RENOVATIONS ARE UNDERWAY; EXPLORATION BEGINS – PHOENIX, AZ

Friday’s agenda was short, but the items crucial: order our new day/night shades and windshield wrap, then head to RV Renovators to drop off our new TV and Blu-Ray player.  We were anxious to see what work (if any) had been done.

Optimism turned to dismay at Blinds Co, where we were told that the manufacturer of the windshield wrap (three huge pieces of light-colored, pleated fabric that cover our windshield and side cockpit windows when closed) no longer uses a blackout fabric lining.  What good is that??  RV parks are notorious for bright streetlights or security lighting at night, so blackout lining is a must for us.

George, our salesman, suggested electrostatic cleaning, allowing us to recondition our current dusty, stained wrap.  After some thought and further discussion, my initial negative reaction softened.  George felt the fabric would clean well.  He promised to cut the trailing threads off the bottom and seal the frayed seam with a heat gun, and to replace/strengthen some of the little hooks that are borderline usable.  For $200 less that the cost of new curtains, the price was right, so we decided to go that route.  If we aren’t satisfied, we’ll do some online research and replace the wrap later – but can continue to use the cleaned curtains until then.

The couch is gone from the front slide.  That big black bar is the slide mechanism from the bedroom, temporarily housed in the living room.	The driver’s and passenger’s seat have been removed, along with the lower part of our dashboard, which is covered in carpet (soon to be NEW carpet).

Window coverings ordered and deposit made, we headed down to the road to RV Renovators and got an eyeful!   Scoopy was torn apart – and looked grand.  All of the old carpet was gone, revealing the plywood floor.  With relief, we saw no indication of dry rot (we’ve had a few leaks in the past).  In the bedroom, a new carpet pad had been put down, and the raised portions of the floor were already covered with the new carpeting.  Fun!

For those of you interested in the renovations, I have included some photos of the construction site.  :)   In addition, here is a link to Judy’s blog, Travels with Emma.  Judy recently had her RV refrigerator removed (propane/electric), replaced with a household (electric only) refrigerator – a change contemplated by more and more fulltime RV’ers since a major RV refrigerator manufacturer has issues FOUR recalls over the past couple years (two in the past few months).

I found the process very interesting, and Judy found a wonderful place to do the job (in Louisiana, a state we always look forward to visiting).  She has several subsequent posts discussing the work – what a job!

With all of our purchases finalized and the renovations moving along, we felt ready to turn our attention to our new surroundings.  The Phoenix Downtown Farmers Market – open from 8 am until 1 pm on Saturday - is just five blocks from our temporary home, so we walked down to take a look this morning.  It is a middle-sized, open air market with one permanent retail building – The Urban Market - that is open daily. 

The variety and quality was excellent – cheeses, organically grown meat, a couple of bakery vendors, plenty of fresh produce including tomatoes, a few craft and jewelry vendors, and several stands serving prepared foods.  I breakfasted on a pork bao, a steamed bun filled with chopped, sweet and sour pork.  Odel had fried catfish, hash browns and a biscuit.  Certainly not our usual bran flakes and soy milk!    :)

I planned to hold my purchases to a minimum (one fennel bulb), but was seduced by a display of six different kinds of fresh, fresh, super-fresh greens.  We came home with three huge bunches: curly mustard, kale, and young collard greens… aka dinner!

After sautéing the greens in olive oil with chopped garlic and crushed red pepper, they went into the crockpot with two small smoked turkey legs and a cup or so of chicken broth.  Five hours later, we shredded the turkey meat and stirred it back into the crockpot along with lemon juice and vinegar.  Odel whipped up some cornbread muffins and dinner was served.  Nirvana.  :) 

The recipe is here, and in the recipe archive (left hand column) if you are interested: Greens, Main or Side Dish.