the Trace.

Here's a picture of our site....

Bill I will be next to you in F-1 Coy