MAX Burner

Thanks, @jd1923 - We're having a blast up here. For some reason the system isn't allow us to upload pix... Anyhow, got down to 54F at dawn today, great sleeping temps. We keep a back window cracked open at about 3" and the bath window up - good air flow and no condensation. We've used the furnace every morning since starting off 9 days ago, FYI. The MicroAir T-stat works great for us. HA! Don't know about that! I've got to get back and start stucco and elastomeric operations on the Man Cave and main house after it cools down some - ugh! That's how I blew out my rotator cuff a few years back... Headed down to Bear Lake SP on the ID side of the lake today after we coffee-up with some Blackbeard's Delight (BRCC). I've got the annual MC ride set for mid-SEP this year, so we'll be going through some of the same awesome regions as this trip but on 2 wheels instead... Take care, Amigo and best to Chris! Cheers! A & D

We have the same 22" Black Stone rig as @John Dorrer describes above with quick disconnect for the OTT gas outlet. We keep the grease catch with its aluminum liners under the lid with the BS steam cover, a couple lodge plates, and a can of olive oil spray. The whole enchilada fits into the BS carry bag which is the last item loaded into the Tundra's bed. My bride awarded me with a folding BS cooking table for Father's Day and this current trip is its "Shake-Down" cruise - so to speak. So far, I'm loving this cooking table!

Hey, JD - We pulled into a USFS campground here in Alpine, WY. FYI, Yesterday in YNP temps ranged from low-mid 60's at 10AM to high 70's by 4PM. Today, driving, temps ranged from mid-60s to low 80s - very pleasant in the high country of ID and WY. We haven't fired up the Zone-5 Afterburner Penguin once during our trip. Mornings have been between 35F and 50F. Right now, we're sitting at the dinette with a couple citronella candles staying away from the mosquitos outside - our MaxxAir fan is blowing "in" with 3 windows fully open. The Victron is calling the space under my seat cushion 77F: It's definitely a lot warmer than we imagined, so much for the down sweaters and heavy socks we loaded up! HA! But not warm enough for the crazy loud Z-5 Penguin, IOO. Here's some snaps of the beautiful run we made today over Targhee Pass through Island Park, ID then down to Rigby, ID and over to Alpine, WY: (not a good time to upload - will follow-up tomorrow) New pix edited into the post: Road-stop lunch east of Rigby on US 26: Definitely a little room with a view: Boondocking at Alpine, WY USFS CG ($10/night) right along Palisades Reservoir: It was hard keeping the Knuckleheads from swimming then getting muddy and romping through Casablanca... Palisades Reservoir... Enjoying a glass of wine, campfire, and the sunset on the Summer Solstice... Cheers! A & D

Concur 100%, John!

Travel Summary #3 -- Day-8: Yesterday, Thursday 20JUN, Casablanca got a rest at the campground near West Yellowstone, and D, the Knuckleheads, and I hit the northern high-country of YNP. Absolutely spectacular in all regards - first it actually topped our tour of Yellowstone Lake and Old Faithful areas from the day prior (Wednesday), next the WX was phenomenal (no wind, blue skies, low-mid 60's), and tons of wildlife! (FYI: We crossed over the Continental Divide three times from the park's south entrance on Wednesday, the highest was 8,300+ feet MSL.) Following the Madison River into the park from West Yellowstone, we took the Norris cut-off at the 14-mile mark. D captured this snap of a nice 5x5 in velvet at a turn-out enroute: We stopped uncountable times as we made our way to Canyon Village, managing to get several interesting shots: The Knuckleheads liked their "pee/poop-walk" near Canyon Village and saw several new furry pals. From a safe distance, we observed a black bear and her cubs - then later a griz... Going further north into the high-country alpine area the views were spectacular. Roads were very well maintained in this region and traffic was light even though its high/peak season. We suspect most sightseers like the southern region for the lake, geysers, and Old F. We pressed-on driving on Yellowstone's Grand Loop Road (again, stopping countless times) for about another 36 miles over Dunraven Pass (8,859') past Tower Falls to Mammoth Hot Springs for another break for the boys. Enroute, we were able to grab this shot of D pointing at a massive bull buff about 150 yards away: All in all, this 137-mile loop was one of the best sightseeing excursions we've made in the Tundra. Yesterday, we topped just north of 1,150 so far since leaving home. Our lifetime-military National Park pass really came in handy so far on this adventure as we'll have visited 5 NPs before returning to NM. Today, we head off for Bear Lake which straddles eastern-most border of both ID and UT - making way for Moab (again!) by Thursday next week... More later, folks! Cheers! A & D

Travel Summary #2 - DAY-7 We enjoyed a wonderful ride yesterday driving northbound on US-191 from Jackson, WY to West Yellowstone. Decided to spend most of the day in the Teton's before entering YNP from the south along the J.D. Rockefeller Memorial Hwy. We stopped at a lookout point near the Jenny Lake Lodge for brunch in Casablanca -- fantastic! Room with a view: The marina at Jenny Lake: We managed to get in a nice 5+ mile hike in with the Knuckleheads along the lake before heading out to West Yellowstone for the night. We hit Old Faithful in time to view an eruption which has been happening roughly every 90 minutes for centuries. Checked into a campground near and just south of West Yellowstone for a couple nights. Had a wonderful dinner here last night with the "boys"... We plan to Explor ( @Patriot take note!) the northern sector of the NP today... More to come for those interested... Cheers! A & D (Magnus and Oscar, too! WOOF!)

For those interested, a short interim travel summary: So, we departed NM mid-morning, last Friday for Moab, UT. High winds and rain from Farmington to Shiprock slowed us way down, but the TV/Casablanca performed wonderfully. Moab and Arches were fantastic and we'll be staying there a few days on our return leg next week. We initially planned to spend about 5 or 6 days in Rock Springs, WY for an annual "Escapade Rally" -- but changed our minds after 2 nights there. Decided that the time away from home would be better spent exploring around the Tetons and Yellowstone. Dumping holding tanks and topping off fresh while the Knuckleheads wait for D to return... So we "pulled-chocks" yesterday AM and headed north on the US 191 (one of our most fav US HWYs) - stopped for a great lunch at a Brewery in Pinedale, WY. Smoked brisket nachos - OMG! Made our way to Jackson winding our way northbound on the beautiful US-19 following the Windriver Range and eventually the Hoback River into Jackson. The snow-capped Windriver Range in the distance below... Hoback River alongside the 191 - no wind and temps in mid-60s all day long: Harvest Hosted at the Jackson Hole Still Works - met some phenomenal young men that owned the distillery and they provided an interesting/educational tour of their very modern facility here. Our "boondock" location at the HH venue in Jackson, can you find Magnus below?: It's off to Coulter Lake, Teton NP this morning then up to Yellowstone this afternoon... More later... Cheers, All! A & D

An easy mistake, Jeff - I know, because I've done it myself... No worries, all good. HA!

The Ollie World is a small one - just like the rig!

@KfSmit - FYI, Patriot is spot on with his description and how you might consider going forward with an acquision, IMO. If you're considering a used OTT, its service records are key. However, they could be meaningless to you unless you "know" the Oliver. Suggestion: Read these forums from old to new. Learn how they're laid out by topical areas. Focus on the "Mechanical and Technical Tips", "Oliver Modifications", and "Towing an Oliver". Take your time, mull over issues, problems, and fixes that others have solved. Go back to the oldest posts you can find. Read them. Study. Understand the common challenges and opportunities many of us have experienced with this rig. You'll be amazed. The knowledge you'll gain from this endeavor will be priceless. After scanning these diatribes, you'll be able to examine service records, owner upgrades, and modifications and be able to make sense of them and determine if they were done correctly or not after surveying that particular rig. Depending on your background and experience with RV's, a certified appraiser would be money well spent. The "bones" of an Oliver are strong, as mentioned earlier, they are not over-complicated -- but they do require an understanding of routine maintenance to remain functional and safe while towing and camping. We've probably put north of 7k miles on ours since the first of the year - Casablanca has behaved remarkably. This is a consistent underpinning of the brand. They're tough. But they need attention - not neglect. Take care of your kit - it will take care of you. Do not hesitate to reach out to the owners on these forums and ask questions, seek advice, and know that you'll receive sound feedback. Good luck in your search and enjoy every moment of it - the right unit will come along at the right time, I'm sure of it because we did the same thing you're doing now 3 years ago, brother! Cheers!

Keep us posted @John Dorrer - we'll plan a link-up somewhere cool -- the aspens start turning in the Telluride area around mid-late SEP... beautiful vistas!

@topgun2 - Found the Cowboy Donut Shop in Rock Springs - it was actually featured on the "Food Network"! Very YUMMY, in deed... Headed north to Jackson on Wednesday, absolutely fantastic - western WY! Cheers!

@topgun2 - Hey, Bill; 1. OK - kinda cool story here. We checked into the Rally early on Saturday afternoon and were assigned a temporary site for the evening. High winds kept us inside for the evening, but when we took the Knuckleheads out for an early walk yesterday morning, there was another Oliver in the temp area that arrived after us on Sat. They're Robert and Bonny from WA (winter in AZ), their's is a '15 LE2 - wonderful couple. So we were assigned adjacent sites yesterday for the duration of the rally - total coincidence! 2. So far, we're the only Olivers we've seen here. There's likely north of 500 rigs here. 3. The venue is the Sweetwater/Green River County Fair Grounds/Horse racing track. Very well organized, but tight (can you spell, "s-a-r-d-i-n-e-s") 4. Headed to downtown Rock Springs later this AM - will definitely track down the donut shop! HA! I've been working on D and the boys lately to try and find their "CHILL" space - seems to be working some... Cheers, ALL!

@Half Fast Hugo - Looks great, Hugo! Awesome progress! You'll love all that space... Cheers!

Just a great excuse to extricate ourselves from killer June temps in northern NM - we joined the SKP’s club and are at their rally in Rock Springs, WY. Grilled artichokes, shrimp, and fresh garden salad for chow… Cheers All!

"Escapade Rally" goes

Our closet rod hangs from below the lower shelf with brackets having 4 x 3/8" stainless flat head screws, FYI: Hope this helps out...

Mine are definitely a tight fit, JD -- just shoved/wiggled the tanks until they yielded. Our problem is not getting the MOPEKA's to communicate with the Victron App... Does anyone have suggestions?

So... just returned from engine oil change, rear diff oil change, brake inspection, and (drum roll, please...) engine recall exam. Toyota's position (at the local dealership, that is) is that the engine recall last week was a preliminary "notification" of an impending engine recall after they determine what the scope of the recall will be, this includes service tech training as needed, parts, logistics, recall procedures (for the fix), etc. I ordered an engine oil analysis from a third party vendor as part of my service ticket this morning. Should take a few weeks for the results. Wish I could report more. ...FYI

Headed to the local Toyota dealership later this AM for scheduled oil change - will have a followup report on what their Engine Recall position is thereafter. I'm getting the old oil analyzed nonetheless.

OK... Been thinking of this for a while and with some encouragement from @Geronimo John - it's probably a good a time as ever to post this. So, last month the traveling Knuckleheads and I visited the "first come - first served" Oliver Campground for some maintenance activities. We pull in around mid-afternoon knowing there's likely to be some serious WX coming in our direction. Having never been to the much touted-about showroom and maintenance facility located in an industrial area "across the tracks" in Hohenwald, the puppies and I met all the fantastic people in the showroom and general workshop area. Josh showed us all the new upgrades to the 2024 models and Magnus and Oscar approvingly inspected every square inch of them. We were adorned with swag like one couldn't believe (albeit the coveted "Ravel Cups" were no where to be seen)... Retiring to the Casablanca as the only Oliver in the campground, we threw on some Chris Stapelton and settled in to chill for a bit. A few minutes later, a rap at the main entry hatch... "Sir, since you're still coupled, it would be advisable to bring your rig through the main gate and under the protective metal roof by the shop". Assuming he (I'm thinking it was Mike) knows the WX patterns a ton better than us - I "rogered-up" and by the time I managed to snuggle the Tundra under the awning, the hail went from pea size to "no SH!T" golfball size. Never experience hail balls like that. The noise was louder than sitting behind the JBD waiting to launch with an F-8 in full burner on the CAT! IMG_1665.MOV It lasted about 20 minutes or so... The Oliver folks literally save our Tundra from being destroyed by the storm's hail - our metal panels aren't like the thickness of trucks back in the day - they're very thin. Jason Essary came up during the deluge, explaining that they get this type of storm often and I asked about the 6 or 7 brand new OTTs in the parking lot totally exposed to the hurling ice balls like ours was... He said, "No worries, until those hail balls get to the size of frozen chickens, they'll be good as gold!" WOW! Our's was completely being pelted by the hail as Jason explained this and sure enough - no issues! We'd just like to take this moment to thank ALL of the OTT employees that were there that day, helping us save the mighty TV, our Tundra... Cheers, ALL!

I'm thinking the black option actually looks a bit better than even new white ones...

Huh? NOW you're talk'n! HA!

OK... that's just too cool for school! Just say'n... However, I'm thinking like @jd1923 - and might think about disconnecting the 7-pin hot wire (the black one) and seeing if the Girard still behaves that way.

Same here - indicated inspection was completed by "SELF".... Mailed, one and done for Hull #226.