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We took possession of our Ollie this week. We spent two nights camping locally (Natchez Trace) which turned out to be a great idea as it gave us time to field test all of the systems and get comfortable. We are now home and planning the maiden voyage - a three week loop thru south Florida. Happy Campers with big plans - looking at her makes us want to leave home.

I recently greased my Dexters for the first time. (Thanks to rideandfly for help!) Here is a view of one of the hidden fittings. (The two fittings are symmetrical, one reached from the other side.) I did not jack up the trailer, just wore old jeans and sweatshirt, and climbed under on the cement floor and got very dirty. Before we picked up Ollie I bought a nice rechargeable flashlight that has been useful on many occasions. It has an adjustable stand, and it was very helpful when greasing.

Hull # 319.. WOW... We picked up #211 in April of last year. That means OTT is on track to produce over 100 units this year. With their growing pain challenges obviously mostly overcome, it is nice to see them still producing a quality product and on time. With the weatherman saying it might soar to near 50+ next week, the thoughts of wander lust have kicked in. We took the tractor down and cut a road through 2' of snow. Towards the end of the month we will hook on and point the windshield in a southerly heading. Surely that will give me time to take the snowplow off and load the truck. A warm pretzel and noodles sounds like a plan, to start. A drive across the old 'Conowingo Dam' at the head of the Chesapeake Bay might be fun. Then maybe St. George street in St.Augustine and on to Oleano State Park at some point. Nowhere will the plans involve an Interstate. Surely there is a waterfall, an old gristmill, or roadside diner I haven't seen before. The whole time keeping an eye out for that usual early spring blizzard. Wonder if we will make it home before Memorial Day?

Dear Happy Campers, We just joined this site a few days ago and want to introduce ourselves. After working more than thirty years in Yellowstone National Park, we retired mid last year and settled into our home in Bozeman, MT. We are happy to report that, like many of you, we caught the "Ollie bug." We'd like to give a shout-out to Rob O. and his wife for providing an extremely interesting, informative, and enjoyable tour of their Ollie early last summer. Ever since then, we've been dreaming about the day when we'll finally have one of our own---and it's now not that far away. We are very happy to report that we'll be visiting Hohenwald and picking up our new LE II in late March!! We'd also like to thank the many contributors to this site who have provided insightful thoughts on all things "Ollie" and on R-V'ing in general. We're essentially newbies to this world, and we've learned a tremendous amount from the many posts, and feel better prepared to hit our new adventures "head-on!" Finally, a special thanks to Anita J. at Oliver for patiently answering all our questions over the past year as we mulled over seemingly thousands of decisions. We look forward to our new adventures and will be sure to give a wave if we see you out on the roads!!! Sincerely, Jim and Mary M. "Runnin' on MT"

Just throwing it out there, but everybody knows that 20 + 30 lb. propane bottles fit snugly into a 'milk' crate? We use the milk crate when we transport tanks to be filled. Keeps them from rolling around in the truck. Also a couple of bungees keep the crate from sliding around. The crate gives the bungee something easy to hook to. I guess a bonus, we never thought about, it keeps the tank upright. Two other customers, also waiting to get tanks filled, said what a great idea to use the crate. I thought everyone knew about them...

As ScubaRx points out above, the service interval for the EZ-Flex is 3,000 miles. This means (at least for us anal types) that on trips longer than that we must pack a grease gun loaded with the recommended grease - N.L.G.I.:Grade 2 - sometimes called red grease. Most auto supply stores and even WalMart sell this stuff in 14 oz tubes. However, the grease gun that accepts these 14 oz tubes is rather large. I happened to have a smaller grease gun that accepts 3 oz tubes of grease that I bought years ago for motorcycle maintanence - I've seen them at WalMart and Harbor Freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/grease-gun-with-3-oz-grease-95575.html and I remembered seeing the 3 oz tubes of red grease. Unfortunately, when I went to purchase a couple of these smaller 3 oz tubes the only manufacturer that I could find that made them with red grease was Lucas Oil. Simple enough I thought until I went to several auto parts stores (NAPA, Autozone, etc.) and all they had was a package of three 3 oz tubes - two of the tubes were standard normal duty grease and the third was what I was looking for - red grease. Adding to the problem was the fact that none of the stores I went to would order (or could order according to them) either a single tube or a set of three tubes with all being red grease. Indeed, a quick internet search showed that Lucas Oil did sell this grease in a set of three 3 oz tubes (product number 10318), but, Amazon didn't have it nor did phone calls to the stores I had previously visited produce any favorible results. I then emailed Lucas Oil corporate office. They got right back to me with the name and phone number of the regional distributor for my area. A phone call to this individual resulted in him telling me that product 10318 was not available. So, once again, I emailed the Corporate office and told them that either their regional distributor was incorrect or that the Lucas Oli website needed to be updated. Again, they replied promptly with the phone number of a distributor that I think is on the West coast. It took a bit of searching on the part of this individual, but, he found the product number and added it to his own website on Ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/LUCAS-OIL-RED-N-TACKY-GREASE-10318-1-PACK-OF-3-X-3OZ-CARTRIGE-MADE-IN-USA/253425934913?hash=item3b015ce241:g:JFAAAOSwlv9ag5eS Yes, when you can get a 14 oz tube of this stuff for under $3.00, a three pack of 3 oz tubes at a price of $14.00 is a bit out there. But, in the interest of not having to carry around a big grease gun.... Bill

Bill - nice job on the repaint! Also nice to note that there doesn't appear to be any sign of anything happening to that anode in the picture. Bill

Pin grease galleys are installed on the horizontal plane for the pins/bushings to take grease easily. One of the bronze bushings was still a little tight and had to take some weight off of that pin with Ollie's jack for it to take grease. After a few thousand miles of wear on the bushings, no longer need to use the jack for the pin to take grease. We're ready to go camping soon, too!!!!!!!!

Yes, there is an HDMI port, but is occupied by the HDMI cable from the radio/DVD player. There are not two HDMI ports. So you will need to swap out cables if you want to switch from the fire stick to the DVD player. Another option is to use a small HDMI switcher such as this.

Congrats and sounds like all went well on your shake out. Great looking Camper to make many more memories in.

Darrell & Kathy - Sounds like all is well and the fun of planning adventures is well underway. I too have difficulty with looking at my Ollie and just wanting to get in and go. I think that this is a good thing. Welcome to the family and I hope that we can share a campfire someday. Bill

Great looking rig and a great Valentines Day present for both of you! We’ll see you out on the road - Mike

Unable to go camping, we drove up to Homosassa to meet Chuck & Geri, and their new friends Nancy & Randy from the Quail's Roost Campground in Crystal River at a little place Paul's cousin had recommended. What a blast! It's always fun to meet up with Chuck and Geri, and this was no exception. The Freezer is an open-air, stand-in-line-to-order, no frills, old Florida place with exceptional food. Right on the river, in the shade of a giant Tiki Hut built by the native Americans next to an old commercial walk-in seafood freezer, The Freezer is a local legend. Now we know why. Wednesday night is steak night, where you order up a one-pound Ribeye for less than $12, with all the fixings, cooked outside on an open (huge) grill, served on a paper plate. Awesome, tender, great flavor. Geri had the crab legs... and said they were great, too. Most of the week, the menu is seafood, mostly local, great prices. We just happened to catch the once a week steak night. You can leave home without your credit card, as they only take cash. Beer and wine. Look up the website, and put the address in the gps, because you'll never find it otherwise. There is no sign. However, it's one of those great local places, with a great view, great food, and a lot of fun. You'll meet new friends standing in line... Now I have a line on a place twenty miles south with awesome one-pound burgers at $7. We had a great time catching up with Chuck and Geri before their departure for Arkansas and points west. No shirt, no shoes... no problem: Chuck & Geri, Have a great summer!

There are six fittings per side you can see easily including two fittings on the left & right sides of the tires not seen in this photo. There are also two additional fittings hiding above the EZ Flex assembly per side where I'm pointing, making eight fittings per side. Hope this helps,

Congratulations on your new OTT. It’s a very nice looking combo. Come on down to Florida and enjoy the weather. Mike

Congratulations! We hope you enjoy your oliver as much as we have loved ours iver the last ten years. Wishing you many miles of smiles... Sherry. Ps I see that your profile picture is on board lulubell, out of Valdez. Great captain and crew. And isn't that a beautiful vessel? If you head back in your trailer, I recommend camping (free) in old Valdez, near the water...

I agree the jacks are strong enough to do the job - it's just the side to side wobbling that could potentially be an issue. Like John says, on level ground and little wind, no problem, but on the side of the road at an angle, or with a heavy wind, I'd be super cautious getting the whole 6000lbs up on stilts. With one set of tires anchoring it down though, no issues there especially on the newer models with the extended subframe.

The three jacks are rated for 9,000lbs, all together, even a trailer with all the options is just over 6,000 (not counting Steve's) I've had all four of the ground in my driveway, when I replaced the suspension, just enough off and with stacked 6x6 lumber under frame corners as a just in case. No issues and no drop in any jack height. I would think that the method by which the jacks are attached to the frame is better weight loading than a single point lift directly under the aluminum. Just my experiences...

We were at the freezer again tonight, on our way home ( sort of) from St. Augustine. We've been up there once or twice a year since 2010. The drive is worth it. The shrimp are a legend. The stone crabs are amazing. It's a little bit of old Florida fun, and great, really great, seafood. Cash only, cheap, for what you get. Everything comes to the table in styrofoam or plastic or paper. Some would call it casual, others crude, but it's quite unusual. The view is the river harbor and fishing boats. You'll pass the old stone sugar Mill on the way in off the highway. Our family from Western New York had a great time, as we did, too. If you camp anywhere near by, you shouldn't miss this unique dining and happy hour experience. It's truly something else. Tonight, we still had holiday decorations on the fence???????? and a few of the fishing boats. Sherry

I've always been told that it has to do with the pressure relief valve. Chances are that if the tank is stored on its side, the level of propane will cover that valve. Therefore, if the valve were to open due to excess pressure then actual propane (in liquid state) would come out the valve - potentially causing all sorts of unwanted problems. Conversely, by storing the tanks upright the pressure would be relieved by only gas coming out - still a potential problem but not so problematic as with the liquid. Bill