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The Road Ahead

The Road Ahead 2019 (click on map to enlarge) — map created using RV Trip Wizard

We’ll be starting a Western US & Canada tour this coming Monday. As of now, it looks like we’ll stay at about 40 campgrounds in Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada.

Highlights of our trip over the next several months will include . . .

• Grand Canyon National Park
• Yosemite National Park
• California Wine Country
• Oregon & Washington Coasts
• Banff National Park
• Glacier National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Zion National Park
• Lake Mead

Stay tuned!

Our Room Is Done

Finished Room Front

Finished Room Rear

After almost 2 months of continuous work, the exterior of our park model addition is complete. This Winter or next Spring we’ll finish the interior.

Some photos from the final days of construction . . .

A Typical Cold Morning

Patio Door Delivery

Table Mesa Jeep Jamboree

Our Desert Trip (click on map to enlarge)

We particiaped in the 4th Annual Table Mesa Jeep Jamboree at the end of February. Yes, I know, we’re a tad bit late posting about our adventure, but we’ve been working on our park model addition (We’re done! More later.)

Anyway, we arrived at the Boulder Canyon Campground on Thursday, February 28 and set up camp.

Boulder Canyon Campground

REGISTRATION

Registration for the Jamboree was at 5 pm on Thursday night, so we decided to get to the registration site a little early.

However, it wasn’t early enough as we ended up at the end of line of over 100 Jeeps . . .

The Line

While we waited in line, I checked out the Jeeps . . .

. . . and Jan talked with some Newbies . . .

DAY 1 TRAIL RIDE

We opted for the easiest trail with 11 other Jeepers . . .

It was a beautiful morning . . .

Box Canyon

Lunch

CASTLE HOT SPRINGS RESORT

Castle Hot Springs Resort

To me this was the high point of our trip. This desert resort first opened in the early 1900’s. A fire destroyed it in the 1970’s, and this October it will reopen.

Rooms start at $660 a day.

Castle Hot Springs Website

Castle Hot Springs History

Our Jeep trip ended when we reached Lake Pleasant.

Northern Tip of Lake Pleasant

About that Porch Addition . . .

We’ve been working on our new room addition for about 3 weeks which is the reason for my lack of blog posts (until lately).

At first the progress was fast — probably because I had a lot of energy, but slowed down after I put up the three frame walls.

Here’s a photo log of those 3 weeks . . .

THE WEATHER HAS BEEN LESS THAN PERFECT

While it’s not hot, it has been rainy and now cold (for us).

SUPPLIES ARRIVED

For a small room, a fair amount of lumber is required. As it turned out, I under-estimated my 2 x 4 needs by about 50%.

Lumber Delivery

This is where our Jeep came in handy . . .

MOVING & EXTENDING & FRAMING

Moved the Porch Storage Drawer 1 Foot Over

Extended the Floor by 1 Foot

Framed All Walls + Stairs

ODDS & ENDS

The “minor” tasks can chew up a lot of, if not the most, time and energy . . .

Waterproofed Roof Post

Braced a Wall

Pre-Painted Exterior Wall Panels

CLOSET ROOF UP

The small roof that covers our room addition’s closet was next to go up. The roof was in two parts — each part 3/4″ plywood covered with an RV “rubber roof”. Actually, it’s some sort of synthetic material called Superflex. The Superflex is glued onto each sheet of plywood using a water-based adhesive that we’re pretty sure is Elmer’s Glue.

Elmer’s Glue?

Anyway, we used a paint roller to spread the Elmer’s Glue all over each plywood sheet, then used a padded squeegee to flatten out the Superflex and remove all the air bubbles. For the most part it worked out ok.

Get Those Air Bubbles Out

After letting the Elmer’s Glue dry for a day, we next attached a brown-colored water drip edge.

Roof Drip Edge

Finally, both sections of the rubber roof are fastened to the roof rafters.

Closet Roof Attached

ONE WALL UP

After attaching the rubber roof, next step was to put up the closet’s exterior panels.

Closet Wall Finished (except for trim)

WHAT’S NEXT?

The door, sliding door, and two windows will arrive over the next month.

So I have to prepare a frame for each window, put up the room’s roof, and sheath the remaining two walls.

RANDOM MOMENT . . .

BLACKPINK in Our Area

A Public Service Announcement . . .

Catch the Fab Four’s USA TV debut on Stephen Colbert’s :ate Show on Monday, Feb 11th and/or on Good Morning America’s Tuesday morning show.

And, finally, Blackpink is a headliner at this year’s Coachella, April 12th & 19th: