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All, If you hadn't heard, there is a great deal on a Cellular phone plan and two data only plans, out there right now. The Cellular Phone plan through Visible. Visible is a subsidiary of Verizon and runs on their 4G and 5G network. If you join a "Party" you get Unlimited talk, text, hotspot and data for $25/month! Use "BestPhonePlans" party name to get the $25/month rate. Data Only plans are through AT&T and Cricket - 100GBs of date/month for only $55! We use both and are very happy. Here are YouTube videos from the Mobile Internet Resource Center for more details. Hoping to save you some money! Andrew

I replaced my porch light with these. They are about the same size as the originals but the housing is aluminum. I also ordered some rubber sheeting and cut my own gaskets. Here they are mounted.

We have had ours outside 24/7/365 for 13+ years, no cover. Make sure you have bug screens. Make sure you keep good wax coats up. Yours is new, but I'd do at least two coats of wax before storage. You have solar, do your batteries will be charged. Turn off all the main switches. Ventilate a bit. ( I crack the bath fan, and the central fan.) We are in a humid climate, so I tip up cushions, and leave a container of dry Z aire in each sink. I put ant gel on aluminum foil bits in the bath, kitchen, and by the door. I put some pink stuff in the drain traps, and the toilet, even in the sunmer. It evaporates more slowly than water, and keeps the seals moist in the toilet. Others will have other ideas. Depends on climate.

Andrew, Just got off the phone with my Son and he said the same thing! Thanks!

Nice job! That looks great. I ordered a custom sized 4 x 12 Water Hog carpet, but they sent me a 4x16 because it was already made. It actually wasn't 4' wide, but it worked out better anyway. I haven't glued them down, so I can easily pull everything out to hose down when need be. It's not as fancy as the one piece, but we love having the carpet and this Waterhog is so durable. I think the color worked out great too!

I have always found different items to purchase at the winery, If it was a wine or distillery’s only items. I’m sure a small cash donation would be much appreciated. I’m thinking of adding the golf course option even though I don’t play golf. There is always ways to patronize hosts.

A lot of HH are wineries and distilleries. Also farms, museums, restaurants, etc. The wineries we’ve stayed at have gift shops with items to purchase. It’s been a fun way to overnight on the way to a destination. Mike

We’ve used HH stops quite a bit, and we have really enjoyed them, and they are great for quick overnight stops when on the road, but you are correct that probably over half of all the HH locations are wineries or breweries. Our stops have been about a 50:50 split of wineries vs. museums and farms. But the winery gift shops typically always have plenty of other things to buy besides wine as a way to support the business. Some examples of great HH locations that we’ve stayed at that are NOT wineries have been the Glenn Curtiss aviation museum in Hammondsport NY, Paw Paw’s pecan farm in Atkins Arkansas, and the Thomas Stafford air & space museum in Weatherford Oklahoma. All great overnight stops with non-alcohol related things to do. Some other hosts have offered electric hookups for a small fee. We think the HH membership is a bargain, even if you only use it a few times a year.

We have found plenty of places to stay using HH that are not related to alcohol.. It’s been well worth it.

We are now starting in the season of the sound of the splatter of love bugs. 😫 I’d rather be watching those fire flies.

I get confused when I’m upright. When I’m upside down... look out!!

We travel with 2 dogs, so we are in and out several times a night after dark. Being from Florida we are familiar with most types of flying bugs. So the general routine is to kill about 50 bugs inside the trailer before going to bed. The good news was that they are easy to see on the white walls. My initial intent was to install a dimmer on the porch lights and that did not work with the dimmer I purchased. I know there are dimmers that control a single light and others that control multiple lights. The one I bought would not control both entry porch lights, but would control a single one. It is fairly easy to dim an entire 12v circuit if you wanted to, but a little harder to do a specific set of lights. So I decided to take a different approach and install amber lights. The are made by the same company that brought us the black streaks most are familiar with, ITC. These lights do not have a black gasket. They are direct contact with a sealant of your choice and 2 screws. They have a little larger footprint so they need new mounting holes. They also have both white and amber lights so another power wire is necessary as well as a new 3 way switch. I only did the curbside lights due to the cost being about $120 for lights and a switch and my uncertainty in their function. My test at home were positive but last light camping by the water in 85 degrees sealed the deal. The bathroom window was covered with bugs outside and the porch lights had a couple. More importantly, I only had to get ride of 2 bugs before bed. I'll order 2 more lights and complete the street side lights and I’ll reuse some of the old lights in the basement which will make me feel better about replacing things before they break. And if I can get off my lazy butt, I’ll document my MOP and post it.

Another reason no more Airstream. When we were traveling always had to monitor the storm patterns. Imagine if that storm hit an Airstream Trailer. It would have been a total loss.😫

Thank you. Wondering how the party plan works. I'll look for further info. Looks like Visible is a great deal.

Sounds like something we'd do... Glad you're as happy as we are. We'll see how long it lasts. I'll try to remember to come back and update on a year or so. Even at full price, it would be a decent solution for many people. I can lift it, and start it, without Paul's help, so that's an advantage over some of the more expensive units, for me. Thanks for the tip on the cover. I registered and did the review for the free cover. Cheers.🥂

Quick review on the Westinghouse: I must admit - the appearance and build quality look really good. Product documentation is great - much better than what passes for most directions/manual these days. The unit comes with oil, a cool screw in funnel, a screw driver for removing the access panel, and a spark plug removal tool. I added the oil, a half tank of premium non ethanol fuel - started first pull !! It is decently quiet - don't have a meter - but from my Honda 2000 experiences - it is in the ball park. Started the Westi - connected to Ollie - of course PMS had to be switched off - no grounding plug - yet - the jet engine- air conditioner- started as normal - no issues. It has soft start installed. The lil Westi - runs at full tilt under this load - but not bad - I'll take it. For $426 out the door - seems like a good deal - if it lasts as well as it looks. Edit - Works fine also with the new dummy neutral plug - EMS/PMS is happy. On efficiency mode it is quiet . Almost makes up for Lowes poor service. And if you register it online - they say you will get a spiffy soft cover for the gen set - delivered to your home - free - free they say! I am in high anticipation - waiting by the mail box. RB No Sun, no worries..... and to add to the addendums - (note to self - repair the ext cord you stole the male end off of)

Last year we had a short discussion about what time of the year do the fireflies come out in the mountains of western North Carolina. Well, within the next three weeks or so some 20 varieties of fireflies will begin to do their annual ritual and this includes the "blue" fireflies that are only know to exist in very limited ranges and the synchronous fireflies that are "famous" in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park (June 1-8 and it takes a lottery ticket to get to see these which are available at Recreation.gov from today through May 3rd). Good luck on getting a ticket! Bill

Violet - common blue (Viola papilionacea) Or, I call it another blue flower.😁

Bill, If you don’t need data, check out Consumer Cellular as well. Andrew

I do not want to find out 😱 And I have been in some doozy hail storms - but bad enough to chip fiberglass - well I can wait...

Most wineries have small plate items as cheese & meat plates, chips/dips, mini-app type foods. Others have full on menus available. I don't think I've ever been to a winery that didn't have a gift shop area with all types of things available from t-shirts to Christmas ornaments. We've only stayed at one place so far on our way home from picking up our Ollie but it was the Melrose Plantation in Melrose, LA. It was a very nice area and we did a guided tour the next morning. We had reservations this past weekend to take our 9 year old granddaughter to a nearby Alpaca Farm but we've received 5.75" of rain over the last week and it rained all weekend so we ended up canceling. We are hoping to reschedule for this coming weekend. Just keep in mind when adding the golf option that some (not all) courses require you to play a round of golf. Others allow you to shop in the club house, use the spa services or have dinner. We did purchase the package and hope to use it in the coming months. Harvest Host recommends that you spend $20 minimum in return for your stay. We pick hosts that we are interested in anyway and that we would tour whether we were traveling or not. HH is intended to be a overnight stop on your way to your destination... not the actual destination. You can also join the HH Members, Advice & Reviews FB page where folks post photos and reviews of their stays to get an idea of what's available before you join. Cindy

Tab 400 made a solo model with a single twin bed

We have not considered joining since the majority of the HH's seem to be centered around alcohol. I've wondered the same things.

I love spring in western North Carolina. We see the fireflies, and the early flowers. My photos from today. New species, in the drive. Some type of tiny iris. So pretty.

No worries. Think I’m good, but will check with Service Monday. Enjoy your trip.

There were more to the right and maybe a few around the corner on that side.

In the resent past I have used Cycle trader and Craigs list to sell 2 motorcycles. I was inundated with scam phone calls and texts, both sold but less than 10% of interested buyers showed up for their appointment so be patient and don't go out of your way for anyone! You have a beauty full trailer for sale. Good luck

On our way to Kentucky we stayed at another Harvest Host location. This is Century Farm Winery in Jackson, TN. Had a nice tasting and sat by the vineyards sipping our purchase! Good location and friendly folks.

Unfortunately building a “solo” trailer makes no market sense whatsoever, and in fiberglass it would be much more difficult than for a stick and staple one. If you want a solo Ollie you will have to make some mods yourself, you could start with an LE2 Twin and eliminate the street side bed, and add cargo tie down tracks there in place of the mattress. Oliver used to offer taller bed risers for more storage space underneath, but stopped doing that through lack of sales (I suspect). They still have the molds, maybe they could be persuaded to build and sell you a couple of them.... they would install easily with pop rivets. The LE2 has tons of built in overhead storage for one person, it can get a little tight for two. Eliminate the microwave and that gets you a big storage box. The “wasted space” does not have to stay wasted😬 John Davies Spokane WA.

Got some catching up to do. First, some mood music. An album that just should be in everyone's library: That would pair well with a little Turntable Soul Music. Again, an album everyone should own. Featuring Katherine deBoer's amazing voice: Heck, let's just fall down that rabbit hole. This is post is now all about Kathrin deBoer:

Many if us use the Collar lock, towing or camped. Plus a ball lock while camped.

File didn’t upload. [attachment file=Grenada Lake North Abutment COE 05202019.jpg]

Just wanted to show both amber and white lights for comparison. [attachment file=Grenada Lake North Abutment COE 05202019.jpg]

Travis, in your situation I would consider putting a 4 or 5 ft wide rear door in the center of the wall, and put down packed gravel or a concrete pad behind it. Back the trailer up the hill, park it, connect your motive power to the hitch and drag it straight into the storage bay. Disconnect and drive the machine out the back. Super easy, Your idea of dragging it straight in would be fine. No maneuvering and when you move the trailer back out it is perfectly aligned and ready to hook up to your truck. I don’t think you would need an ATV for this method on flat pavement, but maybe you would if you needed to drag it up the slope. If you install this $270 tongue jack, you could leave the jack down when towing into the bay. The two castering wheels will let the tongue steer easily. You might even be able to use a larger riding mower, but it might be hard on the belt drive. Overland has one on his Ollie, shoot him a PM. https://www.arkportablepower.com/pages/xo-trailer-jack You could have a quick detach tow bar made at a welding shop, or buy an actual aircraft one, to attach to the jack’s wheel bracket with a simple lunette style tow ring at the other end. Like towing an airplane. .... NO tongue weight at all on the tow vehicle, and the jack’s wheels will pivot to exactly follow the TV. None of this will be cheap.....I used to live in a house with a double front garage door and a single rear garage door and that was super useful, since I had a concrete pad there large enough for a truck to park out of sight from the street. Good luck. Nice house. John Davies Spokane WA

I have and use the travel valet (5000 lb). By the way the smaller one will not work on the Ollie because it needs to be used from the side. I store my Oliver in a warehouse and there is not enough room to back it in with my vehicle. I bought it on eBay for $100 less than a used one (with the same new product warranty). It is easy to use and I cannot imagine being able to back it in and out of the space without it. Hated to spend $750 but allows me to handle camper easily by myself.

Ill also confirm the trailer valet is junk. It always kicks out from the coupler no matter how tight the collar is the emergency hand brake engages when you don’t want it to and on a slight incline you have to be hulk hogan to wrestle with it, that’s what happens when you try to go cheep. John DYI on you tube has some good self made movers out of a atv winch. Or check parkit 360

I want to know which one of you is going to get this puppy working on an Ollie - Truma Mover XT4

Thunderstorms topping out at an unheard of 64,000 feet resulted in huge hailstones.... Could an Ollie tolerate this destruction? I expect that solar cells would shatter. Imagine how LOUD it would be inside! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9536427/Gargantuan-hailstone-measuring-six-inches-sets-Texas-record.html Are there any South Texas owners who can comment first hand? I am glad that I live in a relatively benign climate, there is only an occasional volcanic eruption every few centuries. John Davies Spokane WA