SeaDawg

Great signs. When I was a kid in southern Minnesota, there were so many huge signs in that vein. My favorite was the giant toilet on top of the plumber's facility (small kids love scatalogical humor...). So the beet work begins in earnest... I'm glad you got the opportunity to visit Fargo/Moorhead. The Viking ship replica is just too beautiful, and so well done. I'm sure you watched the video of the launch and sailing through the Great Lakes and on to Norway. I marveled at the bravery of the kids sailing it across the Atlantic. Sherry

We spent two months this summer on the road, across Ontario, following the north shore of the lakes, along with my friend Lois. One of the things we regretted as the trip drew to an end was not sharing our digital camera downloads as we went along. As we prepared to part ways in NC, we discussed the best way to share thousands of digital images and captions. Neither of us looked forward to downloading so much data to disc, and knew it would be slow thru email... So, Lois called me tonite with her brilliant solution. She picked up a $19 8 gig thumb drive ... downloaded her photos, and is sending them on. We'll download, erase, and send back our share. Great idea. So much faster than the other available options.

Times two! What an adventure! Wishing you safe travels to the Dakotas. Sherry & Paul

Wow, can't believe you'd leave beautiful Arkansas for the Dakotas in October. But, since you're going.... I don't know which factory/processing plant you and Betty will be near, but the Dakotas have their own beauty (notwithstanding the Black Hills, everyone knows that...) In Fargo/Moorhead, you'll find three colleges, two beautiful towns, and thousands of people who fight the floods each spring. In their spare time, they build beautiful monuments to their heritage.... You'll find a replica of a Viking ship, built in a shed, that was sailed by the builder's family from Duluth, through the Great Lakes, out to the Atlantic, and to Norway and back. Also, a lovely replica of one of Norway's stave kjirkes (stave churches). A few of these medieval structures are left in Norway, kind of like upside down ships, with the poles supporting the intricate roofs. Take the time to tour the area if you can. The Scandinavian Festival (hostfest) in Minot is amazing. In this little town, literally thousands of volunteers man the state fairgrounds, and exhibits and great music go on all day... out here in the middle of the great prairie. My dad and I drove out from southern Minnesota a few years ago to meet a distant cousin from Framfjord, Norway (and a few distant cousins from the US), and had a wonderful time. Usually, the first weekend in October. Oh, then there's the Lewis and Clark trail, Mandan, and so much more. Hope you get some time to enjoy your time there. The sky is amazing. (Cell phone coverage is not.) Sherry

Well, I'd guess a lot of people might have been a little discouraged to find their campground snow-and ice-bound in June.... not you two! We're really glad you enjoyed the summer up at 10,-000 feet in Trujillo Meadows. Hope to see you soon. Sherry & Paul

JrBirdman, Thanks for sharing the manual online. That's a great resource. Very detailed, and clearly written. I think this should be made a sticky. Sherry

We have a good friend who has a general mechanic's shop... and is also familiar with trailers and electric brakes. We take ours there. Not something beyond Paul's skills, but he's right around the corner, and takes care of several of our vehicles. Honest and good, he's a rare guy. Sherry

Welcome to our fourm, gcasper.

http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/ ... ountains/1 Just yesterday, I had just mentioned to DougI how much we enjoyed the Cherohala Skyway last summer. Today, our friend who camped with us this summer sent me this link to a great website from National Geographic which lists a number of scenic drives if you click back to the home page. "Drives of a Lifetime." Thought it might be of interest to some of you, as well, in planning your camping adventures. Sherry

We have a Norcold refrigerator in our Oliver. We got a code on the panel in Missouri this summer, and pulled out the manual to check out the reason. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we had not just a one, but a three year warranty on our refrigerator. (This has changed recently, so check your manual and the Norcold website. Norcold now offers only the industry standard one year warrantly.) First two years on ours is parts and labor, third year parts only. However, to obtain the third year, you must have an authorized service center do a maintenance check, and send the receipt in to Norcold to validate your warranty. We took ours to a dealer in NC while camping there, so we'll be abe to extend the warranty on our now 18 month old refrigerator. Just thought I'd let those of you with Norcolds know. I didn't know, because I never had a reason to look in the manual till a few weeks ago. Sherry

Tom, Looks wondberful... except could we substitute chicken for the 'coon? (Every strange food is supposed to taste like chicken anyway, isn't it? Squirrel, alligator, etc. ... I personally never thought any of them tasted like chicken, though....)

Welcome to the Oliver Forums, Campolar. Sherry

Wade, Thanks for the introduction. I'm sure you learned a lot about towing in your travels. We're very glad to have you on the forum. Sherry

Welcome to our forum, certifiedmarine!

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