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I have not posted in a while. My Oliver family has had me very busy in the shop. We are getting ready to go camping and then head to Greece for a 10-day vacation. I will be suspending my crafting for the month of August and will start back up the first week in September. I plan to ship all orders through August in the next week. New orders will begin shipping in mid-September. Below is my current challenge, a 35” x 22” x 1.4” Lagun tabletop in black walnut. While this sounds simple, the challenge is in the weight. Lagun Table Systems have a maximum weight of 50 pounds. It includes the top and any items you are going to place on it. My target weight of 15 pounds for the finished top leaves 35 pounds for day-to-day use. The walnut blank I started with 35” x 22” x 1.4” thick weighed in at 29 pounds. I decided to back cut the bottom in three sections down to ¾” thick, with 1” wide edges and two cross supports. It came in at 15.2 lbs. Beautiful to look at, light as can be, and engineered to be strong for a lifetime of use.

We have carried two of our grand children several times; one sleeps for a couple nights on the side dinette and the other one on the floor. They will switch positions every couple of nights. We carry a roll up pad for the one that sleeps on the floor, this has worked for us several times.

What am I missing here? Two kids under 5 yrs. One on the side dinette bed and the other on a foam pad on the floor between the twin beds. Just don't step on the little one when you get up to go pee. If you go with the port/starboard sleeping arrangement in lieu of the twin set up you can tuck the youngster under the bed. If I was a toddler I would love that. It would be like a "fort". Remember those? In a few years they will be old enough to set up their own tent and sleep in it. Then you won't have to deal with disassembling a mod to make the Ollie comfortable for just 2 or 3 persons.

If you've not driven the Skyline through Shenandoah, and the Blue Ridge Parkway, you might consider that as part of your route. Though we are indeed getting some of the smoke from the western fires here in the east, it's not been bad in Asheville yet. It's a beautiful drive, though a bit slow. Plentiful camping opportunities on both parkway, and just off the parkway, too. If time is too short, or it's really hot, as it can be in early September, skip Shenandoah, and just drive the Blueridge. You could make a stop in Asheville for a day or two, enjoy a bit of Western North Carina food and brews, and move on west from there. You could even stop in Hohenwald for a checkup before going out to Sandiego via I10 through the southwest. Might be a bit warmer than going northern route, but the air should likely be more clear, and lots of beautiful places to visit in Texas. Most direct route, using interstate and internet speed is about 40 hours drive time, so 6 or seven days of driving, and a week of stops and slower pace where you want to stop.

Allow me to add some thoughts to the conversation. True, Glacier NP is a not to be missed place but do NOT underestimate John's comment about the conditions out west currently and they are NOT likely to change even through September. You would be well advised to keep checking and paying attention to the wildfires throughout any part of the west before departing on your trip. The AQI in Bozeman, Montana where I live was 163 at the top of the morning and will most likely reach near or above 200 before the day is over. Just 80 miles west of here in Butte where our daughter lives it has been 200 or near so for days. My wife and I were in the Wind River Range of Wyoming this past week enjoying very clear air, deep blue skies and puffy whites punctuated with a few thunderstorms but by Friday afternoon and Saturday morning the smoked had rolled into the area and as of this morning the AQI there is in the 130's or so. None of this is likely to change until some major and drastic change in the weather patterns. Understand too, smoke from wildfires will and do travel hundreds and thousands of mile away. It is not the least uncommon for us living in Montana to have a summer filled with smoke from CA, OR, WA, NV or ID fires. On most days the mountains are completely invisible due to the smokey conditions this summer. I'm not making this up. Not trying to rain on your parade by any means and with some luck hopefully things will clear up before your departure and if they do understand there are campgrounds within Glacier that are all first come first serve and those include Apgar and Avalanche Lake on the west side. Two Medicine and Swiftcurrent on the east side are a mixture of RSVP's and FCFS however both of these are fairly remote and require some time to get into. The roads are windy with lots of elevation changes and take some time to negotiate. Plan ahead! This will be nothing like driving around the eastern part of the US. On a more positive note I am finding lots of USFS and BLM campgrounds that do not take reservations and are all on a FCFS basis and better still do not fill up even on the weekends. IOW's there are still plenty of camping sites to be had out west even without reservations if you know where to look. However as John has implied the more popular national parks, such as YNP, Glacier, Grand Tetons are more likely to be booked. This year GTNP went to the Advanced Reservation System exclusively meaning there are no walk-ins or FCFS sites throughout. YNP does have some campgrounds on FCFS basis but most are RSVP. The Ultimate Public Campground app is a must but I also use the Free Roam app which shows hundreds and thousands of dispersed or boon docking sits that are free. Allstays is worth having as well but it will include RV parks and the like, sort of a jack of all trades but not an expert at anything. Let us know if you have more questions. Be glad to help if possible.

9200 is plenty, just pack more of your stuff in the trailer, keeping in mind that your tongue weight goes up proportionally (about 10%). NOT buying the tongue tray helps in this regard, keep the TW as low as practical. You still may run out of cargo load capacity in the Ford, but the towing number is fine. Try it for a season, then decide if it is going to be good long term TV. FYI if you don’t need all that extra seating, remove the third and possibly second row seats and store them. Together that might give you another 150 pounds of cargo load. Plus more actual space…. Install a cargo barrier and be safe. These are most excellent. They weigh nothing and can be rolled down and stored on the floor when not needed. https://raingler.com/collections/ford-expedition/products/1997-2017-ford-expedition-behind-front-seats-barrier-divider-net John Davies Spokane WA

John, don't you just love starting an easy project and then creating more work for yourself...

I really wish I would have read this forum post before trying to do this… I ended up trying to replace a couple of the zirk fittings because they wouldn’t take the grease when screwed in, but would when by themselves. I even bought a device to “unstick” zirks. All I needed to do was jack up that part of the trailer… well, you win some, you lose some

If I don’t have to take I-25 through Colorado Springs again, I should be OK. 🙂

The possible addition of bunk beds has been cussed and discussed hundreds of times by both owners and the factory. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever come up with a workable solution. Personally, I think it is a great idea and if you can figure out a feasible way to accomplish this, I'm sure Oliver would be interested in seeing it.

Hi Everyone! It was time to spice up the Ollie, so I decided to add some contrast to break up that "sterile" look of all white in the kitchen and dining areas... So, I added some Aspect Frosted Quartz Stone! It's pretty easy to apply, it's a "lick 'em, stick 'em" product (peel and stick). It is "real" quartz stone, doesn't add too much weight but worth it's weight in looks! Here's what I come up with... There's lot's of flavors to choose from... here's the link where I got mine if you're interested. https://diydecorstore.com/product/aspect-peel-and-stick-stone-backsplash/

It's hard to believe that I'm finally sitting in my own Oliver as I write this. Picked up yesterday with a fantastic walkthrough with Hanna. I had a long checklist of things to go over and questions to ask. Hanna anticipated everything and really impressed me with her knowledge and attention to detail. I told myself that I wasn't going to be one of those people who has to run over to Tractor Supply to get the right hitch, but I was! LOL. After about 300 miles on highways, winding country lanes, rainstorms and potholes, I can say that everything is great. No problems. What can I say? Great company. Great product. In coming days I'll add some posts on some specific components and Hanna's answers to some of my questions that you'll all find interesting.

I-10 west of Houston is a good road without a lot of traffic except when you go through San Antonio, El Paso and Phoenix. You can make good time through west Texas, NM and AZ. It will be hot but efficient time and distance-wise. Mike

I've been up that way. Went to school there for a brief period at the MSU Washtenaw extension. That is the only time that I have visited the eastern side of the state. We live in South Bend and usually work our way up the coast of Lake Michigan and on up to the UP. Took a float plane into Isle Royale a few years ago and had some memorable albeit dangerous encounters with a few moose. Not foolish enough to get close to them on purpose, we just stumbled across them while hiking. We almost went with a Titan Pro 4X but in the end felt the Tundra better suited our needs as a tow vehicle. Our other vehicle is a 2013 Xterra Pro 4X that we use for getting around offroad and on two tracks. I just love that thing. Glad that I got one before that quit making them.

Every time we've traveled across on I-80 we've experienced very windy conditions. But, then, I don't suppose there's a way to avoid wind when crossing the plains.

Those type of straps don't break very easily under static tension. They fail when there is movement causing metal fatigue. If you were to bend that strap back and forth a few times where a hole is, it would break in pretty short order. Been there done that when I forgot tin snips. I don't have the Truma in my LE l, but if I did I would investigate the possibility of installing a nylon strap with a cinching mechanism to hold the unit firmly in place. I agree with @John E Davies about the screw. Just make certain that you don't use a longer screw (or drive one into another spot) because there is a water tank in there somewhere.

Mike/Yasuko, Thanks very much for the feedback. I'll keep looking. Jim

Having been out of the loop for the last week had not realized the smoke from these fires had reached the east to this extent. That should be a warning to any and all. Looking at todays current fire map and AQI reports my suggestion would be to travel the southern route across the country as SeaDawg mentioned. Yes it will be warmer or in some cases hotter than the northern route although much of the NW have seen record breaking triple digits off and on this summer. NM and AZ have been receiving copious amounts of rain this past month too which helps mitigating clearer air. Safe travels.

I thought that looked interesting, but if one (or both) axle shackle snaps over center, as mine do too often, it could bust the impact tool. John Davies Spokane WA

Lube day in Ollieland The rubber zerk caps didn’t survive, replacing with red polyethylene caps I found 8 fittings per side As advised by the forum raising trailer allows reluctant wet bolts to take grease

I am sold on the Anderson WDH then. I much prefer quality over price. If the ride experience is better with a wdh, then that's a key factor. It also lessens the tw also as I understand.

Thanks for your comment. Initially I was thinking of the tongue storage box, but after reading comments, it appears that might not be a good idea afterall.

We have been towing our LE2 @ 4950 pound ready to camp with less than 500 pound tongue weight with a new mid-sized pickup in the Appalachian mountains, heading to a 5000' elevation campground next. Tested on up to 8% grades so far. Will reveal results later and vehicle when finished testing, unless seen by someone here in a TN/NC mountain campground first. Our 2016 Tundra was rated for 9800 pounds tow capacity and did fine towing our LE2. Added airbags to the rear differential to reduce rear sag. Everyone tows differently, but when we're in the mountains, get in the slow lane with the big trucks going up and down grades. We keep Ollie light and our TV under gross weight with Ollie connected.

I looked at my vehicle specs more closely and it turns out that I have 9200 pounds of tow capacity.

It looks like my 2017 EL Limited has a towing capacity of 9200 pounds. I think that I will be OK with it. I like the vehicle and I can get whole sheets of 4x8 plywood. Thanks for your comments. Now to get my wife on the same page. She is still talking about an R-Pod and I am thinking Oliver LE2.

We live in Beaverton, ten miles west of Portland. It has a six cylinder, twin turbo charge 3.5 L engine. It's more powerful than our Suburban thatbhad 8 cylinders and was 5.7 L odd as that seems. The Suburban was 1992 that we had for about 25 years.

I found a great place to stash my (hot) heat gun while installing the EZE RV gutter over the rear hatch …. inside my flag pole holder. The newly repaired one, after I backed it into the stonework of my house 🙄 John Davies Spokane WA

Update, I bought some 16x24x1” filters to try, instead of the too-long 25” ones, they fit much better though you still cannot get the window latch closed, however the glass closes all the way now, so there should be no water leaks. So I went ahead and completed sealing the other two windows, and trimmed two more filters, now I have a great way to pull in clean air when the smoke is bad. When not in use, they are covered by a 13 gallon white drawstring trash bag, inside the closet next to the outer wall. John Davies Spokane WA

I just recalled how I first discovered the serial number: Resetting the inverter by disconnecting it from power (there is a breaker on the wall in the hull between the inverter and the battery compartment), temporarily resets the 20 error. After a reset, I connected to the remote panel via the Xantrex bluetooth app. Somewhere on the app screens the serial number of the inverter is identified. I also went through contortions to verify the serial number on the service tag which agreed with the reading on the app.

Well said 😊

This should be required viewing for any question related to the ? - will my TV handle the EII. A very good primer - RB

Yes, we found that our fire alarm had not been activated at delivery, luckily i happened to see the little protective tape that keeps the batteries separated sticking out!

UPDATE: After completing what must be the 4th pass through at greasing the chassis I learned a few things: 1. The 90 degree coupler is worth the cost - really helps - esp with the wheels not removed, even with the wheels removed, You can actually do a good job with just the rear removed. Got all 9 on each side.............. 2. Taking weight off the assembly (wheels off) seems to allow for better grease penatration. As a little more grease oozes out once its back to normal. 3. My brakes look great - didn't measure them but to the untrained eye - maybe 3/4 life left - lets say 1/2 for safety sake. 18K miles. When we return - it will bearing repack time - will really take a close look at the stoppers at that point. Don't forget to at minimum to visually check the bolts/nuts/connections down and around there. I put a wrench on them last time - all were good. And did I mention - for some reason - this is harder than it once was - can't figure out why though..... RB (did you catch it 😆)

Many thanks Bill! Always open to learning! Thank you, David

I've always wanted one of those just sitting on my desk just in the event someone were to ask ....😇 In any case - I'm glad it was you and thanks for both the pic and the instillation manual. Bill

Thanks Bill and all. I did it yesterday and it was super simple. Different from the video at the top in that the zerk were on the outside vs facing inside (which seems like it might have been much simpler). I had 8 per side -- 2 on the top of where the Dexter attaches. Those were angled zerks, so they were pretty easy too. I did pull the wheels off for ease of getting to the zerks. Now that I know what I'm doing, I may try it without removing the wheels next time. All told, probably a half hour and next time it'll be quicker - unless I forget everything I learned this time (and that's as likely as not to be the case). Since I took the wheels off, I didn't need the angled grease gun tip, but next time when I try it with wheels on, I can see how the angled tip will help.

I have found the God send of all greese guns. Dewalt 18v cordless greese gun. I hated all greese guns, clumsy need three hands hold the gun, pump it and try to hold the end on the fitting. The cordless is great chuck snaps on pull the trigger Done. Shocking price for one, but what isn’t these days. Well worth the price after one use.

We camped in in Goose Island Campground near Moab last week, and it was fabulous. This is a BLM campground, which means no hookups and no water; they provide a firepit, a picnic table, and pit toilets. They are also first come / first served, but we were fortunate to score a beautiful campsite right on the river. One of the nice things about the Goose Island Campground that is right on the paved bike path along the river. I posted about this bike path two years ago, when we camped at another BLM campground seven miles further down the road. This is boondock camping, and I learned more about power management on this trip. Before we bought Ollie, I verified that the batteries would power the 900W microwave and our 900W toaster. These are important to my wife, and therefore important to me. There have been posts on this forum describing the microwave as a battery killer, and I was concerned. We have the Blue Sky Solar system, and on previous trips I monitored battery use via the Battery reading on the See Level Monitor or the BATTERY VOLT/AMP screen on the Blue Sky remote. On this trip I cycled the controller the screens on the Blue Sky remote until I got to the BATTERY CAPACITY screen, and left it there. Now, I touch the button and I can see the battery capacity as percent remaining, i.e. 70% or 100% if full. (It sounds like you can get similar functionality with the Zamp Solar system by installing a Victron battery monitor.) When we used the microwave the battery capacity moved from 98% to 96%, which was okay by me. On future trips I will continue to monitor the batteries when we use the microwave. The sun was out for three of the four days on this trip, so solar charging was good. I did have a generator along as my “magical insurance policy,” but we did not need it on this trip. Here are some picture of Goose Island Campground, as well as Arches and Canyonlands.

Twin Lakes WA, DNR land in the center of Washington State, near Odessa... an Ice Age “Channelled Scablands” erosion feature. Free dispersed rough camping, fishing. Most folks leave by 600 pm, leaving it very quiet. Neat spot! Time lapse sunset, same spot: John Davies Spokane WA

Sunset in Lake Havasu Arizona BLM sunset , crossing the Yukon River in the Canada near Dawson City & Chicken Alaska on the Top of the World Highway and sitting on the bay in Seward Alaska. Keep those Tires rolling we say. [attachment file=Oliver Dawson City Yukon.jpg]

West Texas sunset.

Tragic event. Three young men are dead, two others in icu. A nearby generator is blamed for sending co into their travel trailer. https://people.com/human-interest/3-dead-from-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-camper-faster-horses-festival-michigan/