Current Location: Fort Toulouse Campground, Wetumpka, Alabama

Last week was pretty uneventful. Malcolm worked at the office from Monday through Thursday. Several people were going to be out of the office on Friday, plus it was supposed to be a rainy day, so Malcolm stayed home and worked from the trailer.

On Saturday we hooked up the trailer and stopped by the dump station to empty tanks. Then we convoyed on back down to Wetumpka to set up for a few weeks. We had doctors appointments set up for this Tuesday morning. Plus, Malcolm’s crown decided to pop off again last week, so he had an early morning dentist appointment on Monday to have it reinstalled yet again.

One trailer modification was started last week while we were in Nashville. Malcolm started removing the RV stereo and speakers that were mounted in the entertainment cabinet. We’ve been wanting to do something with that space and Malcolm came up with the idea of building a pull-out desktop into the area. Our previous trailer had one built in.

Once we got to Wetumpka, Malcolm started cutting out some of the wood to make a wide opening about five inches high. Then, it was off to Lowe’s to pick up various pieces of wood and other hardware. Malcolm pretty much finished up the entire project on Monday afternoon.

The “Work Bench”

Malcolm put together the entire drawer out on the picnic table. The drawer front was initially going to be an oak 1×6 that we bought, but we found a better alternative. The trailer originally came with a shelving unit behind the TV that was meant to hold DVDs, etc. We had pulled it out and mounted the TV directly to the wall to free up counter space in front of the TV.

We had stored the shelving in our storage unit all this time and brought it back in case we might want to use the wood in the project. As it turns out, two of the shelves in the unit were cut from one piece of wood so that joining them together end to end had the grain matching up perfectly. Lacking anything more fancy to use, Malcolm mounted a few L brackets on the back side to hold the two pieces together.

The Drawer Fully Deployed

The front of the drawer flips down to allow it to be used as a keyboard drawer. Magnetic catches on either end hold the drawer front up in place otherwise.

Drawer with Front Flipped Up

The drawer rides on soft close drawer glides, letting it easily open and close. We’ll still need to put some type of positive latch on it to keep it from sliding open while in transit.

The Drawer Closed

We’re still debating whether or not to install drawer pulls. We like the clean look as it is now and it is not difficult to open and close.

Yesterday afternoon, our son David arrived along with Callie and his new kitten, Maui.

Maui

Callie

We’ve all noticed that Callie has started showing her age (she is 14 this year). She’s also not real happy about her new little roommate, but she tolerates him.

We are all flying out to the Seattle area to visit Elizabeth and family on Thursday. The kitties are staying in the trailer and our neighbors will be taking care of them (and the trailer) while we are away.