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Heading back into TN after spending a couple nights at Guntersville Lake State Park in AL. Met some great people & showed off the 'Clever Beast numerous times. Its amazing how the Oliver draws a crowd! We experienced a sudden storm on Tuesday & would have lost our awning for sure if we hadn't been there. Several trailers lost them. Thankfully we got it in without problems. The winds were strong enough to crush our Clam, which also survived. The park was quite busy with all hands on deck helping each other. After 11 hrs without power we truly understood the advantages of owning an Oliver. We are headed to Fall Creek Falls State Park now. Clair stopped at a Walmart in the Dunlap area so He could take a power nap. As soon as we were stopped there was a rap on the truck window....a very nice woman asking if she could see our Ollie. Clair went over and spoke with her husband while I showed her thru. I could tell that they had already done a lot of research. Another amazing day....Such fun!!

I would absolutely hate to have to chain up the trailer to get out of a camping spot. Why not stay an extra day or two. Or chaining up to get into a spot, why not wait a bit? Or come back for the trailer in a few days? But I suppose you could get into a situation trying to get over the Siskiyous to get home. In that case ride quality would be secondary to maximum traction and that means large chain links. It also means chains running diagonal or diamond or whatever to help with sideways slipping. But, there's not a lot of clearance, so I don't know how much you can get away with. The whole idea sucks. I believe, in CA, if you chain up the truck you must chain the trailer too. I travel the mountains a lot in winter, without trailers, and I never chain up because I have 4WD and always use aggressive tires to avoid the problem. When my father was still working, he would drive a few miles every morning, before dawn, on his way to work. Then stop, remove the rear, chained up snow tires, and install a set of standard tires. Then on the way home, he'd reverse the procedure and get home on the snow tires with chains. The driveway was too steep to drive up, so he'd park at the bottom and walk/slide down every morning in the dark. He did this very day, to and from work in the winter. Yikes. One morning he was on his way down and slipped. He accidentally threw his keys up into the air while trying to recover. But they didn't come down. After looking for about an hour with a flashlight he got my Mom's set and went on. They later found them stuck in a tree. ????

Rain is what convinced us to buy the Elite II... After 30 days of rain on the Oregon Coast, we really needed something bigger then our Casita, but otherwise rain doesn't really slow us down that much. Depending on the wind that comes with it, our awning will be full out and tied down if needed or out just enough to keep it from blowing off. Rainy days are something that we really enjoy because with everything wet, the colors are always amazing. So mostly we go for drives, see new things and leave the trailer secured for the weather. It's rained and snowed a bunch so far on Goldilocks and we have never been bored. We play cards and hunker down if it's really windy with the rain but that's unusual. We've had it snow a few times so far and that may set us back a day sometimes, but chaining up and keeping our plans is always an option. I have not bought the cables to put on the Olli yet and that time of year is here. We got our first snow of the year on the last day of summer, the 20th, but it was just a dusting and melted off quickly. It was 35° here last night and we were comfy and cozy here in our Olli :) What kind of tire cables do you use on your trailer? Reed Reed

After 2 years of planning and waiting...I'm all in!!! Hull #259

We've all been there. That beautiful blue sky turns chunky and grey, or worse. For a mild rainstorm, we crank the awning in to a valance, or all the way in. I don't enjoy tv, so I grab a book and an LED lamp. Paul may watch a movie, or grab a nap. Seems like every time we have tent campers at our NC property, we get some rainstorms. Lots of fun to crowd 8 or 9 people under a sliver of the Ollie awning. Lol. What's your foul weather plan? If it's a long range rain forecast, we just hook up and go. The trailer has wheels for many reasons. Sherry

The z style is ok I guess but I usually go with the diamond pattern for a smoother ride. They are harder to put on cars because you have to roll and retighten but being that you can jack the Oliver up off of the ground, I'm thinking that they will go on easy enough and tight the first time. Chaining up is a way of life in some places and every car is different. I don't have a problem towing in chain control areas when needed but it's not something that I really prefer because there are too many others out there driving with no experience. Unless someone has a reason for me to not go with a low profile diamond pattern, I will be grabbing some this week for our next rally. There shouldn't be snow but there already has been a dusting the other day, and once it ices up, it looks like this year will be a cold one here.

Reed, We change plans and stay in place until the roads are clear. Always keep a close eye on forecast/road conditions for all elevations in areas to be traveled, too. Would be interested to learn about your choice of cables for the Ollie, when you decide. Thanks,

The pic shows the black valve but the grey valve is the same. You can pull up on the pin pictured to dump the tank with a pair of pliers or grab the plastic cable cover with your hand out at the dump valve compartment and pull the handle while letting the wire slide thru the cable to open the valve. Then just hold the cable cover again to close it :)

This is what we use, with an Asus lock. A determined thief will win, this is just deterrence. Mike

The Sprinter platform has between a 5,000 to 7,500 towing capacity depending on configuration. The Sprinter and Oliver drover very well together. I was very happy with performance and road manners.

Overland, It was great meeting you at the Sales Office as well. Since my delivery ran late and then it began to rain cats & dogs, I failed to get many of the upgrades & mods completed before I turned back around to drive home to Texas. I started to work on a few today (which I will post to forum) but at 95 degrees and the majority of the morning was spent on giving the trailer a good wash after the trip home. I do have one teaser photo for you. The trailer only dropped the bumper by 1.5 inches I was expecting 2+ inches so I need to reset the hitch height. More to come...

We have had the Airstream since 2014 and have over 40,000 miles on it just from exploring the US and spending holidays with my family on the east coast. The 4 years of ownership and many miles have given me much time to figure out how to optimize RVing for how our family and uses the RV and our growing/changing needs. If I new then what I know now, I would have purchased a customer upfitted shorter wheelbase 4x4 Mercedes Sprinter that was dialed in to my exact needs and had an Oliver from day one!!! Live and learn.

Great question! My boys were little when we purchased the Airstream in 2014 and we all fit from a sleeping stand point until they became teenagers and are both approaching 6 feet plus tall. This way we have the flexibility to decided based on the current travel senecio what our sleeping/camping needs maybe. If we are just going from Home to a destination (say my parents house) we can take the Airstream with up up to 9 people with a bathroom and a fridge. But if we be needing mobile hotel room while going from Texas to the East Coast, we now have to seperate sleepling accomidations and can sleep up to 5 full size adults with now 2 bathrooms and 2 refrigerators and plenty of storage. If it is just me and the 2 boys and we are going to go camping, fishing, or hunting, I’ll hook the Oliver up to the back of my Ford F-150 Raptor and we are set. For me, I already had the Airstream and I wanted more modular flexibility that the Oliver gives me with longevity and quaility being the key! BTW the Airstream averaged 13 MPG from Oliver Factory in Tennessee back to home in Houston, TX, not to bad. Thanks for asking!

We like to read or play cards. We were camping in Cody WY area less than 5 years ago on 9/11. Woke up and it had snowed 4 to 6" overnight. That stopped our exploring plans for the day, so we visited the Buffalo Bill Center of the West Museum, spent the complete day there and really enjoyed it. We had not planned to visit the Museum and happy it snowed changing our plans. https://centerofthewest.org/

Free2Roam, Yes, you may bring your dogs for pick up! However, we do have a policy that states they may not be in the sales office or inside the plant. We have a veterinarian less than a mile down the road that will board them for the day with no charge to you. Just as we are excited to meet you, we are equally excited to meet your fur babies. So, please bring them along. - Phil

Scott told Tali that Oliver has contracted with a local vet to keep your dogs free of charge while you are at the factory.