mountainborn

This photo shows the snow still melting this late in the year. The Snow Mosquitos just loved it ! Those remote Forest Service roads were muddy from snow melt runoff, so when we left out, we stopped in Chama, Nm, dumped tanks, topped off with water and burned $5.00 worth of quarters in a car wash. Oh, yeah, the visitors info station in Chama has free wifi and they leave it on all of the time. It's a good place to check in, while out on the road. Easily found at a Hwy. intersection, the only one in town, there is plenty of parking space and room to manouver when turning. maps, books, train info, and a all around good place to stop in to. So, when you get there, drag that laptop outta' the TV, put it on the dinette table, pour a cup of coffee and tell us about how your trip is going.

Cool little things that happen, along the way, you never know, ya' gotta' be on the lookout for em', or they might just slip by. We were camped above 10K elevation in the conifers by the old steam train station at Cumbres Pass. The days were warm to mild, the nights cool to cold, the air was clear and refreshing. We walked up to look thru the windows of the station, there was no operator on duty at the time. A young man that sat on the porch said hello. Looking like he had been out in the woods for weeks, he was shaggy and dressed in what I would describe as strechy lycra hikeing tights, tattered ones. He was clean and we learned later that he had "borrowed" a shower from a camper nearby. He was trying to call on his cell phone that he had mailed to himself. It wasn't working well. Using our cell phone, we learned more about his adventures. He was hikeing the high country trails and the higher than usual snow accumilation made some places impossible to get through. Finaly, after days of struggling, he gave up and came down to lower elevations to look for transportation home. His calls home were to get the post offices along the way to send his supplies that he had mailed to himself, returned to his home. The train came into the station, whistling, wheezing and belching black smoke, with all of the passengers waving cheerily, he bought a ticket, and dissappeared. Now, if a person chooses to be negative about such an encounter, you know, worring about cell phone charges and looking up call times, they can diminish the quality of their experience. We didn't look or ask. We waved bye and wished him well along his way. Later that day, we made a pleasant discovery. He had camped overnight very near our campsite while waiting for the train. He had Connifer Boughs made into a bed / ground cover that he slept on, and he had gathered firewood. In the firewood that he left behind, there was another thing, he had left a zip lock baggie of carefully shaved dry kindling to be used by the next camper ! Though we don't remember his name, we will remember his thoughtfulness and unselfish labors on the behalf of the next camper that came along. He made us smile, warmed us up as the night chill arrived and the boughs from his bed, ran the Snow Mosquitos away, as they were placed on the campfire. Just a little thing that happened along the way that made our trip an grand experience. Oh, yeh, we replenished the shavings in the baggie and left a corner sticking out from the wood pile, as he had, just incase it was one of those damp highcountry days that can chill to the bone, and someone else could use a quick fire. Maybe when you pull in there that baggie of shavings will still be there to welcome you with a cherry fire !

Hey, Chris & Cherie ! Many years ago in a far away place in S/E Asia, I spent way too many hours in a Huey Heilo, sitting in the area near the reduction gears. I have a hearing defficiency in that gear whine's audio spectrum. It makes the surround sound a cool thing, for these tired old ears to be able to hear all of the sounds in a movie. Ours works well for our needs at this time. However, . . . . Your research into other systems will be appreciated as my condition slowly goes "down hill". Something that you recommend may well be the ticket to my being able to enjoy a movie, on down the road somewhere. Keep on a' diggin' buddy, your efforts are appreciated !

JJ & Sandie, so many new options have became available since we bought our Ollie that we are a bit envious of all the cool stuff that folks are getting since we picked up ours. Our best advice is to think about your camping style and getting features that would enhance your outdoors experience. For example, we love the mountains at higher elevations and in extended seasons, both earlier and later. The double pane windows were not available when our Ollie was built. We stay comfortable with our single pane windows, but, would rather have the double panes. However, should your camping style be South Padre Island in the Winter months, the double pane windows would not be as necessary.

Robert will be back on Monday, and i'll bet he will have an answer for you. Every one orders to suit their needs, or so it seems. For example, our Ollie has a 1/2 " thick blanket of thinsulate between the layers, but no lizzard skin. We have stayed comfortable in 11 degrees overnight, parked on a bald asphalt , wind swept parking lot while traveling.

Though not a actual boondocking site, this is a quick and easy overnight site ! Sometimes, ya' just never know ! We were looking for a great little lakeside campground in ElReno Ok, took a exit before the one we should, and the rest is all history. We didn't have electricity, but a push of the remote start button and the yamaha genset gave us all of the A/C we needed. This was our correct exit on the Westbound side, we took the one just before it: Here is a short video clip showing the Free site that we landed on by accident:

Recently while camped above 10,000 feet of elevation in Trujillo Meadows, in Southern Colorado, beside a trout filled lake, Butcherknife built a campfire. The Snow Mosquitoes were fierce ! The idea was to move the mosquitoes away with the smoke. We placed green conifer boughs on the fire occasionaly. The smoke drifted towards the open windows of the camper and in particular, the screen door, which was good. The mosquitos would gather at the screen door looking for a taste of my tender and dellicate skin ! We ran the fantastic fan on low to trap the mosquitoes in the fan screen so we would be mosquito free that night. The fan also brought in the fragrant scent of the campfire. It lingered only briefly, but I can rember it now . . . Our Ollie has never had any famildihyde odor at all, even with our country cookin' style, odors are not residual. Thanks to the easy to clean surfaces inside. I think that might be good for those of us with allergys. This photo is of the fire building by Butcherknife: Note the cozy little place we were able to back into amongst the Conifers. The Snow Mosquitos leave when the sun goes down. We brought out the lawn chairs and enjoyed the stars under clear skys at 10 K feet !

Welcome to the Oliver Forums CaptAjax !!

Welcome to the Oliver Forums tdijim !!

Welcome to the Oliver Forums fullerp !!

Welcome to the Oliver Forums chris b !!

Welcome to the Oliver Forums fernjerry !!

Steve and Tali, thanks for the look at your Ollie ! By the way, nice TV ! We are overnighting in Santa Rosa Nm, before moving on down to Carlsbad Caverns Nm. PM me your snail mail address, we picked up a publication that you will want to use for your Jeep trails trip. No problems climbing over the summits that were open, such as cinnamon and engineer, even in our "box stock" jeep. We booondocked at the old Ghost town of Eureka, 10K + elev., coords and description to follow on the boondocking thread.

BTW - Have you had any issues with your fridge running on propane at high altitude? Which fridge model do you have? > We have The Norcold 3 way and tend to run it on propane most of the time. I know that is an issue on some other forums, but we never turn it off, even when refuelimg. We seldom put it on 12 volts. It works ok on 12 volts, we just don't go there very much. If we are in a "built up" campground, we use the 110 volt and it does a super job. At 8,500 ft. of elevation, the fridge performs flawlessly. At 10,000 ft. however, it is "balky" on restart after the thermostat has been satisfied. With that in mind, we know that our visits to that elevation are few, and have sought no solution that might effect routine operations below the 10K mark. Instead we change how we operate a bit. Before going to bed for the night, we set the thermostat to it's highest point, knowing that it may not restart. In the morning we restart manually. The colder temps at 10K elevation aid in keeping things cold in the refrigerator. Four nights this trip have been below freezing and the manual restart, supplimented with occasional generator use to recharge batterys, and the refrigerator on 110 volt for that period each day was the easy out for us. We figure that there is a tech bulletin out there somewhere, that outlines an adjustment, or maybe a orfice change, that would "fix" the minor problem, but for us it is a minor and seldom occouring thing. However, if we were camping for extended periods above 10K, we would definitely look into a "fix".

In Chama New Mexico for internet connection, we are camped by the steam train station in Cumbres Pass Colorado. A boondocking location, of course, coordinates will be posted in the boondocking thread. > This photo was taken at the top of Engineer Pass in colorado: This was a serious 4X4 climb to be there for a sunrise video, that we will post later.

Welcome to the Oliver Forums Tigrrr !!

Welcome to the Oliver Forums solsen !!

Welcome to the Oliver Forums Terry !!

Sweet ! Killer view is right. Got any more pix ?

I recieved this report from a Airstreamer that travels from Colorado to Arkansas quite a bit. He stays here often, particularly if getting in late at night. We camped beside this fellow geocacher in Clarksville Arkansas beside the Lake, and he posts on a couple of forums that we frequent. Because of the honor pay system with a drop box, he can pull in late at night and get a few hours sleep hooked to shore power, running the air conditioning, or the electric heat as needed. Cities that want to promote tourism are starting to have RV parking at their city parks. This is one such city, just off of I 40 in El Reno Oklahoma, West of OKC. We plan to stop here on our first night out when heading for Colorado. Here is the map: Here is the physical address if you want to put it into the program that you use in your laptop: 2001 Babcock, El Reno, OK 73036 Website for the Park / Campground, there is even a photo of the honor pay drop box: http://www.cityofelreno.com:729/Default.asp? Here is a look at a map that shows the highway interchanges in the OKC area and the location of El Reno to them: Because we will start our trip after work, it will be late when we get to El Reno, but the advantage is that Oklahoma City will be behind us for an early start and lots of open road for us the next morning.

Welcome to the forums, Terry. I think you may have just found the quickest way. Folks on here are quick to show their ollie to others. I'll bet someone near you will reply soon. The other way is to call Robert at the factory, he can make it happen !

Here is what the travel bug decal looks like, it is in the lower left of the back window:

Many of us use our cell phones for lots of stuff, including geocaching. My old tried and true Motorola E815M cell phone has been a good one, but, now is on it's last leg. With the memory card I can shoot 3 minute videos, ect.. My question is this: Would there be any advantage to getting a new high tech phone ( multi media ) before the Verizon take over ? Or would you advise to wait until the dust settles ?

Stuart, thanks for the link. Have you tried the elevtronic version ? We run a laptop with Microsoft streets & trips on it when we travel.

Not White, but lookin' good ! I see you got the shiney fenders also, cool ! Now about those aluminum wheels and eight ply tires, wow, that's what I'm talkin' bout' !!