Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Still working on the leftovers!

We’re still working on the frozen leftovers from Thanksgiving !!! All I have to do today is pin some cabbage to the curtains …

No posts since 2018? Inquiring minds want to know...

Atomic77 wrote:No posts since 2018? Inquiring minds want to know...

+1

No excuses. No good ones, anyway. I just need to change my habits and get back into some sort of routine.

Playing pool and getting better at it has been a big distraction for me. I play for a couple of hours almost every week day and am now captain of my team.

The camper build is on my mind a lot, though; I just need to "flip the switch" in my brain, and I appreciate all who are encouraging me to do so.

Did I mention the soupy (Soppressata) that my friends and I put up? 140 lbs total; 60 hot, 30 white (no paprika... I prefer to call it blonde), 30 Chorizo (with smoked paprika, and hotter), and 20 venison. We're splitting it 4 ways, so I should get about 28 sticks, and I bought a basic vacuum bag sealer setup to seal them up once they're done curing.


It is yummy!

KCStudly wrote:No excuses. No good ones, anyway. I just need to change my habits and get back into some sort of routine.

Playing pool and getting better at it has been a big distraction for me. I play for a couple of hours almost every week day and am now captain of my team.

The camper build is on my mind a lot, though; I just need to "flip the switch" in my brain, and I appreciate all who are encouraging me to do so.

Did I mention the soupy (Soppressata) that my friends and I put up? 140 lbs total; 60 hot, 30 white (no paprika... I prefer to call it blonde), 30 Chorizo (with smoked paprika, and hotter), and 20 venison. We're splitting it 4 ways, so I should get about 28 sticks, and I bought a basic vacuum bag sealer setup to seal them up once they're done curing.


It is yummy!

That sounds really good! It's very difficult to find really good salami these days. Hopefully you'll flip the switch soon!

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So just a short (yeah, right!) update with some life changes to report. After several years being reduced to per diem work, my wife Yvette scored her dream full time job working for the local tribal nation doing community outreach nutritional education. Includes some travel time to affiliate tribes. Yeah, Yvette!!!

And I was head hunted, via my Linkedin page, by a local design firm's corporate recruiter. So I don't work at the toothpaste factory anymore. Now I'm doing pure design work, no more grungy laborious maintenance work... and a big salary bump... but no more easy access to machine, weld and/or fab shops... except Karl's. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but since Karl has upgraded to the CNC lathe, and has now done the same with his CNC milling center, I'm a bit like a fish out of water, and will need to rely on him more for any small thing that is left for the camper build. Best friend, no BS.

Kind of freaky when the wife and I both have huge career changes within a month!!!

The transitions have taken a bit of our time and concentration dealing with the changes.

Last but not least, my pool team finished 7th in the spring session. Not even close to our usual standard, but we got into the regional playoffs by beating higher ranked teams, including first place, from the wild card seed. Then we won the regionals by a very close margin. Then we smoked the state cup playoffs... so we are going to Vegas (baby) in August for a chance to win the biggest amateur pool tournament in the world with a whopping $25k first prize.

It has been a very up (and a little down) month!

Long story short, once the dust settles a little, I will be even more motivated to get back on TPCE build!

Never one to do things by half KC.

Congrats on the career changes and all the other successes in life.

Me (and everyone else) are keeping any eye out for the inevitable updates on TPCE. It'll be worth it in the end

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"what would we want", "should we get a Magruder Road capable vehicle, or just something that appeals to us and worry about that later"

Me? I'd get something with a bit more cargo space.



Tony

KC,

It's good to hear from you! Life changes for one can be difficult enough, but I can't imagine what it's like for you and your wife to have two career changes in one month time period.

Unfortunately, I'm like Phil Dunfy on modern family in that I start one project, think of many others along the way, and end up not completing any of them. For me, the vast list of uncompleted projects became a drag on my morale. So, my wife and I agreed to compile a list of unfinished projects and to not start any new projects until the unfinished list was complete. I also, reluctantly, agreed to hire people to do some of the home projects I never found time to tackle. After about 4 years, we have whittled the "to do" list down to almost nothing, and recently I have found some "garage time" that I hadn't had in long time.

Hang in there. When things stabilize after the changes, maybe you can find a little time for the Poet Creek Express.

Take care,
Tom

Hey thanks guys. As I write this it's early morning Vegas time. We won our second match last night and are into the next money round! Not sure how much further we will go, but we put up a very strong effort last night. If anyone is interested you can follow the brackets on the compusport app (we are the Cue Cutters), and there will be live streaming coverage of the final round 3pm Tuesday https://poolplayers.com/live/.

Who knows, maybe we will be in there.

To update you on the vehicle news, we ended up getting a newer 2016 Jeep Rubicon Hard Rock Edition, 2 dr manual 6 spd with the 3.6 liter V6, white with black 3-piece "Freedom" hard and new never installed soft tops; and it has red accents, so I'm thinking of sticking with the winter camo paint scheme for the camper, but doing it to match this scheme... or I might go back to my original plan and do scallops, red with black pinstriping over white.




There's just 39k miles on it with a ton of nice features and after market upgrades. The Hard Rock Edition gets a bunch of nice upgrades over the "base" Rubicon, which is already nicely optioned. It has the "Power Dome" hood with actual vents in it to help keep the radiator cool when running at slow speeds in low range for hours at a time. The rocker protection is upgraded with extra tubular rub rails. It has all steel bumpers, as opposed to plastic covers, and the front bumperettes (ends) detach to provide added front wheel clearance and approach angle when running obstacles. The front bumper has a winch/grille guard bar and is "winch ready". Just pop the center panel out and add a bolt in "factory fit" winch plate. The rear bumper also appears to have a feature for adding a more robust swing out style spare tire carrier, and is closer to and attached to the rear xmbr for better departure angle and strength (whereas the std Rubicon bumper is deeper and slightly further back than the Hard Rock). I will need to order a specific receiver hitch for this model, and there is a 4/7-pin wiring option available. The Hard Rock gets a second rear tow hook, and a few changes to the dress-up trim, like black on aluminum wheels instead of gray. (Unfortunately the wheels and wheel bolt pattern no longer match the camper, nor the extra wheels I bought for it.)

As with the base Rubi, it has 4:10 (or 4:11) differential gears with lockers front and rear; 4:1 low range in the transfer case; and electronic disconnect front anti-sway bar. It will certainly climb any possible obstacle that I may care to challenge!!!

The first owner added an aFe air intake and performance muffler; it has just the right amount of burble when you get on the gas a little, but is not obnoxious at all going down the road, with no droning. It has the heavy duty floor mats; GrabBarsUSA grab bars at the font A-pillars; and some high end neoprene front seat covers over heated leather seats (and steering wheel). Not sure if I like the seat covers. The drivers side seat bottom tends to twist out of position and they feel a little squirmy when your body weight shifts around. I'll leave them on for now, but my opinion is, "why have leather seats and not enjoy them, only to have them get worn out under the seat covers?"

It has/had the 7-way (or is it 9-way?) speaker Alpine stereo option with rear deck mounted subwoofer, but the original owner swapped out the head unit with a Pioneer that has a backup camera and all kinds of connectivity that I haven't figured out yet; though I think I will be able to make my cell phone and WIFI capable GPS unit work through it off of the steering wheel controls and voice activated features. (I'm no techie, tho, more of a technology dinosaur!)

Anyway, we are loving the new Jeep and I'm trying to sell the old one w/o having to do too much more to it... only had a couple of nibbles so far.

Thanks again for staying interested in my exploits. Once I get home from Vegas, work off the time I took for the trip with very limited PTO yet, and get the black Jeep sold, I hope to get going on TPCE again with new vigor.

I hope to get going on TPCE again with new vigor.

I was just out on the Magruder road and didn't see hide nor hair of the TPCE.

T

Oh, please tell me more about your trip! That will get my juices flowing!

KCStudly wrote:Oh, please tell me more about your trip! That will get my juices flowing!

Four days and nights of looking into hundreds of miles of nothingness.



The only lights at night were from the stars and planets and a green glimmer of aurora above the Bitterroot Mountains.

It was a good thing.

Tony

tony.latham wrote:

KCStudly wrote:Oh, please tell me more about your trip! That will get my juices flowing!

Four days and nights of looking into hundreds of miles of nothingness.



The only lights at night were from the stars and planets and a green glimmer of aurora above the Bitterroot Mountains.

It was a good thing.

Tony

Wow. I'm jealous of a view like that. I can only dream of it. And I'm pretty sure that's prime Sasquatch territory right there...

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