Doug S

Great advice!

Thanks Bill! Downhill can be thrilling!

Leaving Jackson Hole to pick up hull 1491 “Carlotta” on Monday the 18th. Furthest east we’ve ever driven! Never had a truck - never had a trailer (actually had a Coleman pop-up many years ago, but was too busy to use it). Doug & Jill

I m guessing that this used to be a reasonable recommendation before there were regulated loads and we still had incandescent lights. If the internal voltage was raised into what were closer to resistive loads, both the current and the power would go up. Not the usual case anymore, where we have mostly constant power loads.

You’ve got it! The woman who owned Nora’s (her daughter), sold it to a couple of local fellows who have put a lot of effort into improving it. The food, coffee, and pizza are now very good. It still has the same small local mountain town vibe - people who live here tend to thrive on that. Hungry Jack’s, the local general store was bought out by 250 of us, and is becoming exceptional!

We actually went about 30 miles on the Natchez Trace when we went to the Oliver factory. 30 miles of mowed lawns up to the forest. Some nice turnouts. We got a book on the park and have it high on the list.

Is that in North Carolina?

It is amazing here. One reason for the Oliver is to be able to head out without much planning and do a fishing week anywhere within a few hundred miles. An amazing learning curve on the horizon.

We will definitely check. We are used to cold and weather. We live on the side of a mountain in Wilson, WY. Had a blizzard yesterday morning and a little over a foot of snow. But not in an Oliver!

Thanks - it all sounds wonderful, and it should be a fine time of year - few crowds, variable, possibly beautiful weather, and all new!

We will definitely do that - Thanks for the offer!

Never been to Kentucky, but we’ll definitely look into it!

Thanks - never heard of Hipcamp. I see they have a different business model, and some really neat looking places. We’ll definitely try some out.

Hi All - Our Oliver - Hull#1491 started production last week. We will pick it up on the 12th of March, and plan to take about two weeks to get it back home. In the middle of this adventure we have our anniversary so it should be a pretty memorable adventure. We have zero experience camping anywhere but in the West, so this is a chance to get a little more exposure to this incredible country. We do plan on going over to the Great Smokies as the photos we've seen over the years have been so compelling. After that though, we have no idea on our route back, except we should keep further south to avoid winter weather. We'd appreciate any advice or suggestions on routes to follow. We will likely use Harvest Hosts and any open National Forest or easy boon docking sites. We've got a 2023 F-250, so we shouldn't be very limited except for skills in reverse.... We also have two small (11lb) dogs who have their own unique points of view about camping, cars, and travel in general. - Doug & Jill

The one I saw in the showroom seems identical. It does open out and still serves as the emergency exit. I assume that all of the windows are double pane. I don’t remember seeing a mechanism to keep it open at any particular angle. I think it is just made to be either closed, or to easily get out of the way for someone climbing out. I didn’t notice any writing or decals on it - just a nice open view.

We were just at Oliver (New Years in Nashville)! They also changed the rear exit window to a single pane. It really is a positive change for us. With the big clear, open space without screens or any obstructions it “brings the outside in”.

Thanks for info! You guys are great!

Hi Joe - great question. We are picking up our Ollie late February ‘24 and are just a few miles away from you in Jackson. Have to get together sometime! Doug

You guys are great! It is really fun to see how important the morning joe is for everyone. (Or matcha, or tea, or….). I got into making quality shots several years ago, and I’m sure Jill now considers that in me she has a fully automatic machine. I home roast my beans too, but I’m kind of a rank amateur at that. There are a lot of great ideas here and some things I’ve never seen before, such as the Cafelat Rocket. It seems like things break down into machines with pods and those without. In order to get an espresso type of extraction, I think I need pressure, either from a machine or from leverage. Although the Aeropress provides very good coffee, I’m not sure it is concentrated enough to be compared to a shot extracted at 9 bars. I’d love some input on that though. I don’t think I want to deal with a wand to steam the milk, and I think there are a range of alternatives that will both heat and aerate the milk, so I can put that on the back burner (ha). A comment on the Moka pot. I had never used one until it showed up as THE WAY to make something similar to espresso in an AirBnb that we rented in Sardinia last year. I was amazed at the results! It is neither espresso nor dripped or percolated coffee, but it is rich and good (but we didn’t find the code to keep it from being messy)! It also seems like having an induction kettle is the way to go for general purpose water heating and tea making. (We try to make hibiscus tea regularly and can keep it in the fridge for a few days. I also appreciate the ideas for storage and locating kitchen things in the Ollie – thanks again to everyone for diving into this conversation! I’m still mulling over the great inputs and probably leaning toward the rocket, but haven’t made a decision. So much fun!

That’s interesting! I’ll dig into it today. Do you serve it cold? With any milk? I do have friends who use the smaller Aeropress, which can be pretty good - actually with good beans it is better than Peet’s, just not as “automatic”, which is also pretty nice in the morning.

Thanks for the welcome! The whole ceremony/ritual of how we each get up in the morning is pretty interesting. Taste buds are waiting, as are the dogs, to see the new light….

Hi, I’ve got an Ollie on order for late February and am having a lot of fun - some with a little stress, on making the Ollie “ours”. Also trying to start with minimum ideas for mods. We really like good coffe in the mornings, and I make Jill at least one cappuccino a day. It turns out that a nespresso with Peet’s coffee and some steamed milk will pass the test. I’m pretty sure that one will fit between the standard position of the cooktop and the sink, but then what do you do with it if you want to cook or clean? Love to hear other’s solutions/ideas. I don’t want to go to a moka pot, or a French press, or a pour-over. I think this might be one of those things that would be obvious if we actually had the Ollie. Doug

So I'm confused...Even though they are high quality and "fit perfectly", we probably shouldn't get them because they don't appear to be bulged acorn?

I’ll save a place to note the outcome.

Sounds like a serious plan with a lot of mobile site testing needed.