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Interesting video. I think his use of the term “perfect” needs to be put into context. He is saying that the ANDON method results in vehicles coming off the line with no known defects, that problems are solved before the vehicle is finished so that problems aren’t passed to the dealer/customer. My two Toyota trucks back that up. I didn’t find any issues with either of them as I drove them off the lot and in the initial stages of ownership. As the miles piled on of course there were things that needed to be adjusted/fixed/etc. Mike

We’re watching the latest episode of LOLOHO (Long Long Honeymoon) on YouTube which we’ve been watching for years. It’s a question/answer episode and one of the questions was what trailer would you have if you didn’t have your Airstream. Sean’s answer mentioned two brands, a quick mention of Lance and then he talked quite a while about Oliver’s. We camped across from Sean and Kristy in Gros Ventre campground a few years ago in Grand Teton NP. Mike

Hey, that's what we named our Tundra and Oliver. Stan and Ollie got hitched in Hohenwald and crossed the Big Divide together to travel the wide open West.

Believe the engineer's title of his video could have been how they strive for perfection. We have owned 3 Toyota pickups, with # 4 on the way later this week. With all the new vehicles we have purchased, Toyota been the most durable, not perfect, but the most dependable, so far. I used to be involved with industrial machine manufacturing, rebuild, and answered warranty claims. Honest evaluation of warranties makes us look closely at our work and take constructive corrective actions for the improvement of our products, sometimes easier said than done. I like how Toyota has a system to show where there is an issue and takes immediate action. We like pickups, have to admit after working on a couple Hyundai vehicles (preventative maintenance) really like how they are built and their warranty, too. Currently looking at their new Santa Cruz pickup for a daily driver for Debbie and vehicle for trips when not camping, will see.

We mesquite smoked a brined and lemon pepper dry rubbed 7# roaster in our Traeger pellet grill. Enjoyed a few sides and I actually skipped desert which was a pumpkin cheese cake. Oh the crispy bacon!

I've also looked for electronic monitoring systems. I don't have one for all the above reasons. We been traveling with up to three dogs for over 14 years. We just use plain common sense. If the temperature is going to be above 65 and they are in the truck we would not leave them all day. We actually usually leave the windows down about half way. One of the dogs is a 100 pound Doberman and we aren't too concerned about people reaching in. In the trailer I would not worry even if the temps are in the 80's. We leave the windows open and the fan running. We've slept inside with the temps much hotter and nobody's dead yet. If it's Mississippi or south Texas in mid August and we need to leave them in the truck for an hour or so, we just leave it running with the windows up and doors locked (diesel truck). If longer than an hour, in the trailer with the generator running and the A/C on.

There are several owners of older Elites who installed the Xtreme heaters back in 2008/2009. (We also have one, but have only used it once or twice.) I think @bugeyedriver has two of them in his Elite.

Sure thing: Taoseño Pie Roast, peel, seed and chop: 3-4 medium red chiles Mix in saucepan: 2 T cornstarch ¼ cup sugar (none if using sweetened cherries) Add and heat until thick: Juice from 2 cans of cherries (preferably dark unsweetened) Add: ½ t almond extract 2 cans drained cherries Line pie or tart pan with dough from biscochito recipe, add cherry filling, decorate with biscochito shapes. Bake on convection at 400 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Biscochitos Cream: 1 cup sugar 1 cup lard plus 1 cup butter Add: 2 eggs 4 t Cointreau 2 t vanilla extract Zest of one orange Mix separately, then slowly add: 1 T baking powder 1 t salt 2 t cracked or whole anise 6 cups unbleached all purpose flour Roll to ¼”, cut into shapes, and bake on convection at 350 for 12 minutes. The biscochito recipe is pretty standard, but you can look online for variations. If I’m making them just for me, then I’ll use all lard rather than half butter, but some people don’t like that flavor and half and half still gives a good texture. I usually sneak in a little extra anise for me as well. The pie is my own invention - I call it Taoseño Pie because I like saying Taoseño …Taoseño… Maybe they’ll name something for me one day. You’ll find plenty of green chile apple pie recipes around NM but I’ve never seen cherry and red chile, which is odd to me because roasted red chiles, especially the native NM varieties, have really strong cherry notes, imo. So I think you’ll find that the flavors meld really well, and to me has just the right amount of heat. Pair it with some vanilla ice cream if you want to cool your tongue. I’ve also made it with a few spoonfuls of green chile added in but that ups the heat considerably. So, experiment. bon appetit

Hey Overland! Would you mind sharing the recipe for the pie?

Perfect vehicles, is that supposed to be humor? It is an admirable goal, but Toyotas, even “Made in Japan” Land Cruisers, have issues. My wife’s new Acura RDX is a PMC Edition, a limited production car, one of 200 produced in the NSX super car plant - hand painted and assembled by the most skilled and experienced Acura techs from all over the world. ANDON at an even higher level….. Stunning, yes, but not perfect. I think that journalists and people in general should be very cautious about using that term, especially for mass- produced vehicles that have in the past had their (relatively small) share of quality, design and build problems. And some not so small, like the unintended acceleration debacle (floor mats jamming the gas pedals and incinerating families) and rotted out frames. Google “Toyota problems recalls” for a sample. What is more important IMHO is customer service when the problems inevitably do occur. Toyota is very good in this area. As is Oliver. John Davies Spokane WA

All those pictures make my mouth water. They all looked great. We cooked Lobster and shrimp for our Christmas eve dinner. Cooked two extra lobsters, so we had lobster sandwiches this afternoon. Chocolate and cheri cupcakes with ice cream on top for desert while play cribbage.

My son is a computer game programmer and they recently got into 3D printing. Here is what arrived for Christmas...... It was a total surprise. The $5 bill is for scale. The hull is exactly 6” long, the LE2 hull is 18’, so this makes the model 1:32 scale. There are lots of truck models in this size, my Land Cruiser 200 would be 5.9” long at this scale. ..... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyota-Land-Cruiser-4x4-1-32-Scale-200-VX-Wagon-SUV-Diecast-Model-Mini-4wd-Car-/362667098231 And this is what the model looked like before final trim “processing”, I have NO clue how that is done. They were not able to find an actual data file online, they did this completely from scratch using photos. They are willing to share the print file if somebody wants to try this at home. They are thinking about dividing the build into layers, so you could print the tires, frame and hull in different colors and then join them.... but it would not be too difficult to prime and paint the all white version. And no, they do not want to start mass producing these. That would be something for the much rumored, never seen Ollie Store in Hohenwald. Happy Holidays. John Davies Spokane WA EDIT: FILES AND BASIC 3D PRINT INSTRUCTIONS. NO GUARANTEES, THIS IS NOT PLUG AND PLAY EASY. If you cannot download these files directly from this thread, let me know and I will try another method. Thanks to my son Ian! oliver legacy elite 2 trailer davies.stl oliver legacy elite 2 trailer davies.3mf “Provided as is - this shouldn't be too hard of a print, but you'll probably want to have a basic handle on printing. The print specifics below are what I used to print it. They're not required, but might serve as a starting point. Print specifics: Printer: Original Prusa i3 MK3S, 0.4mm nozzle Slicer: PrusaSlicer 2.2 Filament: 1.75mm Prusament PLA (stock profile in PrusaSlicer) Perimeters: 3 Layer Height: 0.1mm Infill: Gyroid, 5% Supports: On Raft: 2 layers (not necessary, just makes it a bit easier to get the tires round) Model print scale: 850% (~200mm x 66mm x 82mm) Total filament (including supports): 143g/48m If you slice it yourself, you'll probably want to put support blockers in the wheel wells - cleaning supports out of there is a pain. This will require some postprocessing - mostly just removing supports from small gaps. If your printer isn't precise enough, or if you're printing with a larger layer height, you may want to do some sanding to get the curves more fluid.” I. D.

Lol, well it does travel well, but I’ll decline the honor. I can teach you all how to make a Snowball cocktail though. 🍸😂

Thanks Overland! I like the idea of anise; the more the merrier in my opinion. Cherries, chilies and anise?-very unusual. Maybe we can call it Overland Pie?

Sean is a very interesting fellow from both education and experience perspectives.

The basic problem with any solution is connectivity. If BOTH your phone AND the device don’t have good signals, then the system can’t function. There are vast areas in the west without a signal. But a cellular based one with temperature email/ text alerts is probably your best solution, just be very aware of its VERY serious limitations. For the eastern USA it would probably be satisfactory. For most of the remote western parks and monuments, it will most likely be kaput, Tango Uniform. Be sure to study cellular service maps for the places you plan to visit. John Davies Spokane WA

Have fun tomorrow ! 🙂

Unfortunately, no. We didn’t spend much time at the campground and it seems they didn’t either. We saw them out by their Airstream on our evening walks but there were always folks there talking to them. So we just waved and got a friendly wave back. Mike

A neat video about “Andon” - why Toyota builds perfect trucks. I had heard about ANDON before, but this provided much more insight and I like this guys YouTube info as he seems to provide pretty accurate information and has previously worked for Toyota in Japan. It’s worth a watch if you have not viewed it. I have heard that Honda also uses ANDON in their production line. Sadly according to this gent there are quite a few auto manufactures that know about ANDON but just don’t use it. Go figure?

We area little boring I smoked a citrus turkey that I soaked in a Citrus Brine. Started smoking a midnight last night and pulled it off at Noon. My wife made a Pecan pie, loaded with Pecans, with a snack of smoked cheese, sausage and smoked candied Pecans.

Merry Christmas to our Ollie family!

Wow! He even got the snorkel. What a wonderful gift.

Slick how he even made the receiver hitch so that it would accept the bulldog - nicely done! Bill

Could not take a photo until today, shrimp, grits, collard greens, squash spaghetti, and bacon! Finishing off with Key Lime Cheese cake and Hot Cinnamon Spice tea!

Wow, the pierogis and pies look wonderful!!!!! Debbie has been cooking this afternoon! We will be having shrimp, grits, collard greens, spaghetti squash, and Key Lime Cheese Cake tomorrow! Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now THAT will be a great way to start the New Year! Good luck! Bill

The dealer said the delivery was moved from 12/24 to 12/28. Hope the Tundra comes in next week, will see. Don't plan to tow with Ollie until we have at least a 1,000 miles. Going to add sideboards and a Diamond back bed cover while breaking in the new SR5. There's some other members here with a Tundra coming, too. Used to call our last Tundra Stan, guess that will work for the new Tundra, too.

Other than being VERY quiet up here in the mountains of western North Carolina it hardly seems like Christmas at all with temperatures in the low to mid 60's. Of course, I'll still take that versus Idaho snow. I'll bet that the rideandfly pic and the seadawg pic were taken within 40 miles of each other. For those traveling - please be safe and warm out there. For those at the Mothership - thanks for all you do in making most of us very happy campers. AND, for everyone - MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Bill

Merry Christmas everyone!!

My husband loves them for this reason. He normally goes out and sets up while I'm still at work and then I drive out when I get off. He has no problem getting level by himself. On our 5th wheel we had the Level Mate Pro but left it in it when we sold it. So far he said he hasn't really needed it with the Oliver and the Andersen levelers.

Your neighborhood is requiring a bed cover for your truck? I’m as progressive as it gets but I know the three types of bad governments: dictatorships, church committees, and HOAs. Regardless, how covered is covered? Do solar panels count?

Love it. Bet it would sell in the Oliver Owners Store. Nice to look at, and take Home, after touring the plant and placing an order. Something to "Show and Tell" while waiting. A buy with the hat, mug, and vest...

that is amazing. He could sell those, I bet.

This is amazing! Paula

3 D printing is most useful for a one-off prototype, or for making repair parts in the field (military) or in outer space, where a supplier is not readily available. it is way too time consuming and expensive for mass produced parts, that is what injection molding, die cast metal, and other methods are for. If the company wants to sell us Ollie trailer models in the future Ollie Store, they will have to have them mass produced in China by a toy manufacturer. An order of 100 would probably get the selling price down to a reasonable figure, I am guessing less than $100. A 3D printed one, with many hours and final hand trimming, unless you can do it yourself, would be way more than that. My son had a number of false starts before they got to this final version. John Davies Spokane WA

That is way too cool! Your son is very talented.

Very cool

JD, Please let Ian know the how much we appreciated his efforts in creating such an excellent Christmas present for you. He did an outstanding job. Mossey

Wow, great job! He should go into production, I’m sure there would be a demand!

Wow! Your son did an amazing job on the model. This made my day. Thank you.