Dennis and Melissa

Since we typically watch the TV while "seated" in bed (we have the twins), I thought that was a FEATURE not a BUG. 🤣

I’m not even sure that’s what they are called. But mine have started to fail, even wiggling out on occasion. 😩So I want to buy 2 new ones. I can’t find them on the internet and the mothership doesn’t have them for sale. Any ideas?

Push up on the part of the tv closest to the back window. Then it should drop down as you release pressure

One more post from Jasper… Got up to go potty this morning a little after 7. It was quite foggy. On my walk back a lady warned me to watch for the elk. There was a bull and two cows. Which is a bad mix. Sure enough, I saw a large shadow in the fog, no more than 10 yards from the Ollie. The bull. Carefully I took the widest path around him to get to the trailer. As I rounded the front of the trailer there were the two cows. No more than 10 FEET from the front door!!! Too late. They were all looking at me already. I scurried the last few steps as quickly and quietly as I could. Fumbled with the door. Lost a croc. Almost peed again. But made it. Then got Melissa out of bed to take some pictures from INSIDE the Ollie 😂

Here’s a different view of our Whistler campsite, taken from the summit of Whistler mountain. You get a sense of the damage done to the campground. Much of Jasper and the surrounding area did even worse. You can also see the affect of a prediction of 10 inches of snow has on the number of campers 😁 We hope to depart about 12 hours before that arrives 😱

Apparently I am an idiot 😱 But a lucky idiot 😂 Yesterday was travel day. Moving from one FHU campground to another, with a boondocking night in between. Everything went exactly as planned. Beautiful in fact. It has been cold so I’ve been in the daily habit of using the electric space heater during the day and saving our propane for nights below 40. I’m super happy with the results we’ve had doing this with electric hookups. But last night was just battery. And I didn’t pay attention. 😳 i used so much battery before switching over to propane at 10 pm that the batteries hit 10% sometime around 5 am. When that happened EVERYTHING shut down. Including the propane furnace 🤪 I’m extremely lucky it wasn’t just a little colder, so nothing froze. Also lucky that the sun rose brightly (despite a weather prediction of rain), so the solar recharged the batteries to a usable level by 8 am. My takeaway: Never use the electric space heater on batteries below 50%

If you’ve ever been to Jasper this is what Whistler Campground looks like after the fire. Of course it’s sad, but the campground and the surrounding area are open for business. The forest is showing strong signs of recovery. Even now it’s beautiful in a different way

Columbia Icefield Parking lot for Athabasca Glacier Also functions as FCFS Campground

I’m talking about when we are actually using the trailer. So, Yes, we will be sleeping in those beds. 😀 I’m under the impression that those areas are sufficiently warmed on freezing nights when the propane heater is running (and water heater is on ECO)

We have a little DREO space heater that we use quite frequently. I love it. Works fast and extends the life of our propane. And since we are often in sites with electric hookups, it’s “free” 😜 But I’ve decided against using it when it falls below freezing. I’m worried that the design of the Ollie relies on the propane heater to keep the plumbing from freezing. What say you?

I have a general rule for all things digital: “In 3 years something twice as good will cost half as much” So I try to avoid paying extra for anything that is “integrated” with my “durable” purchases. No built in anything at home. Same with vehicles (when possible). This would have been a seriously easy choice for me if it had been an option at time of purchase. No permanent audio visual in the fancy tent!!! 😂. Just bring the current version of IPhone or MacBook or whatever floats your boat. Next summer bring the upgrade. (End of old man rant 😳)

Full disclosure: I never use the shower 😜 This is my wife’s exclusive domain. And we have a composting toilet if that matters. She basically just cut a normal shower curtain in half and put up a few suction cups. Here it is in “storage” mode and in “shower” mode:

We watch ours quite frequently before bed. Almost always something that I have downloaded on my iPhone via hdmi on the Furion. Works OK. Recently our adult son joined us for a few nights in Glacier National Park. (He has a stunningly good TV/audio system set up at his home.) We lay in our twin beds and all 6 ft of him in the dinette bed, two nights to watch movies. When his visit came to its inevitable end, we drove him to the airport. His parting words: “Thanks for having me. I loved the Ollie. But I am getting you a decent TV for Christmas” 🤣

We haven’t been able to agree on a FINAL name….😜 But a commonly used one is THE OLLIE… because our daughter’s dog is already Ollie We also use MDIV because we are hull 1504 …. So close to 1500 which would have been perfect for Melissa and Dennis 😃