A Great Outing

Our trailer remodel passed muster when we took it to Laughlin, NV, last weekend to attend a BBQ cookoff. We found the new recliners, storage and table meet our needs. We are really glad we had the work done.

There is lots to share about the trip but it has taken me a while to begin blogging. That is because not everything about the trip was great. We get our internet with a Verizon 4LTE Jetpack. We just upgraded the device and I hadn't taken the time to change the name and password on it. Not a good idea. Monday I checked how much data we had used in the first 4 days to the billing cycle. I was shocked to see 12G of data had been used! When I looked at how it was used, I saw it included streaming video and chatting. We don't do that. I called Verizon and all they could suggest is making sure I changed the security and the password. We have to eat the data!! You can bet I changed the jetpack settings. I also sprang for 10 extra gigs of data for the month.

The next day I wasn't able to sign in to that wifi signal on my computer. I could connect with John's iPad and our phones but not the laptop. A call to Geek Squad technicians didn't resolved it so I made an appointment to go into Best Buy on Tuesday. The fix was simple. Thank heavens I could go online later yesterday. So here I am, beginning to blog about our travel last Thursday and Friday.

Lesson of the day (or weekend), change the security on your wifi device as soon as you bring it home.

The scenery between Gold Canyon and Laughlin is beautiful and varied. First we had to deal with the traffic as we drove through Phoenix.

I didn't realize that Joshua Trees grew in Arizona. I thought they were only found in southeastern California. Wrong. There are a lot of them on the Joshua Tree Parkway between Congress, AZ, and Laughlin.

The desert and mountains along the way changed from one section to another but it was all beautiful.

(Barb, doesn't this look like a fist with a thumb up?)

There was a lot more that was interesting about this trip. But we knew right away we will be taking more short trips during our winter in Arizona. There is just so much to see.

A Test Run

We want to see how our remodeling has improved the comfort and convenience in our Airstream. How better than to go somewhere in it?

Looking for events around the area, I found a BBQ cookoff in Laughlin, Nevada, at the Riverside Casino and Hotel. It is sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society and is part of the Smoke on the Water American BBQ Championship circuit. We enjoyed attending another event like this in Kansas City in 2013 and are looking forward to this one.

I will be posting pictures from the event in the next few days, as well as our thoughts about the trailer remodel.

Look at the Changes

In June we purchased our Airstream trailer. At that time, this is what the interior looked like.

By the time we returned to Arizona, we knew the seating in the trailer wasn't comfortable and we needed to do something about it. We connected with RV Renovators in Mesa to remodel the interior. We dropped it off two weeks ago on a Friday. That Monday, they called us to come look at the space after the couch and dinette were removed.

Three days later we were back in their shop, looking at how the work was coming. The cabinets were well on their way.

And Friday, just two weeks after we took the trailer to them, the job was done! Just look at what the interior looks like now.

We love it! We finally have comfortable recliners to sit in and so much more open space. There is more storage space and it is so much more convenient than pulling up one of the dinette seats to get into the space inside.

Good job cabinet maker Curtis and the staff at RV Renovators