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And the tour continues: The wall between the bath and the dinette - has a thin wood core. The inside top shell is just about ready to be placed on top of that lower inside shell. A 2019 Demo unit in production. 2019's don't look much different! Note the mounting brackets for the awning in place on the roof. Let's fill it up with pretty "stuff". I do have more pics if anyone is interested in anything not shown on this tour - just PM me with your email address and I'd be happy to send them along. Special thanks go to Rod Lomax of the Oliver Sales Team for conducting a great tour! In fact, the tour was so good that couple that let me join them on their tour actually went back to the Sales Office and placed a deposit on a 2019 Oliver Legacy Elite II. Bill

This was the first "real" stop on the two month fly fishing trip to Idaho. Palisades reservoir is relatively long and dams the Snake river near Alpine, WY. Indeed, the lower (southern) tip of the reservoir is actually in Wyoming. McCoy Creek campground (NFS) is located about 7 miles northwest on a dirt road, right on the reservoir but it has a ton of mosquitos. Even though the campsites are provided with bear boxes, I saw no evidence of bears, but, did see eagles, a fox, jack rabbits and a couple of coyotes. McCoy creek is nearby - on the first day of fishing I landed 65 trout! southern end of Palisades reservoir only one of the 65 the northern end of the reservoir. A NFS camp ground is here with sites right on the Snake River. Each morning there is a "hatch" of rafts that launch at the base of the dam primarily taking fisherman downstream - yes, the river flows north from here.

Picking up where we left off on the tour: backside of the cabinets - over 90% of the wood contained in an Elite II is right here. Bottom outside shell already on the frame. Quality control. Insulation is only the start of "stuff" going into the bottom. Getting there. lower bottom inside shell about to be placed inside the lower bottom outside shell.

OK, for those that just can't get enough of this sort of stuff - upper inside shell before anything is cut out of it - fresh out of the mold. heaters, sinks, etc. all labeled and ready to go. Care for a cabinet door BEFORE it is cut out? Want to build your own frame? Note the thickness of the tongue parts. More parts looking for a home. Bill

While at the "mothership" last week I was fortunate to be able to join a couple from Dayton, Ohio on their factory tour. Certainly much has changed since I last toured the plant over three years ago. Below are some of the pictures I took while there: hand rolling some of the fiberglass. Those frame welds are still beautiful. For those that have the front basket option - ever wonder what the bottom of the basket looks like? A "wiring harness" under construction. Each connection, length or wire and color of wire is labeled by a block on the table. Poo happens! Note the grey water tanks on the left and the fresh water tanks on the right. The "height" of the fresh and grey water tanks.

Didn’t need them on the front or back just the two ends. No not dulled, I don’t have any cheap drills! I took the loaded basket to a large local lake area. There I found a guy who makes boat covers and such. He digitized the whole assembly and made the cover from heavyweight truckers tarp material. Any decent boat cover or convertible top maker can do this and will have the good material. I bought the large stainless snaps from McMaster-Carr. These included either an attached #8 or #10 (can’t remember right now) stainless stud. 14 evenly spaced all around so the cover wouldn’t flap or remove itself along an interstate. Also, more effort for the curious/thief to peek under.

I just drilled 1/2 holes evenly spaced on the top rail/both sides of the basket. I then used a counter sink on both the inside and outside of each hole. Standard ratchet tie down hooks fit nicely with no extra hardware needed. I carry a 2000 watt Honda generator and a 5 gallon Septer fuel container. Both tightly tied down and locked in with a cable/lock arrangement. I also have 14 large stainless steel snaps evenly spaced all around the base for holding a custom fit truckers vinyl cover in place.

We left the rally this morning and had a short drive east into South Carolina. We’re at Twin Lakes COE near Pendleton, SC. Our site is on the lake and we can’t see any other campers near us, just a few across the lake. Water and Electric for $12 a day. The only sound is water against the shore and some birds.

Where’s Ollie? Ollie was in the Valley of the Gods, which was magnificent. This is BLM land, so it is free to camp. No water, no toilets no picnic tables. Just gorgeous country, and lots a privacy. No one was camped near us. View from our window. A few nights later we moved to Gouldings, a commercial RV park close to Monument Valley. The location is gorgeous, and you can see Monument Valley from the campground. The only problem is that the sites are quite close together, but that is common in commercial RV parks. The restrooms were clean, there were hiking trails to a nearby arch. I was most impressed with the fact that they have planted trees between the campsites, and they use drip irrigation to maintain the trees. Gouldings is close to Monument Valley, and we booked an all day tour led by a Navajo guide. It was amazing! On advantage of a Navajo Guide is that he took us through some of the back country, not open to non-Navajos, where we hiked up to arches and Anasazi ruins, where few people visit. Unlike most Anasazi sites, there were abundant pottery shards. One day we went to Bluff Utah for their Founders Day and Frybread Festival. There were a bunch of Mormon Pioneer events, but what we really enjoyed were the cultural programs put on by the Ute Tribe and by the Navajo Tribe. We were listening to Tony Hillerman audiobooks on this trip. Also visited Goosenecks State Park. It was a great trip!