August 28 thru September 4.
The crew (four of us) flew in from different places. One of us rented a truck and purchased groceries ahead of the rest. Arriving late in the evening at the Ruby Armstrong Community center where we would stay, we were greeted with 95 degree temperatures and a nonworking AC. Sleeping bags and pads on the floor. A sweaty night. The kitchen had been updated with more cooking devices and utensils than in past visits, all available for our use. By the second night the AC was working and we were able to sleep more comfortably.
Thursday
We began work the day after arriving. Our assignment had been to patch plaster, paint, repair a faucet in one bathroom and replace a damaged vanity and sink in another bathroom. As is typical with these trips, the task list rapidly grew as we uncovered previously unknown issues. We realized that we would need to replace missing and damaged trim and moulding around the house. To minimize materials costs we re-used existing materials wherever possible and purchased only what was needed.
Friday
Three trips to hardware/lumberyards later, we had solved the trim and moulding issues, were able to get repair plumbing parts and a vanity with top. Unfortunately the new vanity would not fit in the spot of the old one. We would have to replace the vinyl floor and underlayment. Below that we found a broken up ceramic tile floor, and below that was a rotting subfloor. We decided to remove it all and replace the whole bathroom floor.
Saturday
After a few hours under the house repairing floor joists, we installed the new subfloor. Working on a mobile home has the advantage of easy access underneath. We were warned about snakes but did not encounter any.
Sunday
We spent Sunday in Memphis at the Civil Rights Museum. Followed by dinner on Beale St. We left one of our group at the Memphis airport who would fly out early the next morning for home. They elected to stay over night at the airport. Back in Jonestown we surveyed another site to plan a future work trip.
Monday, Tuesday
We completed the last of the painting and moulding work. We installed the underlayment and vinyl floor in the bathroom, fixed some plumbing, and finally completed the vanity installation we'd originally been assigned. Cleaned up the mess we'd made throughout the week.
The remaining three of us flew home from Memphis the next day.
It seems to be the nature of these trips that we work overtime after uncovering many unexpected issues. We have to adjust and move to finish the job before we quit town. Our workdays often get longer until the day we leave.
However, this trip had many wonderful moments with the community in Jonestown. We attended Jonestown Days on Friday and Saturday, meeting the locals, sampling the local cuisine and generally enjoying our evenings. One night a small crowd showed up where we were staying, and we had a party on the front porch. Some of us attended a local BBQ. We met more people (mostly family of the people we worked for) and were told about the other sights we could see when we return.