Anyway, Joyce is busy trying to get the house in order after moving back from Ft. Smith and trying to get clothes and kitchen stuff lined out for the trip. I'm trying to get Lil Pumpkin ready while mowing and trying to get the garage and workshop cleaned up. We ordered 2 tons of wood stove pellets and have to take delivery before we leave. In the meantime, I've got to clear a spot in the center bay of the garage to stack it in. That means moving all my "good" (to be interpreted "mostly scrap") lumber. Plus, we still haven't unloaded our sofa. It's still in the trailer along with a few other items we moved from Ft. Smith.
A couple of the things we have accomplished...I built a "box" to replace the passenger seat directly behind Joyce's front seat. It will house my new Tailgater satellite TV antenna while on the road. We'll be able to watch MSNBC and CNN while camping in the desert somewhere. Anyway, I built that and I designed a bug screen for the rear doors so we can leave them open at night. Since a lot of the campgrounds out west don't have electric power available for A/C. Of course, a lot of the campgrounds will be in higher elevations where A/C is needed anyway. But, Joyce sewed up the screen (hemmed and Velcro strips added) and it fits well. Maybe when in Glacier National Park the only disturbance we'll incur from the monster north mosquitoes will be them whapping against the screen (fingers crossed).
Oh yes, a few more things I've accomplished in Lil Pumpkin. I added a shelf in the wardrobe. Joyce uses the wardrobe for added kitchen storage and she needed more shelving. Then I added some edging to her shelves above the cooking area. The edging sticks up above the shelf a 1/4" to help keep stuff from falling out and bombarding her when she opens the overhead cabinets. Stuff does tend to move around while bouncing down the road. I also added an expansion rod near the ceiling, across the area above the bed. Joyce is going to make some special "saddle bags" to hang on some hangers to serve as catch-alls for bed time...eye glasses, Kindle, TV remote, etc.
Then the best thing is the dining table. The original table was a large heavy tabletop that sat on a post in the middle between to two mid coach seats and virtually blocked access around it. And, it stored way back under the sofa. We tried a couple of folding tables, but neither was satisfactory. Then my "inventive" mind went to work and I designed a table that utilizes the original table post and the plastic tabletop from one of the folding tables plus an old thick nylon (plastic) cutting board of Joyce's, some plywood and a few nuts and bolts. We now have a table with some articulation that allows us to re-position it in several ways to gain access around it and to easily position it to eat from. I'll try to post some photos of it later, but it will be hard to understand how it works without actually operating it. Joyce still doesn't fully understand how it works. :) Now we're waiting on a folding stadium seat. It will go on the antenna "box" to replace the passenger seat we took out and that's where I'll sit for eating or, perhaps writing our blog.
