Wandering Sagebrush

I’m so thankful we have a composting toilet, but if we didn’t, the tote would go (empty and well secured!) on the top of our storage box

I’m not sure how many will respond, but is there a way to see results as they come in?

Hi Eric, welcome aboard. We started looking at Olivers about the same time they started showing up as a topic on Air Forums. We’ve had two Airstreams, a ‘98 Safari 25’ 6 sleeper, and a ‘12 Flying Cloud 25’ FB. Even though the AS trailers are well made, I believe the OTTs are much better. What got us to finally make the move was difficulty getting the Airstream into the RV barn. With an off camber incline, and only 6” clearance on each side of the door, not to forget snow and ice… it was nerve wracking. No regrets.

CRM, thank you!

Thanks Mossey, I have both panels of now.

John, thank you!

Hell bent for leather Life in the west…

I’m packing up for a couple of days of father daughter camping, with the curb side in direct sun. There’s clearly a cooling fan running, but I’m not certain if this is a Dometic feature of one added by the previous owner. It’s a bit on the noisy side. Does anyone know if the fan is standard? I did deploy the awing to get it shaded.

JD & Scott knew the secret Grease Monkey handshake. Lifting pressure off the suspension did the trick. My thanks to both! 🙏

I found a PDF for the Dexter Axle Parts Catalog. Which might be handy to cross reference Dexter part numbers to NAPA and other manufacturer’s numbers.

JD, thank you. One is in fact a front zerk, the other sits on top of the Equalizer. I’ll give the front zerk a try with a raised wheel.

I took Roadrunner in to Les Schwab’s tire shop in Baker City to have the bearings packed. While I was waiting at the local breakfast spot, the service tech called and told me that the grease looked brand new, even though the previous owner told me there were between three and four thousand miles on them. Kudos to the tech and Les Schwab! I went ahead and had them packed again to establish a baseline. Here comes the question… I asked to have the suspension lubed and was surprised to learn they no longer did that, so I did it myself today, except for two zerk fittings that wouldn’t take grease. I pulled the one that was easy to get to, and cleaned it to no avail. I didn’t probe the grease in the spring bolt, but don’t suspect it was dried solid, so I’ll pick up a few zerks and replace the bad ones… does anyone have a good way of keeping them protected and clean/free of road dirt?

Another secret incantation to remember! I would not have thought of that, thanks for sharing!

I haven’t yet removed the box from our Ollie, but I’m estimating it to be under 50 pounds. It mounts to the two receivers shown in your photo with the bike rack.

Here’s the back of our Ollie.

John, I sent you a PM with the solution that the previous owner devised for our Oliver.

I did a quick pop up truck camper trip into Succor Creek and Leslie Gulch on the east side of the Owyhee river in Oregon, and was surprised to see this trailer camped on a pullout between those locations. Not a place I would have picked because of the steep slope behind the truck and trailer. To be honest, until I saw the Bowlus up there, I wouldn’t have considered taking the Oliver on roads like that. They’re bumpy, rocky, with flying gravel and some washboard. BTW, their top model starts at $319,000.😳 Would you take your Oliver on those kinds of roads?

Kate Wolf left us far too soon. Note the great guitar work of Nina Gerber.

I was getting ready to order another camera or two that works with my existing Voyager system, only to find out the system is obsolete, and there are caveats about using the same part number camera on obsolete monitors. I’m thinking of buying a complete system, with several cameras for the truck, popup camper, and the Ollie. Does anyone have recommendations for good systems, or for systems to avoid? Thanks in advance!

Plastic chisels are also handy. Here’s a set similar to the one I bought.

Another beautiful tune by Molly and Jay…

IMO, that is normal for a lead acid or AGM battery (batteries). I don’t have experience with lithium batteries, so can’t opine.

One of the most beautiful, yet sad tunes ever written. Ashokan Farewell, the haunting melody in Ken Burns’ The Civil War.

A bit of Dutch Country

If I were to buy another camp stove, which I am not going to do, it would be a Partner Stove, probably their 18” two burner. The REI aluminum roll up table works well. I don’t know how it happened, but I ended up with a collection of backpacking and camping stoves, including the Coleman white gas stove my parents had when I was a little guy.