SeaDawg

Welcome to the Oliver Forums, Vandango! (Sorry for the belated welcome. I ran out of battery power just as I authorized your membership....) Sherry

MMMM... love to. Today we went into Hendersonville to our favorite Irish pub, Hannah Flannigan's, and met some friends from Florida for a (big) lunch. We thought salad and dessert would be good tonite. Chef's salad and texas toast warmed over the coals, berry cobbler is on the fire now, in the Dutch oven, compliments of my friend, Lois. Picked up some really nice extra pie irons on closeout at Tractor Supply this afternoon. Mini-pizzas tomorrow? Any favorite campfire recipes or ideas you'd like to share? Sherry

Nothing tastes better than dinner over the open fire. Tonite's dinner.... heirloom tomatoes, sliced, from the Western NC Farmer's Market in Asheville, round steak marinated in teryiaki, foil grilled onions, zuccini and carrots in foil packet over the hickory coals. We have to go home soon. Yes, we'll miss dinner outdoors, and our friend Lois who has been camping with us the last two months. And, oh, will we miss those campfire dinners.

I love your "sunbird" idea.... Suits me well.We've really enjoyed the last two summers, escaping the summer heat. Hope you, Betty, and Pete & Oscar the Smiley Dog have a wonderful time at ten thousand feet. Wish we were there, too. Sherry and Paul

Welcome to our forum, edcone and ncrver!

It would also be interesting to be able to measure the axle camber with both trailers empty, then loaded. One likely difference in the camber is the load we're carrying. Herm's trailer was empty; ours was loaded for camping, including about 30 gallons total of water between the grey, black and fresh water tanks, six gallons in the hot water heater, and all our camping gear, food, clothes, etc. My estimate on our gear and water would run about 500 pounds or more. In theory at least, the camber should be lessened by the load, allowing the tires to hit the pavement more squarely. When we weighed our trailer last year, (loaded for weekend camping, less water, less gear) we had about 420 lb tongue weight and about 3500 lbs axle load distributed to the tires. At that load, the axle is only seeing 65-70% of its 5200 lb capacity. I suspect that if the axle were loaded to its full rated capacity, the camber in the axle should disappear. I don't think the defective axles allowed that to happen, as the camber was too great, and/or did not flex properly under the average load our campers carry, resulting in uneven tire wear. Sherry and Paul

We've completed our Canada tour of the north shores of the Great Lakes, stopped in Grand Marais and Gooseberry Falls SP in Minnesota, and spent several days with my brother and sister-in-law outside Brainerd . On our way to Milwaukee, we stopped to visit with Herm and his wife in the Twin Cities. Herm is quite the grillmeister, and he and his wife were great fun and great hosts. Lots of laughter and lively conversaton. We hope they'll come and visit us near Asheville later this month, or catch up with us in the fall there for the autumn leaves. (Doug and Geneva have indicated they'll likely visit us in October in NC, too!) Anyone else traveling our way? Could be a fun little mini-rally in the mountains. Dates are a little fuzzy right now... more later in another thread. Thanks so much for the hospitality, Herm! Sherry & Paul

We have had the 5200 lb, 6-lug axle on our trailer for over 8,000 miles. (By the end of this trip, it will certainly exceed 10k). Although we previously thought this was a "straight" axle, further inspection last night by Paul and Herm on both their axle and ours revealed a very slight camber. Herm crawled under both trailers and measured both, and they're basically identical, with same model number imprinted on the axles, and similar slight camber. Our load range D tires show no exceptional wear with this axle, just normal road wear for 8,000 + miles. No scalloping or wear on inside or outside edges. We do travel, normally, in cooler climates, with a mix of interstate and local roads. Our Duro tires are normally inflated to around 60 psi. We have not yet invested in an infrared thermometer or sensor for the hubs. (One less thing to carry.) One of us checks each time we stop by placing the back of the hand close to (but NOT touching) the hub to check radiant heat level from the hub. If no unusual heat is detected, (which has always been the case for us), then we can touch with fingertips only to insure that heat level is completely in the normal range. Sherry

Mostly, chilly. (Honestly, I like the sixties more than the eighties.... music and temps....) We had a few mosquitoes on this trail in Fairbank Lake, but just a few. Didn't break out the DEET spray on this trip. Lower temps, coupled with decent breezes and sometimes winds, meant few mosquitoes and flies. Not bad, really. We anticipated worse in July on the north shore, but we didn't find a lot of problems.

We traveled about 1300 miles thru bear country in Canada, and never saw a bear. (Our neighbors reported them several times.) Do you have a bear trap for relocation? A number of times, we saw bear traps in Canada being deployed in areas where actuve bears had been reported in campsites. Glad to know the Oliver repelled the bear. We always thought it would, but verification is good. We have now been thru the bear control practice lectures in Canada a dozen times, at least, and already knew the drill. We have bear on the property in NC, and are careful there as well. No coolers outside, no food outside, no loose garbage or scraps, no smells of food anywhere near the trailer (or tent.). All garbage in bags, in the tow vehicle. Bear can smell food 7 kilometers away, I've heard. Sherry

This pretty much answers the "Can I tow it ???" question for vintage Bolers. Huntsville, Ontario parking lot. Sherry

One of my favorite small campgrounds in our Ontario tour was Fairbank Lake. A small cg, well off the highway, so no road noise. ( A lot of potholes on the small road out, but paved most of the way. Great ice cream at the small general store/gas station, and really nice proprieters,too, in the little mining town on the way out. Though the mine is shut down, the store remains, thankfully, as we were low on fuel on the way to the park. Fill frequently in Canada once you're out of the Toronto and Sudbury areas... towns are far apart.) This little red squirrel enjoyed our campsite as much as we did, I think. He ran up and down the hollow tree stump, enjoying a sunny afternoon: We hiked the small trail, up and down, through forest and rock, and a fault divide. A nice way to spend an hour or so.... Take a photo of the board before you go. There are many numbered spots, but no printed guides. At nightfall, the view from our campsite on the lake was amazing. Not a big park, but well worth the 15 kilometers off the highway or so. Very peaceful, very beautiful. Sherry

We are back in the US, camped at Grand Marais, MN. I'm listening to the waves of Lake Superior crashing on the rocky beach beyond the pine and birch trees rimming our campsite. (We're on the edge, a good place to be. This is a huge municipal cg, 300 sites, and many of them more like an RV park than a cg.) Anyway, my aircard works again, so here are a few photos of one of my favorite campgrounds, Lake Superior Provincial Park, Ontario: View from the rear window of the Oliver: A video of one of our hikes, the Sand River Trail, used by the First Nation, then the Voyageurs, then campers... It's about six or seven kilometers, round trip on a linear trail. A few ups and downs, and a little rock clambering. Don't miss it. It is spectacular. Four sets of rapids. Allow at least three hours, probably more. You will want to stop often to enjoy the water, the scenery, the wildlife. Take bug spray (or wipes, as you see me using...) In the still areas, the mosquitos are on the attack... Another trail,, the petroglyphs, is short, but amazing, and not easy. I moved very slowly along this rock ledge to view the glyphs. The rocks below would not make a nice landing spot... Lake Superior is a beautiful park, huge, with many wonderful trails for hiking, and Sinclair cove for kayaking and canoeing. We met one man who'd camped Lake Superior PP every year for 44 years. I know why, now. Sherry

Congratulations and best wishes, Chuck and Geri! We wish you many happy years (and beautiful campgrounds...) together. Sherry and Paul

Under the aft single dinette seat, there's a red circuit breaker switch/trip. With this turned off, you will disconnect all electricity coming from the batteries, unless there's something else run to your battery differently than ours. Unless you trip this, or disconnect the batteries manually, you will always have a small amount of drain from sensors, etc. We had the same problem once leaving our trailer for ten days, before we had solar power to recharge. Hope this helps. If you can't find the trip, post again. I don't remember exactly where it is, and the trailer is back at Kakabeka Falls CG... no wireless there. Sherrry

Hi, everyone. I'm sitting in the parking lot of the Thunder Bay downtown library, using their free wireless. It's been a great trip across Ontario, camping in a number of Provincial parks during the past two and a half weeks or so. Tomorrow, we'll head into the U.S. again, camping in Grand Marais for a few days before we visit my family in Brainerd. The Ontarians have been wonderful hosts, the camping facilities are great, and the scenery is nothing short of incredible, especially between Lake Superior State Park and Sleeping Giant PP, Thunder Bay. We have many (thousands?) photos to share.... later. Yes, it's been marvelously cool... hardly ever above 70, usually in the sixties, and nights twenty degrees cooler yet. My kind of weather! Sherry

Sorry to hear about your tire failures. Changing tires in the Texas sun is no fun. Our tires are Duro load range D tires on our trailer, and have had great service so far. Though we've put a lot of miles on them, not many miles in the kind of heat you've experienced. What brand of tires did you have that failed in Texas?

Tonight, we're camped on part of the Georgian Bay, at Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park Campground, near Parry Sound, Ontario. I wish I had the bandwidth to upload photos, but I'm just amazed my aircard is working at all. I was told it would not work here before we left the US. (It is painfully slow, but I've been able to read my email at least every other night so far. Responding, however, takes a loooong time.) The scenery is amazing. We rented a small boat to explore the bay today, and had a wonderful day. Forecast was for showers and clouds, but instead, we had sunshine and clear skies most of the day. Lucky us! Navigating through the rocks and hundreds of small islands was interesting, but so much fun. My friend Lois met us about a week ago, towing her Casita from Iowa, and we crossed into Canada together over the St. Lawrence Seaway. Handheld radios work better than cell phones to keep us together on the small highways, winding through the lakes, bogs, and boulders, past lovely little villages and small old churches... Stopping for supplies at Huntsville, we both parked our rigs next to a VW bug towing a Boler. Had a great time visiting with the owner and her mother. We've been very warmly welcomed at each campground in Ontario, and have enjoyed each of the Provincial parks we've visited for its own special scenery. One of these days, we'll find a coffee shop in the village, and be able to upload a few photos. Till then, We're thinking of all of you often,just not on the internet much. Sherry

Well, that's an exciting night at work at 10,000 feet. I see the neighbors were camping in a popup or hybrid. I don't think I'd like to look out the bedroom screen enclosure and look a black bear in the eye. Many campgrounds in Alaska had signs posting "no tents or soft sided trailers" due to the bear problem. I certainly feel better in bear country with a solid, hard-sided Oliver. Sorry about your screen room. It'll be a job to repair that big hole the bear left.

Doug & Geneva, Chances are, we'll be back in North Carolina this fall. (We're here now, planning our trip to NY and Canada, back down thru Minnesota and Missouri to visit my family.) We love the Carolinas in all the seasons. Please keep us posted on your plans. We'd love to camp with you in the Carolinas if the schedules mesh. If there are a few other Oliver owners possibly interested in the North Carolina in the fall..... I sense another mini rally in the making. We'd be happy to host if everyone doesn't mind boondocking outside of Asheville.... no power or potable water, but great views, hikes, and the city is only twenty or thirty minutes away. (We have a big generator to share, if needed, and toilet facilites, and lots of space and clean mountain air.) I'll pm our phone number so we can keep in touch. Sherry & Paul

I plugged in the aircard Thursday for the drive to a Sarasota alternative energy seminar, and was happy to receive decent signal all the way. Truly, it was marvelous to drive across the beautiful Sunshine Skyway bridge connecting Pinellas and Manatee counties, and look up traffic, this forum, and information on the presenters at the seminar we were attending. I think back to my days as a kid on the farm, with a party line phone shared with several neighboring farms, and I'm just stunned. How did we get so far, so fast? We'll see next week how it works in the mountains of North Carolina. Sherry

Last night Paul and I attended a seminar on solar and wind power at the Girl Scouts' beautiful meeting and event center in Sarasota. On the wall was a colorful poster outlining the rules for the scouts during their meetings: 1. Always walk unless you're playing a running game. 2. Always have a buddy. 3. Always be nice. 4. Just have fun! Good rules for life, I think.

Now, aren't you the lucky "dawg".... You know, Paul's always asking me why I don't make biscuits like Betty. I tell him no one can make biscuits like Betty! (so far, it has worked.... probably because it's the truth. Those are beautiful biscuits.) Sherry

Nice ride! One of my uncles is a huge steam train fan. For my aunt and uncle, virtually every vacation destination involves a steam train ride. I'm sending him a link. Thanks for sharing. Sherry

Jerry43, Now that's service... sewn while you wait. Cal-Mark has some nice reviews, too. I noticed one distributor is running a sale on universal (not custom) Cal-mark covers. (Not as nice as the one you bought, I'm sure, but some at least have the opening for the door, so you can go in and out of the trailer while the cover is on. That's a nice feature. http://www.nationaldiscountcovers.com/C ... s-s/25.htm Sherry