elite 2 Delivery photos...sorta

[Jason Foster]

TLDR: We drove to Tennessee, then to Arkansas, where it rained, got sick, drove home and forgot all the pictures.  A few bad pictures are at the bottom of this wall of text.

Our adventure started on Sunday December 17.  It was sunny and cool and stayed that way all the way to Tennessee.  The first leg of our journey was my wife's idea.  She wanted to extend this trip a little longer, so she talked me into leaving a day early with an unnecessary layover in Hot Springs, AR.  We left Longview, TX, at 9am.  Traffic was good and we made very few stops, so we got there at 1pm.  After checking into the hotel, we drove around and ate at a fast casual restaurant named NEWKS.  We have one of these in Longview, so we knew the food was good.  With not much left to do, we went back to the hotel and stared out of the window overlooking the lakes.  

Monday was cooler but still sunny and bright.  We left at 7:30am after eating the hotel breakfast, which wasn't that good, but it was free.  We made good time until my wife noticed the big blue and yellow IKEA warehouse in Memphis, TN.  Unfortunately, we stayed in there...let me clarify, we got lost in there for several hours.  Thankfully, we didn't spend much to escape.  They have a lot of very interesting stuff but most of it was about three times what we wanted to pay for it.  I really wanted an expandable light globe that looked like the Death Star, but I resisted the Dark Side.  We bought just enough to get a free bag then left.  The rest of the drive was uneventful.  After six hours, a stop at McDonalds to load and unload, we arrived at Hurricane Mills, TN.  Once we got well past Memphis, the drive started getting pretty, but not amazing.  We filled up the diesel tank for the first time here.  After checking into the hotel, I drove over to Loretta Lynns Kitchen for some greasy food, then we called it a night.

Tuesday started to get interesting.  We drove down Dyer Road and feasted our eyes on some Tennessee back country, arriving at Oliver at 7:45.  Our appointment wasn't until 8:30am but we got in early, and Hannah walked us through an exhausting power course.  I had already learned most of the systems on Oliver's website, but my wife needed the hands-on training which lasted past lunch.  My hats off to the people at Oliver.  They are some down to earth great people.  I made the right choice when I splurged on this trailer.  Lori got us squared away on the paperwork and Chase stopped by for a chat over coffee.  They had another couple scheduled for delivery later in the afternoon, so we rolled out onto the on-site campground and stayed the night in our new Oliver LE2.  It was a cold night, but we stayed quite warm.  Sadly, I failed to get pictures because I was too excited, then too tired.  We planned to get pictures when we got to my parents' house the next day.  That didn't turn out the way I expected.

Wednesday started out nice.  We slept comfortably, the trailer performed admirably, i.e. nothing was broken or messed up.  Since we didn't bring any food, we skedaddled on out and hit 412 back to Arkansas.  We slept later than usual, so we skipped breakfast and grabbed brunch at Subway.  The trailer pulled like a dream.  After big, hefty and obtrusive monsters, this thing slipped through the air like you would expect something with the name of Airstream to do, only much better.  It didn't wobble, it didn't bounce.  It is so well balanced; I hardly knew I was pulling a trailer.  Obviously, my fuel mileage suffered some and the Cummins didn't have as much pep, but I can't say enough about this.  I love it.  Sadly, the trip started to go downhill once I started going uphill at Alma, AR, and it had nothing to do with the trailer.  It started raining.

Thursday, rain. Friday, rain, Saturday, rain. Sunday, rain.  Did I mention, it rained?  We arrived at my parents' house on Thursday at 8:30pm to rain.  We parked the trailer, unhooked and got it leveled in less than 10 minutes.  I was soaked but still had a great time.  Obviously, it was dark, and the trailer was filthy, so we didn't get the pictures we had planned on getting when we arrived.  But this week gets better.  First the rain, then I couldn't get my dad's power to work with the trailer.  Thankfully, we had enough foresight to purchase the 390 AH Lithium package.  Since we had no power coming in and the solar panels were denied the glory of the sun, we were careful not to overindulge our electronic resources.  Some coffee in the morning using an electric tea kettle, (I know, I need a regular kettle that I can use on the stove.) and a little TV at night kept the tanks above 50% for four days.  

Saturday, it went from bad to worst.  My dad got sick with some kind of flu on Friday.  Then my mom got sick the next day, followed by my wife. My sister, who works at the hospital never contracted this illness, so she elected to stay and take care of them while we drove home.  Halfway through the drive on Sunday, I started feeling bad.  Though I always try to look for the silver lining in adversity, it took some sunlight once we crested the Ouachita Mountains to liven my mood. We got home after dark.  The rain had stopped but my wife felt terrible.  I got her in bed and left the trailer hooked up to the truck for two days before I got the energy up to back it in, level it and hook it to some good power food.  It was an executive decision on my part.  I monitored the batteries using the LI3 app, making sure they didn't drop too low, and I left the heat on in the trailer at 60 degrees to combat the early morning chill.  Once I got the trailer hooked up, I finally talked myself into some pictures as follows:

The first two images are of the outside northeast of my house. 

The third picture is of our messy interior complete with dog bed.

  Fourth picture me not feeling too good.

We are planning to spend a few days this weekend at Ratcliff Recreation deep in the Davy Crocket National Forest.  Though not technically its maiden voyage, it will be the first for what we bought it for: Camping, not mooch docking.  I will get pictures this time.  I promise.

[Shawna and Scott]

Welcome and Congratulations from Hull 1182!! Hope your family is feeling better.

I am sure you will enjoy your adventures in your new Oliver.  Pictures are always a good thing.

[topgun2]

Jason -

You are now an official card carrying member of the family - welcome (again).

I too thought that the "Ollie Gods" were against me when I picked up.  It had the nerve to rain and we were camped in a mud hole to boot.  Sure, I washed (as best I could) the shiny new Ollie the next day but (you guessed it) it only rained again.  At least we didn't get sick!  Hope all are back to normal by now.

Certainly you will have a great story to tell and re-tell about your delivery trip.  Hope that the "first real" camping trip goes without issue and you can settle into that lovely new Oliver.

Bill

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Jason, congratulations on getting the Ollie home safely with all the adversity, and please note… your trailer isn’t messy. 

[Steph and Dud B]

Sorry to hear you all got sick. On the bright side, that was actually a pretty good shakedown trip. You were able to test for leaks in the rain, test the furnace, get a feel for the capacity of the batteries, and get a sense of the living space available when one person is sick. Hope you've all recovered a bit now.

Yours was the first picture I've seen of the new bathroom door. Would love to see a full length shot of it if you get a chance. Also, we've been thinking of getting another dog after retirement and figured the dog bed would go where you put yours. How big is your dog (photos?) and how did it work out with his/her bed there?

Thanks for the report. Enjoy your next trip.

[Mike and Carol]

Yours is one of the most interesting pickup stories!  An adventure to remember, for sure.  Glad you're home and feeling better.  Looking forward to more pictures!  Mike

[MAX Burner]

Well deserved "Congrats", Jason!  You'll have plenty of time to post those great pics of your wonderful new OTT after all those future excursions!  Very nice rig - inside and out!

Cheers!

[SeaDawg]

Superstition has it that rain on a wedding day is good for the marriage. If we carry the equation further, with your situation, you are destined for decades of fun with your Ollie.

I'm so glad you could maintain your sense of humor throughout your difficult situations. 

Happy motoring! Enjoy the heck out of that Ollie, now that you feel better. 

[Jason Foster]

3 hours ago, Mike and Carol said:

Yours is one of the most interesting pickup stories!  An adventure to remember, for sure.  Glad you're home and feeling better.  Looking forward to more pictures!  Mike

“It's like the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. I know now folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something. That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.”  

Samwise Gamgee

[Jason Foster]

11 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

Sorry to hear you all got sick. On the bright side, that was actually a pretty good shakedown trip. You were able to test for leaks in the rain, test the furnace, get a feel for the capacity of the batteries, and get a sense of the living space available when one person is sick. Hope you've all recovered a bit now.

Yours was the first picture I've seen of the new bathroom door. Would love to see a full length shot of it if you get a chance. Also, we've been thinking of getting another dog after retirement and figured the dog bed would go where you put yours. How big is your dog (photos?) and how did it work out with his/her bed there?

Thanks for the report. Enjoy your next trip.

I need to update my signature.  I went to Tennessee to buy a 2023 model.  They gave me a 2024 for the price of the 23.  Can't complain.  The bathroom door:

I was wondering about the touch lights in a previous post, wondering if I would need to replace them.  Oliver already did it (They are much brighter than my phone imaged them:

And finally, my dog.  He is about 20 lbs or so:

 

 

 

The bed fits almost perfectly between the walls and it is out of the way.  If I remember correctly, the aisle is exactly 24 inches.  I can check that again if needed.

 

[Jason Foster]

13 hours ago, Wandering Sagebrush said:

Jason, congratulations on getting the Ollie home safely with all the adversity, and please note… your trailer isn’t messy. 

Thanks.  I guess I should have said frumpy.  Others who have posted theirs seem to have hired an interior decorator.

[Jason Foster]

14 hours ago, Shawna and Scott said:

Welcome and Congratulations from Hull 1182!! Hope your family is feeling better.

I am sure you will enjoy your adventures in your new Oliver.  Pictures are always a good thing.

We are on the mend and feeling much better.  Thanks.

[Jason Foster]

13 hours ago, topgun2 said:

Jason -

You are now an official card carrying member of the family - welcome (again).

I too thought that the "Ollie Gods" were against me when I picked up.  It had the nerve to rain and we were camped in a mud hole to boot.  Sure, I washed (as best I could) the shiny new Ollie the next day but (you guessed it) it only rained again.  At least we didn't get sick!  Hope all are back to normal by now.

Certainly you will have a great story to tell and re-tell about your delivery trip.  Hope that the "first real" camping trip goes without issue and you can settle into that lovely new Oliver.

Bill

I forgot to mention the mud hole we were in.  I put my camp rug down, but the clay soaked all the way through.  We don't wear our shoes inside, but the struggle was still quite difficult because our dog wears his "shoes" all of the time.

[Jason Foster]

3 hours ago, MAX Burner said:

Well deserved "Congrats", Jason!  You'll have plenty of time to post those great pics of your wonderful new OTT after all those future excursions!  Very nice rig - inside and out!

Cheers!

Thanks.  It is new.  I am hoping to keep it that way for as long as possible.

[Steph and Dud B]

I really like the new bathroom door. And, your dog is really cute! 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

11 hours ago, Jason Foster said:

Thanks.  I guess I should have said frumpy.  Others who have posted theirs seem to have hired an interior decorator.

I believe it was Groucho Marx who said “Any club that would have a member like me, I wouldn’t want to belong to anyway.”

…should be a way to paraphrase that into the travel trailer community. 😇

[Jason Foster]

5 minutes ago, Wandering Sagebrush said:

I believe it was Groucho Marx who said “Any club that would have a member like me, I wound want to belong to anyway.”

…should be a way to paraphrase that into the travel trailer community. 😇

That’s a saying I’ve often used. Unfortunately, I have always been an oddball. 

[Jason Foster]

18 minutes ago, Steph and Dud B said:

I really like the new bathroom door. And, your dog is really cute! 

Funny thing about that door. When the light is on in the bathroom, and dark in the camper, the door emits light and glows. The mirror doesn’t allow light through, so it looks like a glowing ring. 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

6 minutes ago, Jason Foster said:

That’s a saying I’ve often used. Unfortunately, I have always been an oddball. 

Are we related?

[dewdev]

The glowing door would make a nice picture to post, if possible.

Congrad on your new Oliver.

[topgun2]

1 minute ago, Wandering Sagebrush said:

Are we related?

Aren't we all?😉

[Liana]

12 hours ago, Jason Foster said:

please note… your trailer isn’t messy. 

Yeah, this!  HAHA, definitely NOT messy!

[Steph and Dud B]

3 minutes ago, Liana said:

Yeah, this!  HAHA, definitely NOT messy!

Oh, yeah. Note we haven't posted any interior pics of our trailer. There's a reason for that! Yours looks great.

[Liana]

18 minutes ago, Steph and Dud B said:

haven't posted any interior pics of our trailer

same.  especially when we've been in it for weeks on end in sloppy weather with our big hairy dog!

[Geronimo John]

Love your new OE2!  Congratulations.

Noted what appears to be a much more substantial door than on my 2018 model.  More than a few of our vintage doors seem to develop a sage.  Wonder if the older hulls can easily be modified to accept the new door?

GJ