mountainborn

We will go to the County seat, to be at the Rv place when the UPS truck runs at 1400 hours. Hopeing we can bring our Ollie home, load it this evening and get on the road !

WELL, AS WE ALL KNOW, WHEN THINGS START GOING BAD, THEY SEEM TO MULTIPLY ! The Rv place slid the fridge out into th Ollie's floor to work on it and the board is bad. Then they discovered that the board isn't interchangeable with the fridge's board that they have in their shop. They have called our Good Sam club's extended service plan and are proceeding with getting one ordered in here by the most expedicious route. Oh, geeze, now we are emptied out ( our clothes & stuff ), the fridge is in the middle of the floor, at the dealership, and the clock is counting down to the wedding on the beach ! It's gona' be a close one !

I wonder if alternating layers of copper and aluminum foil would . . . .

:o Golleee Geeee Willikers Batman! Shoulda we had them boys at Hohenwald wrap the entire inner egg in tin foil to protekt us frum that there EMP thingie? I Think I'll dust off my tin foil hat befur Oscar & I head fer the hippie weddin' > He, he, well, I'll tell ya' this, it has me reconsidering the whole concept of the aluminum foil skull cap so that the alien abductors can't read my thoughts ! Ya' see I have been a' lookin' at the possibility of making a customised skull cap from one of them .99 cent heavy duty aluminum turkey roaster pans like they sell down at the dollar store. I think that the extra thickness is needed to shield the brain from those powerful external beams that retrieve the thoughts. I mean. we'll be out there in the open on that beach and the tie die will attract attention from the alien's infra red sensors. . . . . > Ok, tom, it's time for you to chime in and really get this one a' rollin' !!

Great data, thanks Aubrey. I sure like that temp log readout. A heat tape sure can't do that !

As some may recall, our Norcold refrigerator started sending us warning signals back in July of this year while we were camped without electricity for over 110 days at Trujillo meadows USFS Rio Grande National Forest Coplorado. We were worried at that time about being up in the clouds with powerful lightning storms that rolled through. Worried enough, that we drove a eight foot long ground rod all of the way into the ground and grounded the Ollie's generator and the aluminum frame to that ground with automotive jumper cables. As it turns out that may have been a very good thing to do for an extended stay in those conditions. But the EMP, that's electro magnetic pulse, may have already caused damage to our printed circuit board in the refrigerator. Many on here know that the powerful EMP of a nucelar detonation will destroy electronics for hunderds of square miles and in a similar manner the EMP of a nearby lightning strike will destroy them in a much smaller area. We devised a grounding system to shunt the EMP spikes harmlessly to ground at Trujillo meadows, but just like closing the barn door after the mule is gone, we may have been a little too late. A RV place at our county seat has tested our refrigerator and decided that it is most likely that the circuit board is out on it. We left our Ollie with them at the RV place after recieving their assurance that it would be kept inside their building if kept overnight, as we have been staying in it and plan to leave out as soon as is possible, it hasn't been Winterized. Hey, we are going to Florida , for goodnes sake ! They have another Norcold refrigerator in their shop that they think the circuit board will work from it if needed. Fingers crossed. More to follow as it unfolds.. .. .. ..

Haulin' Glass ( as in fiberglass ) ? Or maybe Little Plastic Trailers Hooked on Asphalt ?

Hohenwald Hulls......a compromise. The HULL, you say ! He, he .. .. .. ..

He, he, Sherry, tell me please, is lutefisk, a traditional New Years dish ?

Just found this thread as I checked in to bam spammerz. He, he, got in late, well, late for us ol' folks anyhow, and slept in this morn. Our Moderator Steve, SCUBARX, compiled a good list not too long ago, of nearly all of the Oliver owners. Seems like the last time we worked on it togather, he had about eighty plus percent of all the owners in his database that included contact information. He will see this and chime in soon, I expect. Jonathan, our Global administrator would be instrumental in getting this done should we need to go that way. EDIT to add: It was Steve's work on this list that prompted the thread titled OLIVER OWNERS GROUP that is directly above this thread. It recieved no responses from the membership. Maybe in light of new developments it will.

Glad u made it home ok. It was the same storm we were running from as we left Kansas for Arkansas.

Lunch on the run ! As we fled Coffeyville Kansas where we had worked for Amazon.com for several weeks, after leaving the Sugar Beet Harvest up on the Canadian border country, we gained a bit of a lead on the storm that would soon have states Governors declaring a state of emergency. We had hastily rounded up our stuff where we were camped at Elk City Lake State park located just 5 miles North West of Independence Kansas, and were out running the fast approaching storm. We had worked at loading our stuff well past lunch time and were famished ! Since we are fans of the Food Network's Diners, Drive inns and Dives, we had seen a show featuring a restaurant that was on our route to the East, located on Old Historic Route 66, in Baxter Springs Kansas. One last quick check of the live radar told us that if we didn't tarry long, we could stay ahead of the storm that was coming up behind us. We couldn't resist, we just had to stop in for lunch. As it turns out, we havn't been the only ones to stop in while on the run ! Jessie James had robbed the place back when the building housed a bank ! Lunch was great ! We ordered the open faced roast Beef sandwiches and the plate was heaped with hearty, but fine tasting fare ! Served on antique heavy dinnerware. There were no quick and "flashy" fast food type food stuffs on our plates, but for example the mashed potatoes, both scoops of them on each plate, were not instant or dehydrated, but actualy freshly prepared potatoes. Flavor and boquet of each item on our plates was of similar quality, and most excelent. Even though Betty is absolutely worn out from our stint at Amazon, you can see the look of enjoyment on her face as we lunch. Folks, let me tell you, THIS PLACE HAS A MASTER CHEFF !! That means that un expected things can happen, like this exquisite desert, the likes of which I hadn't consumed since being in Torremelenos Spain in the early sixties ! Note that before I could snap a quick photo, Betty had already sunk her fork into this chocolate delight ! Now here is the thing that I enjoyed as well as the fine food, the atmosphere made this blue collar working couple, I was wearing my bib overhauls, feel at home while consuming master cheff prepared foods that were worthy of the finest dining places on the European Continent. Here is a look at the interior so that you might also get a feel for this fine old establishment located on Historic old route 66 in Baxter springs Kansas. Here is a quick video look at the entry way to the Cafe on the Route:

Got the twitter link, read the Gizmodo article. A good interview. As usual you guys nailed it down !

We retired on April Fools Day of this year, and have been rolling pretty much all of the time, ever since. It has been a great year for us and we want to wish all a Merry CHRISTmas and a happy new year !

UPDATE ! UPDATE ! It was beginning to be a struggle for us. Fatigue from long hours at Amazon, the refrigerator went out and our days and nights were totally switched out. We had moved the refrigerator stuff into an ice chest and continued to work at Amazon. But Mother Nature was fixin' to over power us. By now most of us are aware of the blizzard that is sweeping down across the prarie, down deep to Texas. To make a long story short, we bailed out. The quality of life was diminishing rapidly as our resources dwindled. We turned in our ID cards, ect. and hastily loaded our plunder, then split out, just ahead of the fast approaching storm. Since we can follow the storm's position on live radar, via the internet, using our 3G device while rolling down the highway, we were able to modify our exit route a little to put more distance between us and the storm. Instead of traveling straight South, the straightest route to Arkansas, we went to the East about a hundred miles, then turned South. The reasoning behind this was that the most direct route would put us traveling continually in the leading edge of the fast moving storm. The margin for error in that plan was too slim and we were needing to pause for an hour or so to catch a meal, ect.. We are now at the house in Arkansas and the storm is coming in right behind us. Betty is at the store picking up a few supplies so we can weather out the storm in better shape. I will leave to top off fuel in our vehicles and get extra generator gas when I finish this posting. Refrigerator situation is still not good. We may be able to get someone to look at it right after CHRISTmas.

The Norcold won't work in any mode and shows the code "N" in the digital display. We have cleaned it out and are back to using a Ice Chest.

Two days of work left here at Amazon in Coffeyville. When we woke up this afternoon the floor of the trailer was flooded because of the refrigerator thawing out. It has quit working ! We have to leave for work in a few minutes and don't have any time to look into it. Settings seem correct though. Suggestions appreciated. harm & bett

I havn't checked the almanac for April of 2010 to see what week the full moon is, that's when the bait fish spawn. Anybody ?

And now I'm being reprimanded by the groom before I've even left home. Oh, Yeah, this is shapeing up to be one of these events that we will be talking about around campfires for years !

Open discussion is cool. Personal attacks are not. Vindictiveness is unacceptable. ( re: Given the treatment I got I won't be sorry to see them go. ) This thread is teetering on the edge of self destruction.

Right. Not only was it in the single digits, there was a fierce wind a' howlin'.

Tom, those fur lined "specials" will be just the thing for our chivaree of the newly weds. It can sometimes get chilly after dark and the fur would be a comforting thing. And, Tom, since the reception is at a public building you will likely have to wear your special trench coat, you know, the one with the velcro rip away panels, over the tie dye, fur lined, little numbers. Don't use the flesh colored trench coat that the park rangers nearly confiscated off of you at Lake Greeson, ( I didn't know that there were so many blue lights in Pike County ), it won't let the pink camo shine at it's best.

Today was a day off for us and we went to a local Farm & Home supply place and Betty bought me a new pair of overhauls and a 13' heat tape. We installed it so that it will keep the water pump from freezing as well as the lines where the water supply comes in. The installation was tough since we were having to work through the seat storage and between the hull halves. It would be much neater if it was installed during construction and before the hull halves were mated. The power cord comes out through the manual electric jack access port, staying there until needed: Here is the water pump portion of the install: Water pump look different from yours ? Here is a closer look: A closer fit and better freeze protection would result from a factory install during construction. Freeze test coming up tonight !

Our freeze up and leak also occoured near the outside shower. Our outside faucet's had been drained and didn't freeze. The "quick and dirty" fix was to just replace the outside shower's leaking line ends with teflon tape wrapped brass plugs. Here is a look at the end result: We went this way so that it would: a. Use the brass plugs to clean up the threads on the small plastic fitting where the freeze stripped them. b. Use teflon tape to reseal the damaged thread contact surfaces c. Close off the lines so that the leak was stopped and the water could be turned back on. Opinion: The Oliver's internal plumbing withstood a hard freeze and the weakest point is where the leak occoured. Note how short the threaded end of the chrome line is, that runs to the outside shower. That isn't a lot of contact surface area and I suspect that because of that, those short threads were the weakest point in the water lines and is why the freeze/leak occoured there. Resolution plan: a. Pick up replacement plastic fittings to replace the ones that the freeze stripped the threads on, and, also an extra set of the same fittings to carry as spares, just incase. he, he, you know how stuff happens. b. Add a electrical outlet inside, between the two hulls so that a heat tape can be plugged in and the tape's thermostat will be at the same temperature as the air between the hulls. Should the tape be plugged into the interior or heated area then the tape would not come on when it should ( 38* ). c. Add a heat tape that wraps as much of the water pipes as is possible, paying particular attention to the areas that have bedding or stowage articles that will keep heat from the cabin from radiating into the space between the hulls. The negative to this is that there will be a "hidden" load source on the generator, however small it is. On shore power, it likely will never be noticed. On the positive side, our Ollie may never need Winterizing except for sink drains and the shower P traps. d. Replace the sliding trap door that I removed to expedite the thawing out of the frozen areas, a simple two sided tape process. Conclusion: The heaters that Aubrey mention are a quality solution. Since Oliver's have a smart charger onboard, and "cooking" the coach battery to death isn't a issue, the heaters Aubrey mentions is a good, maybe even better, solution for non-Winterizing your Ollie ! But the heat tapes are simple and effective. They can stay plugged in all the time with the thermostat bringing it on as needed even during generator / boondocking sessions. The tapes will not be susecptible to pet hair, dust bunnies and so on that might restrict air flow. The tapes don't require air flow to be effective and they are almost totally silent during operation, there is a tiny click as the thermostat engages and disengages and it being between the hulls, may not be heard at all.

I don't understand it! I simply asked that my tie-dye camo boxers have an "Inspected by Mountainborn" tag and the price doubled. Tom Hey there Tom ! It wasn't the inspected by mountainborn fee that ran your cost up so, it was your specifying the "hot Pink camo" boxers, in silk, so you would feel good all under, that did it. Don't worry, I talked to Santa in person and your feel good all under boxers will make it in time for CHRISTmas ! Oh, geeze, I wonder if this thread will get as wild as the one about the hot tub / stripper pole / pink foamy suds / camo thong thread !