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I finally have enough bandwidth to say that we are all ok. The storm moved east late, and we only had force one or maybe two. Not sure. I turned off notifications, and ent with my gut, and the radio. Lots of trees down, including ours, and our daughter and neighbors. We're busy trying to help everyone we can. Everyone is tired. And also grateful that we didn't experience a huge storm surge. No one I know has power. The county is littered with down wires , poles, and major debris and trees, as we expected This morning I made coffee on the camping stove. Another neighbor made pancakes. We'll get on Hoping.g all of those affected worse than us rebound. It's a huge, and ugly, storm. A huge grateful thanks to first responder s and power company employees. We love you,veben though I sit in the dark. It is what it is. Sherry Working off my brick. No power anywhere available. Signing off

Here's a Basket of Eggs and a Basket of Ollies,

Bill, Thank you for reminding me the picture of Buddy is out of date. He has turned into a true rascal of a boy. He goes to Doggie Day Care each week so he can play with his doggie friends. I am way too boring for the little guy seven days a week. At Day Care he is known as Muddy Buddy since he absolutely loves rolling in mud puddles! I support his activities as long as he understands a bath will follow each day care day. He understands and perhaps he is too tired to complain. The pics below capture the transition. This is prior to his haircut. I naively thought maybe a haircut would help him stay clean. Here we have Muddy Buddy after his haircut. He just seemed to get dirtier! Buddy in his bath. Buddy after his bath and a good brushing. He cleans up well. Here he is looking at me with the question, "So Dad, when do I go back to Doggie Day Care?" The little rascal!! Buzzy

How about a basket of olivers...as in eggs?

For sometime, my wife and I have been unhappy with sleeping on the cushions that come standard with Elite Travel Trailers, not to be confused with the larger Elite II, standard with mattresses. I purchased a single sized foam mattress but this too was unwieldy, not fitting either bed well. I had talked to other Oliver owners and was referred to Southern Mattress located in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. I contacted them and they indeed confirmed they would custom make a mattress for my Oliver Elite. My conundrum was how I could configure the mattress to access the components and storage areas under the seats. A full sized mattress would be just too much to lift and hold in place as I pulled out storage items, much less to try to work on a component (electrical, hydraulics, water, etc.). As I explained this to my wife telling her I wanted to split the mattress in half, she pointed out it would be very uncomfortable, sliding down in the crack. She said " split it where the bench ends, 1/3 and 2/3s. The crack will be at your knees and you will not feel it". I contacted Southern Mattress and they agreed to cut it where ever I wanted it cut. I traveled to Rocky Mount, North Carolina and found this to be a family owned company. I arrived in late afternoon and the owner took me to his home. There, we hooked up my trailer with electrical and water on a pad next to his home. The next morning I pulled my trailer to the factory and they began to make my mattress. With each step, they asked me to approve the work, include changes I wanted made, etc. they measured the trailer, made the pattern and asked if I wanted extra room to be able to put bed linens on the mattress. The pattern was a good fit for the 2/3 - 1/3 combination. In short, I was very pleased with the mattress. I selected a 5" firm foam with another layer of soft memory foam. That night, I had the best sleep ever in my Oliver Elite. I also had a mattress made for the smaller dinette/bed. I used the single sized foam mattress that I had purchased earlier in the year. Southern Mattress did not object to this. Again, they cut the foam to the 1/3-2/3 combination. Each matress was covered in a premium quality quilted cover, fire retardant and straps sewn in to make moving easy. The mattress was double sewn all the way around to reinforce the straps. By noon, I was on the road, headed home. That night, I slept for the first time very comfortably on my new custom-made mattress. It now slides over easily and stores on top of the other matress while I access the storage and component areas. If you are interested in a quality mattress, custom made, they now have patterns for both the Elite and the Elite II. They can custom make you a mattress and ship to you. They do not press the mattress in a roll. Rather they box the mattress and ship it to you. Southern Matress Company 1812 Cokey Road Rocky Mount , North Carolina. 800-227-8701 Below are pictures of my mattresses in my Oliver Elite. Coy

The 2018 rally of Green Eggs and Ham VIII will be held at Gunter Hill, Corps of Engineer (COE) Campground on the outskirts of Montgomery, Alabama on Wednesday, March 14th through Sunday March 18th. There will be a lot of green to be seen in Gunter Hill on St Patrick’s Day. The rally has a new Website that should give you all the information you’ll need to know. Beginning September 8, 2017, the Website will also offer online registration and rig fee payment through PayPal. Please sign up ASAP after open registration so all the Event Masters have a fairly accurate head count for their preparations. Green Eggs and Ham Website It’s not about what it is. It’s about what it can become. —Dr. Seuss

Oh, Buzzy, I am so very sorry for your losses. A wise friend once said to me after I had too lost a loved one..."Give time time to do its work". It does take time to soften the wounds of loss into wonderful memories. Life would be so bleak if we didn't have the memories of loved ones who moved on before us. Hugs! Now, that Buddy Boy---he is one handsome fellow!! That bath and brushing has shown his heartbreaker side! Thank you for sharing your losses with us all. Be well.

Buzzy, So sorry to learn of the passing of your beloved spouse and pet. I hope your interest in camping in your Ollie will bring you some comfort and joy in 2018. I have always been a solo Ollie camper. I retired at the end of 2015 and my wife continues to work. We travel together, but not in the Ollie. I love the solitude of solo camping and have not had any regrets about purchasing my Ollie for solo camping. I spend a lot of time in the west and have camped and hiked in some pretty remote places. I've developed some strategies to make me feel more secure. When I'm camped and hiking in bear country, I try to find hiking companions at the trailhead or on the trail. I've met some wonderful people doing this at Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Big Bend National Park, etc. I also purchased a Spot Gen 3 device that allows me to send an SOS signal if I get in trouble while hiking alone. I purchased it after spending some time in Guadalupe Mountains National Park where I was the only person in the campground for 4 nights and the only person hiking in the northern part of the park during that time. I was a little spooked by this so now I carry the Spot when hiking. I love to read and find the solitude conducive to my reading binges. I think being solo actually helps me be more precise in managing my checklists, etc. There are no distractions when you are setting up or breaking camp alone. The only time I've forgotten something at a campsite was when I was distracted by conversations with people I had met at the campground while I was getting packed up, etc. My parent were RV campers and one of the things that caused me to buy my Ollie and begin traveling with it was how much they enjoyed meeting new people while traveling with their RVs. They made many friends while traveling and I've done the same. The Ollie draws people to me wherever I travel, making it easy to strike up conversations and begin friendships where appropriate. There are some downsides. I do get lonely, but rarely. When I'm really enjoying myself (which is often) I feel bad about not being able to share my experiences with my wife. So, I keep a journal while traveling and post photos and parts of journal entries on my Facebook page. Many friends have commented about how they enjoy these posts and they encourage me to continue to share. Buzzy, I hope your Oliver and the experiences you have in 2018 camping and traveling bring you joy. Don

Thank you John, that's exactly what I expected to see. Although it would not remedy your hardware connection issues, for those of you that have this type of drawer you could make it structurally twice as strong. Remove each drawer and place it upside down as shown in John's photo. Use any good type of wood glue and run a bead around the perimeter where the bottom goes into the side pieces. Leave the drawers sitting upside down overnight to allow the glue to set. This will dramatically strengthen the drawer. If you would like to, you can do the same thing on the inside of the drawer.

When we have two or more motorcycles in the garage, we call it a herd, or getting rid of some, thinning the herd, "Herd of Ollies".

Buzzy, I'm terribly sorry to hear about your loss. I wish that I had a wonderful piece of advice for you, but unfortunately I don't. Just know that you have friends here and elsewhere that you can lean on whenever you need.

How about giving a nod to our close proximity to fiberglass maritime design with the use of Flotilla or an altogether new words like Towtilla or Olitilla????

You need to give yourself some time to mentally recover and most counselors will say take 3 to 5 years after losing your spouse to stay single and recover. Basically, you want to take enough time to let you feel good about your life and get back to making good decisions again on your own. I solo camped for 7 years in many places, thru many states and I have plenty of friends to visit from coast to coast. A lot of the time in the beginning, I preferred to be alone and I spent much of that time watching others so that I could learn how to feel normal again. The emptiness was tough at first and right now for you, it's a new beginning where you will be second-guessing yourself, while thinking about the ways that you would have done things together. You make movies, and for me, this was a big part of my recovery. You know what it's like now being alone, you know how it feels at its worst. I would sit out in the woods for hours, swimming in emotion and regaining control of my life. A lot of the time I spent just talking to myself in front of the camera just so that I could go back and see how far that I had come. Because you will always remember just how you felt at that time, when making that little clip, I recovered, then remarried 7 years later. In that time I put out a bunch of movies that to this day, continue helping others, but many other hundreds of hours never made it to the public because it was for my recovery, for me to be able to see myself and know exactly where I was. Honestly, you don't need much when solo camping and for me, the first thing that I noticed was that it didn't need to cost anything to camp. In those first few years of being alone, I rarely ever stayed in campgrounds, only if I was visiting a National Park and you will be shaking your head at how much it costs for you to live now, compared to when you were a couple... :) There's so much more, but don't sweat over details, just set up your Ollie your way now, for you and you alone. Then set out and don't look back. Find new friends on the road, enjoy your new beginning. It really helps to have a network of friends and you have made a bunch right here, so start visiting everyone when you feel ready :) Reed

Buzzy - Even with the bad news it is good to hear from you. Certainly it is good to see the picture of Buddy. What a fine companion he has grown to be. Both Buzzy and your spouse may have left you in the physical world, but, they will always be with you in your heart and mind. Listen to them and keep your heart open to them because they both still have much to tell you. I travel in Twist alone 85 to 90 percent of the time. That doesn't put me in the same league as Boskar who is really alone virtually 100 percent of the time - I know Pete is there in physical form but the mental side is lacking a bit. Yes, I miss that extra set of eyes and ears and the sharing of simple things. But you will develop your own routine for the routine things. It is when that routine is changed that things can and/or do go wrong. In these times - listen to your inner self, listen to those hairs on the back of your neck telling you that something is not right, listen to that sixth sense, listen to your spouse and Buzzy telling you that something is not right. All will be OK - if you let it. I'd pm Pete and Boskar - Pete can be bought with a bottle of cheap white wine but Boskar will probably cost you considerably more. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you and I'm sure the same goes for all of us. Bill

A few more ideas to consider. Gang or Posse. Do we see ourselves as an "Ollie Gang" or an "Oliver Posse"? Very different images?! Buzzy

A Horde of Ollie's... Well maybe we herd a gathering of Ollie's :)

:) Hi Buzzy :) A smile here, a smile there, and a big hug from all of us :) Reed & Karen

Buzzy. I never know what to say when someone has lost the live of his life. .so, I will tell you the truth. I would like to reach out and hold you. Better yet, God will reach out and hold you. Our lives here are intertwined. However, only those closest can be the ones to hold you up. I an deeply sorry for your lost. Love, Sherry

During a phone conversation with another owner today, your name came up and we wondered how and what you were doing. I commented that you hadn't posted on the forum for some time but you were probably busy with life. I'm so very sorry the disruptions were tragic. When things are sorted out, please come back into the group. We've missed you!

Buzzy, we have missed you and I've often wondered how you were doing. I'm sorry to hear of the loss of little Buzzy and your spouse. We will keep you in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Mike

I included the anderson hitch when we picked up elite II in nov.2016 . Never had a problem with sway or cone noise... I tow with 2017 F150 max tow with sway control on and use ford brake controller... Note: always have tv and trailer in straight line before disconnecting anderson hitch. I do grease ball in bulldog coupler.. Hope this helps..

Buzzy, You have Ursula's and my sincere condolences. We are so very sorry for the loss of your two loved ones. Our thoughts are with you as you process and grieve. Hopefully, time itself will work its magic, and we hope many good memories will sustain you. Be well, my friend!

Buzzy, We are so sorry to hear of your losses. Thank you for the update, albiet a sad one. We pray that you will be able to once again join us on the forum and hopefully somewhere out with our Olivers. Best regards, George and Gretchen

We've been at McKinney Campground for several days enjoying the great fall weather and visiting with all of our family in the Atlanta area until early this morning. We pulled out around 7 am when the rain and wind started to pick up and the large pine trees surrounding us started to sway. We're presently parked at a large rest station near Macon, Ga. with all of the truckers and a few fellow RVers. We have high winds and heavy rain but have not put the jacks down and the OTT only rocks slightly when we have a hard side gust of wind. Our fridge is stocked up, the batteries are holding up well and the generator is full of gas when extra power or recharging is needed. Our neighbors that stayed on the Island emailed and said that our home has held up well and we hope that holds up for another few hours until the winds pass Amelia Island by. We feel really fortunate all the way around. We plan to head out first thing in the morning. The storm should be past us by then. Maybe after cleaning up the yard, we can head out on our planned trip to the New England states for a few weeks. Time will tell. We pray that all of our Oliver friends stay safe during this storm. Hap

I second Mike & Carol's nomination of Steve for the exalted position of HISTORIAN! Bill

I hereby nominate Steve as the official Oliver Travel Trailer Historian!

Colorado Springs this week. Weather is good except for haze from the fires further west.