technomadia

Just an update... We managed to find a way to put a tarp on top of the roof for last night's storms, and that has kept the rain outside where it belongs for now, so we got to sleep last night. We've not yet heard from the Austin RV Repair place that Jake called in for us last night.. but we are leaning towards contacting our RV guy in St. Louis and just planning for that. We were planning to stay at Chris' folks guest room anyway, so being out of our house for a night or two won't be as traumatic as it would be here in Austin. Thanks Mountainborn.. if for any reason our guy can't help us out, we'll definitely be in touch for recommendations in the area. If anyone thinks of anything else that might be a culprit .. please do keep the comments coming. - Cherie

Actually - the video is from Burning Man 2008. Burning Man 2009 hasn't happened yet!!! Cherie and I will be running "Camp Nomadia" once again this year, and at least one other Oliver trailer will be present with Bugz and crew. Anyone else want to join us? I've been going to Burning Man since '99, and this coming year will be Cherie's third time. It is amazing and incredible in so many ways. Ask if you have any questions.... - Chris

Yamaha is pleased to introduce our light weight, quiet and powerful EF2000iS generator. Click on the link to view a 15 minute model introduction with slides and narration. Passcode: 55218 https://cc.callinfo.com/play?id=o6bt8xu0 This link is no longer valid. Can you summarize what you learned? Thanks! - Chris

Thanks for the reply Steve.. I'm curious as well as to if there's any other small holes up there on the roof. Unfortunately, we're currently without a way to get on top and look at it. The folks at Oliver have a local RV shop calling us in the morning to see if they can help us diagnosis it and possibly fix it. For now, we have a tarp pulled over top to help prevent further leaking in that area, if that's where it's coming from. The water is actually coming from the plastic frame of the fan and either overflows the frame and/or comes through the screw holes that hold the fan in place. It's coming in on the streetside (not door side) side, front and back (which may just be because of our leveling.. but it's been consistently on that side). It's somewhere between a slow drip and steady trickle, depending upon the rain flow. It's enough that during a day long of rain, we can easily soak 2 or 3 hand towels in a day. Today it got heavy enough that it started coming in upper cabinet in front of the stripper.. err.. chrome pole. Oliver suspects that it might the sealant used.. that it's drying and cracking, and causing the leaks. But they'll help a RV dealer do a series of tests to isolate where it's actually coming from. (We may wait until we get to St. Louis next week to work with a shop we know and trust.) We've not experienced water in the closet.. but it seems that water will flow somewhere, and it's not always obvious. Is is possible it's condensation? - Cherie

Ever since we picked up our Oliver back July 2008, we've had a leak around the vent fan. It's had several attempts at being fixed. Unfortunately, we've been in mostly desert climates with little rain to test the fixes out. Once at the factory when it was discovered during our shake down camp out (thank goodness for a rainstorm!). And then back in the fall we tried resealing around the fan ourselves, and months later when we had rain again discovered it was still leaking. So Oliver arranged for us to take it into a RV repair shop in the San Francisco area to be resealed 'professionally'. We just hit our first rain today now that we're in Austin.. and it's leaking worse than ever before. Considering the vent fan has been resealed on multiple occasions, I'm finding it difficult to believe that there's anything left unsealed up there. Could it be possible something else is leaking and it's just coming in that way? Could it be a leak in the fan contraption itself, and not the seal around the fan? Anyone else having/had leak problems? Any suggestions or advice? This has become beyond ridiculous, and I'm tired of having to be trapped inside my house when we're at a place day and night during rain storms to prevent the place from being flooded. We have to mount towels held on by suction cup clips around the fan. (We're also of course working with Oliver to diagnosis this.. but thought we'd ask other Oliver owners too). And.. of course.. we have Dell (the computer company) planning to come over this week to photograph our technomadic home for an upcoming article on their DigitalNomads.com site they host to profile us and the Oliver! How great will it be to have them see it leaking all over their heads when they visit? Not the happiest of campers, - Cherie Ps. GREAT! Now the leak is working its way around the shell and into our electronics bin!! GRRRRRRRRR

Orion did fantastically in dust storms. Seals up nicely. We even had folks come by at the end of Burning Man asking us how we kept our trailer so clean. The outside looked shiny and bright even after 12 days on the playa. For the inside, I just covered the seats with spare fabric that I shuck out every so often, and once every day or so I took a paper towel and cleaning solution to the floor, walls and kitchen to keep them clean (which I actually do regularly anyway). Dust will get everywhere, but if you're careful about keeping your windows, doors and vent fans closed during dust storms.. your Ollie will be a nice refute from the dust. - Cherie

so being able to leave the fan on permanently seems like a really nice feature In most conditions, it's great I would however highly recommend redefining the word 'permanent' to 'when in the trailer and there's not a dust storm' for Burning Man purposes. That is, of course, if you don't want a trailer full of dust when you return - Cherie

I am working on a few electrical upgrades, and lacking a schematic for the Oliver, I would love some advice. First off - I am planning to wire up the cell phone booster to be switched on/off by a switch on the power panel near the door, rather than the current method of needing to reach deep into the storage cabinet (over the small dinette) where it is tucked away. My question: Is it possible to fish a wire up and over the roof (between the shells) to get from one side of the trailer to the other? Or will I need to run the wires all the way around the back? Secondly: I would like to have separate master switches on the panel for the inside and outside lights. Lacking a schematic of the wiring harness makes this a bit difficult to figure out, but before I start tracing wires myself - has anyone mapped out where the power for the outside lights splits off from the panel? One other thought is to route the ground lighting into the solar controller, so that I can make it automatic dusk-till-dawn lighting. Finally: I want to mount an on/off switch for our inverter up near the mission control panels by the door. The inverter is located down under the front small dinette seat. What is the easiest way to run a wire from down under there to the cabinet up over the fridge? Ultimately, this is how I plan to have the switches configured: (currently three are unused) #1 - Fans #2 - Cabin Lights #x - Water Pump wired to be a slave to the cabin lights. #3 - Outside Lights or Cabinet Lights #4 - Booster Antenna #5 - Mac Mini (our on board server) & Internet Router / WiFi (powered via 12v) #6 - Dell Monitor / Backup HD (via small Inverter) Thoughts? - Chris

We're inbound to Carlsbad Caverns right now.. should be arriving in the area Thursday afternoon/evening (4/23). We plan to do a tour on Friday on our way into TX. If you guys are still in the area, we should rendezvous! - Cherie

Yes.. LEDWholesalers.com is who I ordered through, directly from their website. It's good to know ours is an isolated incidence.

It's good to know that my experience with this LED wholesaler is an isolated experience.. we have been having an *awful* experience with them, particularly Wayne. While we were just down the road from them in South San Francisco last month, I ordered a few bulbs from them. I got notification that a shipping label was created, and by any stretch of the imagination, they should have arrived in a day or two. A week went by, and they didn't show up. I wrote, explaining we're full time RVers and would be leaving the area soon, Wayne wrote back just simply saying 'This should be three very soon.. Totally useless and unhelpful and grammatically incorrect, and totally ignoring my concern that the package would likely arrive after we left. I wrote back after we left and asked how they wanted to handle this.. and never got a response. A couple days ago, I got a message from someone else saying the package came back undeliverable. I checked the shipping label history.. and they didn't actually deliver the box to the post office for *3 weeks* after I ordered and they printed the label. And, they wanted us to pay again for shipping to have them reshipped?!? So, I replied.. pointing out we ordered in plenty of time for them to arrive to us, but despite them actually mailing them about 3 weeks late - I would pay for the shipping to catch up with us in May (the first time we'll have a delivery address again) if they really thought we should have to under these circumstances. A The response I got? Was from Wayne.. simply saying 'We shipped these on Friday, they should arrive soon' - totally disregarding the thread of the message that the shipment was 1) shipped 3 weeks late and 2) returned because we've already moved on. I wrote back, yet again.. and again, no response. In my opinion, Wayne is a complete moron. I'm completely dumbfounded by this company and their customer service, and very disappointed. And, I'm out $50. - Cherie

We've had all sorts of business and personal cards for our various endevours, and have pretty much found that our travel business card is the most effective for all purposes. We use it give to folks we encounter, to business contacts and to personal contacts. And we also staple one to Oliver brochures that we hand out when folks ask for tours (egads, do they as for tours.. our drive through Joshua Tree last week took an extra 3 hours due to giving tours at every stop. We love it !) Having one is a great idea! Here's what ours looks like: I think you've got all your bases covered, mountainborn. Name, e-mail, phone and web address. I may redesign ours to add our twitter address, as we're using that a bunch these days.

Our trip eastward has been wonderful so far. We got to meet the Hewus family in Lake Havasu City and had a WONDERFUL time visiting with them. We also stopped by to meet Jim Oliver in person at long last, and we got to see the new 22' foot trailer. (Look for lots of pictures soon!) The last few days we spent at the Grand Canyon, and right now we are in Gallup, NM. I've posted an update on our plans and schedule heading eastward here: http://www.technomadia.com/2009/04/new- ... nd-beyond/ After St. Louis, we will probably pay a visit to the Oliver factory in late May or June. See you all on the road! - Chris

When we had our wheel bearings repacked recently, the technician pointed out that he thought it was very unusual that the outside edge of our curb-side tire was going bald. He thought it might be an issue with axel alignment?!?! He swapped the left and right tires to even out the wear, but in the few weeks since it looks like the new curb-side tire is starting to wear the same way. We just met Jim Oliver in Lake Havasu, and I asked him about it... He said he has seen this uneven wear before on one of his trailers, but he was not sure what might cause it. He told me to make sure the factory guys look into it when we are next in Hohenwald. I mentioned to him that I was always careful to keep the tires at 50psi (as indicated on the Oliver tongue sticker), but that I had noticed that the tires were rated on the sidewall for 65psi. He said I should ignore the sticker and keep the tires at 65psi - and that maybe that was the cause of the problem. If so - I have factory provided tires that are prematurely in need of replacement because I have been keeping them inflated to the factory prescribed air pressure. Huh?!?! *grrrr* And that still doesn't completely explain the uneven nature of the wear. What pressure do you all keep your Oliver tires inflated to? 50psi? 65psi? Something else? What sort of tire wear have you noticed? Anything uneven? Any thoughts on this? Thanks! - Chris

BTW - did any of your trailers come with a kitchen sink plug (other than a kitten supplied quarter?) I wrote Robert asking if we were supposed to get one, and he said he would send me one. But what he sent was another bathroom drain plug, which does not fit the kitchen sink. Is there such a thing to be had? - Chris

I should look at the site before I comment It has maps! Beautiful, glorious, wonderful maps!! MAPS!! *happy dance* Thanks for the recommendation, we just became members. - Cherie

Interesting.. I'll check it out. Have you ever played around with http://www.freecampgrounds.com ? It sounds like a free version of the site you found, and I'm curious if it's better maintained or not. Does it use local detailed level maps to show you the locations? That's one of my biggest complaints about most of the campground location services out there. What I really crave however is something that also integrates into an iPhone app that uses GPS location to show me what is around me currently .. on a map! I want something that rolls up all sorts of camping options - from the free overnight spots, to public campgrounds and private "resorts". *sigh* I'll keep dreaming. - Cherie

Sounds like y'all are having an awesome time at the Jug Oliver-a-Thon. Here on the west coast, we've been visiting with the gang at bugz's place in Lake Havasu. We're having an awesome time with our own little Oliver gathering this weekend. We even took our Jeeps out on the trails today for quite an adventure to a remote Desert Bar. We're however not fishing with jugs.. instead, we ordered out for pizza. We're thinking of you all and wishing our convergences could be closer. Continue to have an awesome time! - Cherie

Hi Steve.. I know there are Oliver owners on the west coast.. but perhaps they're just not active on the forums as much? We were technically west coast Oliver owners for the last 4 months, as we were in San Francisco. We just pulled into Lake Havasu City, AZ (we can see CA out our window.. so does that count in your west coast definition?) to bugz' place. Apparently the Olivers are around here too, we'll try to seek them out today perhaps. - Cherie

Should you ever loose the plug to the kitchen sink and need something to stop it up to hold water.. a quarter seems to work quite nicely. This information brought to you after extensive testing by our kitten, Kiki. - Cherie

It was tough Actually, we only had to stand in for a few frames while he light us. And then he just layered that image into the rest. I was actually operating the shutter for the rest of the frames for him. Such fun! - Cherie

Chris and I are currently camped in southern California with our friend, Ben Willmore (http://www.whereisben.com). Ben is known world wide for his photography and Photoshop skills. He's a technomad like us, traveling around teaching and writing about Photoshop. Last night, he decided that the Oliver Travel Trailer is so awesomely cool looking that it needed be photographed with a technique called 'light painting': This was done with nothing more than various colored flashlights, which Ben used to draw the lines and captured with long exposures. We took 65 different images. He then used Photoshop to layer the various shots to make this image. He made it look easy anyway. Now there's a new way of viewing an Oliver We had a blast doing these with him.

And Airstream has also had some pretty major layoffs I understand. But for Thor this is not a sign of financial problems - there is no point in building trailers if they can't sell them. And at the moment very few people are buying. There may be good reasons for cutting back on production right now to match demand, but this is a horrible time to cut back on quality, customer service, and support. Last July we experienced Thor's customer service to be in a state of complete disarray. They may be in better shape now, but the lasting impression that they left me with was that Thor was a company I did not want to ever depend on. - Chris

I don't have solar panels so I'm just taking a WAG here, but would it be possible to use gas struts (like the ones used on hatchbacks) to lift the panels? They come in all sorts of sizes, strokes, and weight ratings. With the right ones the problem would then be one of holding them DOWN instead of UP. You know - this is indeed a fabulous idea! With a strut providing lift and a cable holding it down, you could adjust the angle just by cranking out the length of the cable. It will take some clever engineering to do, but this is perhaps the most workable avenue I have heard. It will be particularly hard to design it to allow tilting in both directions, but even if the panel can just tilt one way that would be useful. - Chris

Last month we presented on technomadism at a conference in San Jose called 'ETech', which is about emerging technologies. The Yahoo Developer Network, a sponsor of the conference, contacted us about doing an interview. They just released the interview, and featured our Oliver quite nicely with many of our photos as we talked about how we make our lifestyle work. http://www.technomadia.com/2009/04/tech ... k-theater/ Enjoy! - Cherie