planning – OKIEROVER.COM

December 14, 2025December 14, 2025

Let There Be Light (Post #719) 12/14/2025

In this post I rough-in the wiring for the lights on the outside of the Big White Bus. My plan is to have external lighting that I can control from the comfort of the sleeping area in the back of the Range Rover Classic.

I have selected the lights I’m confident will provide the light I might need… setting up camp, entertaining guest and generally lighting up the exterior so I can see any threats that might be lurking while I relax in the the comfort of the sleeping area.

Three of these strategically placed on the roof rack should be sufficient lighting. There is a a minor concern about how the wiring will go from the lights back into the sleeping area. The wire I bought has a significant shield. I sorted out how they should run past the D pillar beauty panel.

I think it will work the way I have it, but if not, I will cut the beauty panel to accommodate the wires. I had a thought to run the wires through the tubing on the roof rack. The thickness of the shielding will likely prevent that. I also didn’t have black zip ties. So I’ll have to source those to complete the wiring.

That’s the gist of it for this week. I do explain my recent absence from posting videos. I have had a few weeks of medical issues that all culminated into a possible muscle tear or pull in my abdomen. I then had family over for Thanksgiving, then I reinjured myself helping Mrs. Okierover’s cousin with a tree that would have fell on his rent house. I then got bronchitis and it has been a battle to beat that. Better living through chemistry.

Congrats to the Midshipmen as they defeated the Cadets of Westpoint in a thrilling football game. My first Army/Navy game was on TV when I was probably 11 years old (1975, Navy won). I had just begun to enjoy college football. I was watching the game on my black and white TV in my room. My dad walked by and I asked, “Who do we route for in the Army Navy game?” Dad said, “Always Navy.” That should have been obvious but I was only eleven and didn’t have a full grasp of the universe at that age. I know, shocking.
My dad served in the Navy when, “Ships were wood, and men were iron.” That was 1947-1950. Sailors learned knots and morse code and nautical things subjects no squids today learn. My uncle also served with my dad on the USS Wiltsie. Uncle Bob lied about his age and joined when he was 16 years old. Epic. Dad was 19 years old. They fought the Chinese communists during the Chinese Civil War.

Thanks for all the emails and messages checking on me. I’m getting better every day.

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

June 9, 2025

Planning the Interior of my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #706) 6/9/2025

In this video I talk about some of our crazy Oklahoma weather and what I’m planning for the back of the Range Rover Classic Overlander.

In short, mostly because I think you’ll enjoy the video, I’m planning a few things. First among them is how I’ll be wiring up some lights I have planned. Next is the bed box with the cliche drawer to hold my cook stove and some cooking gear and maybe even some clothes or whatever.

A second battery is definitely going to happen too. I’ve been making a list of all the items that would be supported by a second battery. I think you’d be surprised at all the things you might want to have on your overland rig that takes up precious battery juice.

Here’s the list so far:

Interior lights
Exterior security lights
Phone
Cell phone booster
Tablet
Camera batteries
Drone batteries
Refrigerator
Cooking light
Diesel or Propane heater
Hot water heater
Water pump

Are you surprised? I was! The more I think about it the more items I come up with that would be supported by the second battery.

Electric blanket

See! Watch a couple hundred hours of YouTube (like me) and I bet you’d come up with a few more.

Tire inflator

See! There I go again!

Tune in to the channel and follow along. You never know, I might come up with another one!

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Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

April 7, 2025April 7, 2025

Too Cold to Paint, Planning What’s Next on my Range Rover Classic Overland Rig (Post #698) 4/7/2025

Third Winter hit this weekend.

It was too cold to paint. Temps in the forties in my shop. I didn’t feel like getting bundled up to lay on my back getting paint all over me.

Call me lazy, that’s fine, but not super fun for me. So I’m going to tackle the sealing of the seams with paint, seam sealer, and truck bed liner next weekend. I’ll get it as “protected” as I can.

In this video I also talk about what is coming next. Call it a little planning. I have a lot of wiring to run. Lights for the interior and exterior and wiring for a battery management system. I need to plan for a DC to DC converter and all the magic electronics that make everything work well together.

I also allude to some fun history in the story of Tuck’s Ferry across the Red River (RedRiverHistorian.com).

I also mention some of my current storage solution in the U.S. G.I. Aluminum Medical Transport Chests. If you’ve followed for any time, you’ve seen me talk about the.

This is going to be a lot of coin to drop. So getting the wires run will require some planning. I’m certain I’ll screw this up and have to re-run some of this. But that’s part of the fun, right?

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

August 6, 2014May 16, 2023

Bad Highway Planning and You (Post #508) 8/6/2014

Ever wonder why certain places on the highway? I know I do. My friend Dave showed us a place on the 405 in Los Angeles where the traffic just slows down or stops. Traffic engineers have studied it and can’t sort out why.

I-35 in south Oklahoma City has its spots too. But there are NO mysteries. It’s easy to see why the pile ups happen where they do. The N. 12th street on-ramp was once such spot. Before it was corrected the on-ramp was south of an off-ramp on the other side of the highway to Shields Blvd.

You can see it here in its current CORRECTED state.

The on-ramp to I-35 (red) was moved north of the off-ramp (blue). This stopped people from entering the highway and trying to cross three lanes to just immediately exit on the Shields off-ramp. Instead of just driving a mile north on city streets and then on to Shields the inconsiderate drivers caused several traffic jams for decades. Including the first time I was hit in my Range Rover. I was rear ended due to the traffic jam caused by this situation.

The state finally studied the highway there and moved the on-ramp so that drivers could not cause the problem. It was a long time coming. But today the slow down there is due to traffic two miles up at I-240.

There are a few other on ramps between Norman and Oklahoma City that were designed back in the 1960’s and were never intended to carry the amount of traffic they do today. Traffic backs up there every day.

I came up on another on-ramp that was not corrected when they widened I-35 ten years ago. The traffic piles up after the S.E. 15th Street on-ramp. INCONSIDERATE drivers enter I-35 and then attempt to cross four lanes of traffic to exit on to I-40 west bound.

You can see it here.

The pile up happens once traffic reaches critical mass just after 7:30am. I-35 and I-40 are called “The Crossroads of America”. I-40 is coast to coast and I-35 is Canada to Texas. This intersection needs a multi-million dollar over haul. The confluence also has a rail spur and a river to add to the fun of correcting the horrible traffic in this area.

I got to enjoy a lovely hour-long traffic jam the other morning. It was the perfect storm.

Poor highway planning.
Oklahoma rain.
Inconsiderate driver.

The road is poorly designed. Nearly anything can cause an issue. Any driver that doesn’t have good driving skills or as I often imagine doesn’t have the confidence they should to drive in the rush hour traffic.

Only God knows why Oklahoman’s can’t drive when it rains. They can’t drive when it snows either. I believe it is a confidence issue. That and most Oklahoma students do not understand enough Physics to know what their cars and tires can and cannot do.

An lastly an inconsiderate driver, who just pulls out on to the highway. Slows down and starts meandering their way to the far left lane on less than a mile of very congested roads. Add in a little testosterone and a kid who thinks they would make a good addition to the TV show Street Outlaws and you have a recipe for disaster.

You can see every lane is jammed. When I got up to the actual place the accident occurred two OKC fire engines has been dispatched and an ambulance.

I was only delayed 25 minutes. But the highway at one point was backed up all the way into north Moore causing more than an hour delay for many thousands of drivers.

You can see the pickup had obviously spun and hit the center wall. At least two other cars were also impacted. I don’t know who the ambulance was for, none of the cars were damaged enough to look like someone needed to be taken away by ambulance.

Unfortunately for me if they started TODAY this intersection, it would be completed just a few years before I am eligible to retire.

So what’s the take-away. Be a considerate driver. Find routes that don’t cause others to back up or cause them to stop while you futz your way across four lanes. It’s just bad manners.

Be safe out there, thanks for reading, take a driving course, and Happy Rovering.

March 23, 2014May 16, 2023

Sometimes Things Don’t Go Your Way (Post #473) 3/23/2014

I once blogged that every time I touch the Range Rover something goes wrong. Well yesterday was no exception. Mr. Fisher and I were sorting out our two camping kits. We were trying to determine how much gear we were going to be hauling to S.C.A.R.R. We determined that we had a fairly large amount of kit. Mostly lots of pieces that don’t necessarily fit efficiently in the back of the Range Rover. Let’s be honest, it takes a lot of gear to make two 50-year-old guys comfortable for two days of camping.

I decided it was necessary to remove the 70% seat out of the back. I know Bill Burke removes his 30% seat to house his ARB refrigerator. So with that idea in mind I went to remove the seat. Basically it is four 10mm bolts and the seat comes out. I flipped the seat up and started to work on the bolts. It took some figuring to sort out they were 10mm. I took 10mm sockets to use but my 12 point socket in 3/8ths didn’t turn the nut. I wondered what size the nut was if 10mm didn’t work. Turned out my 12 point socket was stripped. That’s disappointing but not a show stopper. I had a 10mm in 1/2 that was 12 point and narrow walled. That narrow wall was very necessary because the nuts are very close to the seat bracket.

I got the socket set and made one turn and bingo, the bolt breaks. Continue reading “Sometimes Things Don’t Go Your Way (Post #473) 3/23/2014”

March 10, 2014May 16, 2023

Gearing Up for SCARR, Part One (Post #459) 3/10/2014

I’ve been getting my kit together for S.C.A.R.R. the past few weeks. I am going to be putting up a few posts about new, new-old, and old kit for the trip.

Coleman Cooking Stove

I’ve been reading posts from Land Cruising Adventure. Karin-Marijke, Coen, and their Toyota Land Cruiser BJ45 have been overlanding since 2003. An amazing fete’ if you ask me. So amazing, Expedition Portal named them Overlander’s of the Year for 2013. I subscribe to Overland Journal and love to read and see the adventures. Their reviews of gear each issue and in their yearly Gear Issue are most of the reason I am a subscriber.

They have a great site and I highly encourage you to go over and visit. In a recent post they were featured in Overland Journal’s gear issue. Overland Journal asked Overlander’s what was their “Most Valued” gear. Karin and Coen picked their Coleman Camp Stove.

After reading their post about their Coleman stove I had to go find the one my dad left to me. It had been in the attic of the Newcastle house since we moved back home from Guam in 1971. I think my dad used it once on a hunting trip with my Uncle Ben in the early 1970s, but I need to confirm that. I have my dad’s Coleman Lantern too. I know we used it a few times in the early 1970s when our power got knocked out from some blizzards and a thunderstorm or two. It’s safe to say it hasn’t been lit since 1975. Continue reading “Gearing Up for SCARR, Part One (Post #459) 3/10/2014”