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:

And now, an RV Technical Moment . . .

The shade in our RV skylight broke last summer. We took it down and told ourselves we’d repair it next week.

Many many weeks later we bit the bullet and restrung our RV skylight shade.

Bought new shade string on Amazon, but, unfortunately, removed the old string from the shade before taking a picture of how to run the string through the shade. Big mistake.

After trying to restring the shade for about 5 minutes, my patience expired.

Luckily, Jan was up for the challenge and figured it out pretty quickly.

I did the RV installation.

A RANDOM MOMENT . . .

I’ve walk Flirt passed this dummy several times, but her reaction never changes . . .

Blogtastic #3 – Quest for the Grail

And now, a Technical Momemt . . .

For full-time RVers the Holy Grail of on-the-road Internet service is AT&T’s Mobley. Hands down.

What’s a Mobley? The photo above says it all . . . Internet service for the car that keeps the kids quiet while you’re driving. Once again technology saves the day.

So while the Mobley was intended for use in an auto, many RVers have turned it into their primary Internet source for one very compelling reason . . . UNLIMITED INTERNET SERVICE. Yes, dear friends, UNLIMITED. Did I mention Unlimited?

It’s a little guy

However, the original “Mobley Plan” ended two years and the device itself vanished from the AT&T site in 2018. End of the line?

But then miracle of miracles happened . . . the Unimited Access Mobley reappeared this January and we were able to get one. Yahoo!

We’ve been relying on it for Internet service for nearly a month, and while they’re have been a few hiccups (see following web link), the Mobley has performed flawlessly.

And the Best of the Best News is . . . the AT&T Mobley costs $20/month (+ fees & taxes). $20. Unlimited Internet Service. There is a god.

Did I mention Unlimited Data?

Here’s the official scoop on the AT&T Mobley – Mobley Is Back.

PostScript . . . unfortunately, it’s appears that this Mobley comeback was very limited as it’s now gone only after a month. C’est la vie.