Patriot

Not sure when you plan to install the new rain gutters. We installed ours when the weather was in the high 70’s low 80’s giving the adhesive time to cure and just making the gutter material much easier to work with. Something to consider when you install the new product. It also made the trim easier to line up, cut and apply after laying it stretched out in the sunshine over top of my truck. I think we left the blue painters tape on for a day or so. No issues yet. I hope it all works out well for you.

Starlink Mini power cord storage solution. On our recent long trip I decided I needed to come with a solution to store our Starlink Mini power cord when we are traveling. After a deep dive, I ordered this reel and it will hold the entire 50’ SL mini power cord nice and neat. Winding up the power cord by hand each time was time consuming and usually it ended up looking like a rat nest. This musicians cord reel should be easier for deployment of the power cord as well as retracting when packing up our SL mini. Everything SL mini packs up nicely in our HF 3800 hard side storage case. I ordered a second reel for our spare SL mini power cord. Happy Camping from Hull #634 XPLOR https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WYCR42L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We have dual 30# LP tanks and I agree it was a worth the upgrade at least for us and to swap out to 30# tanks after our first year based on our camping needs. In our recent 7400 mile 48 day trip we were really glad to have the larger tanks. We only had to top off one of our 30# tanks 3 times during this entire trip. Many CGs out west if not all, have LP available or will tell you where you can easily purchase it. Everyone needs it at some point. If you don’t have adequate pay load capacity with your TV, or are concerned about tongue weight, or physically cannot lift a full 30# LP tank then keeping the 20# tanks is probably the right thing to do. Honestly I am not even sure an E1 will accommodate 30# tanks.

We have the Truma 13.5 BTU Aventa AC and we do not have the Truma soft start. We use a Honda 3200i to run our AC and it’s a quiet and a very reliable genset. As posted above a Honda 2000 or 2200 will not run your 13.5 Truma Aventa unless you have the Truma soft start installed.

@rideandfly Bill, Can you have the Anker power pack plugged in and charging and still run your Mini while it’s plugged in for pass through use while still charging the Anker?

After a good wash and detail inside and out we winterized and covered up XPLOR today. We used approx 2.5 gal of RV antifreeze. Agree with @John Dorrer super easy to dewinterize should we decide to head to the coast of somewhere beautiful. 👍🏻🇺🇸😎

Welcome Jason B! Hull# 634 XPLOR

It should arrive tomorrow, I will keep you posted! 👍🏻

After our SL mini shake down trip out west I have decided to purchase a cord reel for the mini to keep the cord neatly buttoned up during travel. As well as a little quicker to deploy and roll up. I also decided to scoop up an extra SL power cord as well. If by some unlikely chance the cord gets cut by a grazing Bison well…you sorta flapping without a spare. This big guy was grazing on the nice green patch of grass next to XPLOR and he actually tugged on our SL cable and fortunately did not chew through it. Smart Bison! I will post up on how the cord reel works out. I highly recommend a back up spare power cord. As we all know things happen. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WYCR42L?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_0_0 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB21PPSC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Nice kit Bill! You’re going to love the ease and portability of set up of the mini. We cannot imagine not having SL after our last 48 day trip out west. 💯 full on game changer. It will be interesting to learn how long you can power the mini off the Anker power bank. 👍🏻

More great news…loving our Starlink Mini!

Your northern location tells me all I need to know. I would really think about winterizing based on where you live. A few minutes of effort can forgo hours of locating and repairing a leak. Our Truma makes winterizing super easy.

I could not agree more with @ScubaRx. Especially after traversing 10% grades with our TV and Oliver fully loaded and ready to camp. @Emerson if you ever intend to traverse Wolf Creek Pass at 8% grade, or Teton Pass at a 10% grade you will wish you had a whole lot more TV. An engine brake or Jake brake is a beautiful thing. The Big Horn Mountains on our way to Devils Tower are not quite as steep a grade or as high, but still have dramatic inclines and declines. Everyone has to roll with what their own comfort level is. I can say that we never ever had any concerns in the long steep descents in many of the mountain ranges we traversed. Our 6.7 diesel was up for the job and the righ tool for the job. There was no tail wagging the dog with our rig and we never had to pull off because of hot brakes. I would add that using any CAR or SUV would not leave me with a comfort level on the above mountain passes we traveled on. Some of the passes have hot brakes checks as well. If you are towing an OLEII with a car or SUV you could be asked to pull over and let your brakes cool before proceeding down the steep mountain descents. Then factor in the weight you will have loaded in your Audi and your OLE2. Based on our travel experience I cannot recommend an Audi Q7 for a tov vehicle for an OLE2. Safe Travels!

We brought (2) large brisket sandwiches home with us from the Crossville, Tenn Buc-ees in our frig. That will be our lunch today! 😛Gotta get out back and give XPLOR good detailing on this cool 54 degree morning.

@Kraig My wife and I just completed one of our bucket list 7400 mile, 48 day trips out west camping and touring through CO, UT, ID, WY, MT, NB. I can say without any hesitation we were so glad to have the comfort, safety and cargo capacity of our 1 ton diesel F350. Ford nailed it with their diesel engine brake on the 10 speed 6.7 liter power plant. It sure came in handy on steep mountain passes like Wolf Creek and Teton Pass just to name a few. Good on you for checking your brake controller and identifying the issue. Thanks for passing this info forward. Safe Travels!

We enjoy the sensory overload of a Buc-eyes stop. 😳😂We have been using our Open Roads fleet card for diesel top offs when we can and have not found anyone lower in price. How about that Buc-ees Brisket? 😛

We did an overnight at Gun Creek, COE in Benton, IL. $9 electric only with our America the Beautiful pass and it worked perfect. We enjoyed dinner at the Gun Creek Golf Course Club House and followed up with breakfast this morning. We made pretty good time east bound and are now in a KOA in Crossville, Tenn. Pretty nice digs for a KOA overnighter. Naturally we haaaaaad to make a stop a the Buc-ees here. YUM!! Ha! This Buc-ees sells diesel too at $3.04 a gal, not bad. Gun Creek COE. We have never been so happy to see trees again! Buc-ees in Crossville, Tenn is much smaller than the Sevierville, Tenn super store. We still got our Buc-ees fix! 😋Ha! Safe Travels and Happy Camping All!

When is it not windy out here? 😂 So far the wind blew in CO, UT, ID, WY, SD, Just sayin.

Landed our rig XPLOR in Wall, SD we did a little shopping and a walk through of the Famous Wall Drug Store. It was ok…more of the same touristo t shirt type stuff. We are still spoiled by Buc-ee’s ha! After Walls Drug visit we set up base at camp Sleepy Hollow CG. Then headed to the Badlands NP convientently only 8 miles away. It was a super windy park visit, not at all crowded and cool temps for sure. Gotta love the America the Beautiful pass which provides free entry into All National Parks unless otherwise posted. The Badlands was established as a National Monument in 1939 and became a NP in 1978. The name Badlands comes from the Lakota Indian tribe who called it Mako Sica aka - Badlands. This is some of the roughest territory we have ever seen. It is almost like being on a different planet. Please excuse the poor audio in my vid. It was super windy. Cheers and Safe Travels! IMG_2352.mov

We are departing Hill City this morning, and headed northeast to Wall, SD and it appears to be just in time. We had the opportunity to visit and spend time at Mt Rushmore, Custer SP and Needles Highway on Oct 3rd. Beautiful. We have an app called “Watch Duty” and learned about a fire 🔥 in Custer SP not far from our base camp. If you don’t have this free app I highly recommend it. Thanks to our Starlink Mini we are staying weather and fire aware. The dry west is a tinder box! https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/fire-warning-evacuation-near-little-devils-tower-area-friday/ Onward!

You were very fortunate to have been close to a trailer shop. Good for you! Onward!

A good idea especially while you have it stored. 👍🏻

Completely enjoyed the presidential walk around Mt Rushmore, driving through Custer SP and Needles Highway is a must see! The drive and the views were incredible. We were stomping hungry 😄 and had a fabulous tenderloin dinner at the Alpine Inn. The meal was perfect and the homemade deserts were awesome. We highly recommend the Alpine Inn for dinner in Hill City. 🤩 Off to Wall, SD tomorrow making our way east. Our hearts are very heavy about the conditions left behind by Helene. We look forward to getting home and volunteering where ever we can help to our fellow North Carolinians. Hopefully we will find roads open so that we wont have to detour to Atlanta. We think I40 east of Asheville is open from what we are learning. We will probably have to go to Wytheville, Va and drop down on I77 and pick up 40 east. IMG_2288.mov Dinner at the Alpine was On! May head back today for lunch it was soooo good. The horseradish a must have with any steak was super potent! Loved it! Deserts are house made..

We are based camped at Horse Creek CG, near Hill City SD. A nice little CG nestled in the Black Hills of SD. We landed a nice long end site with a great view of the Black Hills and right on the perimeter of the National Forest. Headed to see Mount Rushmore aka “the faces”, needles highway, Spearfish Canyon, and Custer SP. Who knows maybe a little dinner at the Alpine Inn? 😋 Safe Travels and Happy Camping! IMG_2272.mov No fire ban here, so we enjoyed the warmth of a hot fire and continued to plot and plan for the next few days. With careful overwatch, later in the evening I doused it before we knocked off for the day. Super quiet here with very few peeps and jeeps. 😊 The barbwire fence you see is the actual border between XPLOR and BH National Forest.

Bill, I believe you will be pleased with everything about the “mini”. We also ordered the 12v adapter cable to allow us to run the mini from our TV. Just a thought. https://www.strikerfab.com/products/dc-power-adapter-for-starlink-mini