Patriot

A few pics of Arches and Canyonland NPs. This time of the year it is best to get your time entry permit for as early in the morning as possible. The temps with the extreme low humidity made it really comfortable on our hikes in both parks. Spectacular view and vistas for sure. Free entry with the America the Beautiful pass. 😊🇺🇸🇺🇸 The visitor center at Arches…we got there early. The parking lot was slammed when we departed and headed to Canyon Lands. IMG_1655.mov Balanced Rock at Arches. This formation is called the 3 gossips at Arches. My sweet bride! 😍 Delicate Arch. I called this the runaway hiker lane. Behind me there is no further path out. The Tremor aka “Beast of Burden” doing Tremor things… Canyonlands… IMG_1699.mov IMG_1699.mov Arches on a hike. IMG_1676.mov

Just learned from SL via email below, that the unlimited plan has gone up from $150 to $165 per month. The good thing is we can still pause this service plan when not using it. So far on this trip we have been very happy with our SL mini. Thank you for being a Starlink customer. We are making changes to your service plan and price in order to deliver an improved Starlink experience. Effective immediately, you will have access to the following features with Starlink Roam: In-Motion Use International Travel Coastal Coverage To support these enhancements and our ongoing network improvements, your monthly service price for Starlink Roam will be $165. The updated monthly price and new Terms of Service will go into effect starting 10/10/2024.

We left Grand Junction and landed in Green River SP in Utah this afternoon. This SP has W/E only with an D/S and it’s $45 a night. Not bad at all. Happy and Safe Travels!

Bill, You were the only Oliver we saw until we got to Pagosa Springs, CO…wow! What are the odds? It sure was exciting for us to see you and Twist headed back to NC. So glad we got to catch up while we headed west. How cool is that? 👍🏻😊 David & Kathy

Totally agree with @Mike and Carol on mpgs. That said we are very happy with our F350 6.7 diesel with safety, comfort, towing, great cargo capacity and ridiculous power and torque. We only have 30k on our TV. We own a smaller Ford Ranger that we use daily for running errands when at home. Our F350 is mainly for travel and towing. Empty and not towing I get about 19-20 mpgs. Our average towing on the flats we average 15.9 mpgs. This of course changes when we hit the mountains. But I know our mpgs are much better than our former half ton Tundra with the 5.7 V8. We sold the Tundra as it just did not have the power, braking and mainly cargo capacity we needed. One thing worthy of note we have noticed out west in some of the mountain passes Law Enforcement will do brake checks on 1/2 ton vehicles towing campers. They use a heat gun and determine if you need to pull over to designated parking areas so that your brakes can cool. With our one ton diesel we were waved through and no check. Best of luck with your choice for a new TV!

That is a good idea. I agree with @jd1923 and @Mike and Carol the vent pipe connection could very well be your culprit. Persevere!

Got it. Hopefully someone else will chime in with a fix. Hang in there as there are no problems only solutions! A famous quote by?😊 Having exhausted all other possibilities, I do think you may want to check that vent pipe. It may save you a call to the mothership.

Have you poured any water in the p trap of your shower drain lately? If you pee trap has no water in it, it will allow any odor from your gray tank to off gas into your shower. We periodically when traveling just add water to the p trap. No odor after doing so. Also it does not hurt to pour a little water and dawn or tank treatment down the p traps. Hope this helps!

After our install of Alcan leaf pack we decided to tour the Grande Mesa National Forest here in Grand Junction. We also highly recommend the Colorado National Monument a must see if you’re in this area. We also took the ski lift up Powder Horn ski resort the views from the lift were epic at 10’ elev. It was really cool to see that they allow mountain biking in the off ski season. We had a light lunch at the base of Powder Horn before our lift ride to the top. The weather was perfect. As you can tell, no traffic to speak of and no crowds. We are convinced that after Labor Day is the perfect time and temp to visit out west. Happy and Safe Travels! The Beast even got in on the action… IMG_1617.mov IMG_1627.mov IMG_1630.mov The good food at Powder Horn hit the spot! My sweet bride!

You will be totally fine John. Lew and his staff at Alcan are really awesome to deal with.

I only torqued the Ubolts this morning. @500 mile mark check Spring wet bolts, they should be good with the HD nyloc nuts. Alcan will provide a very detailed work sheet when you have the springs installed. 👍🏻

Yesterday I had the Alcan 5 leaf pack installed at Alcan. This morning I decided to crawl under XPLOR for a closer look and check the torque on my 16 of my 9/16 Ubolts torque setting on the high nuts juuuuust to satisfy my OCD. I found in the short trip back to the our base camp (only 9 miles) from Alcan the Ubolts definitely required retorquing. Each of the (16) high nuts needed at least 1-2 full rotations to bring them into a torque spec per Alcan of 90’lbs. I am glad I checked these high nut fasteners as it is clear that the new Ubolts will stretch in a very short period of travel. This is why Alcan repeatedly recommends you check the torque on the high nuts and wetbolts. I will check again at the required interval of 50//50/500 mile mark. Passing this forward! Happy and Safe Travels All from Grand Junction, CO! You will need a 3/4” deep well socket which can be purchased alacarte at a local HF store.

Give David Hess a call he and his wife Kristine are the owners of SeaBiscuit. They are fine folks and they will get you set up with exactly what you need. https://seabiscuitmetaldesigns.com/product-category/oliver-travel-trailer-accessories/ As for weight limit, the good folks at Oliver may provide guidance on that. Naturally a caution flag on any excessive weight which could really impact the overall handling of the trailer under way on the super slab. Made in the USA.🇺🇸

Thanks! 👍🏻😊 I like the 2 1/2” HD shackles. In fact I like just about everything HD or over engineered. Glad I got this spring/shackle upgrade completed.✅ The Team at Alcan are top shelf!

John, sounds great, it goes without saying, glad to help out. We’ll chat soon!

This morning we had the 5 leaf pack installed on Hull #634 XPLOR at the Alcan shop here in Grand Junction, CO. We had an excellent experience from start to finish. We opted for the upgraded heavier duty wet bolts, nyloc nuts, Alcan HD 2 1/2” shackles. Our Monroe shocks are still in good shape with less than 2500 miles on them. Over all very happy with the work performed by Tucker at Alcan, he has installed the custom 5 leaf pack on a number of Olivers. Lew the owner was excellent to deal with and explained everything in detail. If you have questions about the install, parts or pricing, give Lew a call. Now we can get on with our trip to Utah, Wyoming and maybe Montana. Onward & Safe Travels! Drop off early morning - yes we hit the loves to top off with diesel, saving 76 cents per gallon with our TDS Open Roads Fleet card. We love LOVES. Ha! Thanking Lew 2.5 hrs later after the new leaf packs were installed. Gotta have a little swag.. Decal swag - Optional upgraded wet bolts. Torque specs -

I would give Oliver Service a call and provide details on your frig. They can surely provide you with the info for a part # or even diagnosis your issue. It might help you cut to the chase.

Could be. I sure would like to see SpaceEX produce a phone with direct connect to satellites. How cool would that be!

Update on SL mini use. After using our SL Mini for 4 hrs last Saturday we blew through 7 GB pretty fast. We had 2 iPads and a TV streaming to give you an idea. Based on our use and needs, we opted to upgrade to the unlimited use plan for $150 per month. This plan still allows to pause the service when not using it. Space EX makes it tantalizingly easy to switch plans. (Of course they do) cha ching! 😄 We are now in South Fork, CO overnighting at a CG for the evening. Upon our arrival, as soon as I deployed and plugged in the mini (5min) we were online and all set. This CG has given us another good trial run with the mini as the WiFi here is pretty much non existent. As mentioned perviously, the space saving portability of the mini, compact size, and ease of deployment are worthy of consideration if you think you might consider SL. Truly a game changer for us. Happy and Safe Travels!

This is worth watching IMHO. It will be really interesting to see how this rolls out.

Max Burner, We will definitely try and stop for a “look see” at Soldiers Stone Monument. Paying a tribute to brother and sister vets is a high priority for us. Thank you for the nugget! We will miss you by one week. Your trip sounds like a really great time! Post up some pics! Patriot🇺🇸

Our meal was great and the host gave us get two free Taco cards and a desert on the house. John I think having a Torchy’s that close to home could be dangerous. 😋 😄 We could easily become regulars. Ha!

Congratulations what a great accomplishment with wonderful memories!! I agree with @MAX Burner the Lobstah Rolls looks amazing! We gotta get back to Maine.

After a great blueberry harvest we are finally back in beautiful Colorado! We are base camped for a few days here in Colorado Springs and the weather so far has been awesome. We are enjoying the cool 50 degree nighttime sleeping temps with our windows wide open and the cool desert breeze is great for sleeping. The day time temps have been in the 70’s to 80’s. Our plan to make our way to South Fork, then Durango and onto Montrose. Eventually we will end up in Grand Junction to get the 5 leaf pack installed. From there we will head to Utah, Wyoming and possibly Montana. If in Colorado Springs area check out Torchys Taco’s 🔥 for all kinds of yummy tacos with a kick! The “foodies we are” Ha! 😝 Safe Travels to All! Sunrise, and sunsets are my favorite times of the day. SL mini deployed - a total game changer! My lovely bride enjoying lunch. Needless to say we skipped evening dinner.

As promised here is a quick update on our SL mini field use. It’s a game changer for us. No more local WiFi or cell hot spot to think about. We are presently in Colorado Springs and the mini took about 8 min to deploy and we were up and running. Certainly the wide open Colorado skies allowed for quick recognition of the satellites. I do think the mini will serve us well. It’s a cinch to pack up and stow. Onward to South Fork and then beautiful Wolf Creek Pass, then make our way to Durango, Ouray, Montrose and then Grand Junction. Cheers all! We are happy to be traveling!