After I posted this issue it went away until 3 weeks ago- probably the very day we got the 100 degree heat in Houston. It turns out my issue was both the blower motor and the resistor. The old blower worked after running the car for over 40 minutes if at all. I got a resistor from a junkyard and the blower would still only work intermitently. I got a new blower motor (Siemens brand that doesn't fit as well as the old one) from Autozone and replaced the old one but also put the old resistor back in and the air conditioning would only work on the highest setting. Coupling the newer resistor and new motor was the only way to get my air conditioning to work on all settings. Here are a few lessons learned from trying to get all this done:
1) Autozone carries the wrong blower motor resistor for a 2001 Vehicross. The resistor, which is special order only, fits only the 1999 and 2000 year models though it is labeled for a 2001. As far as they could research in the store, they don't carry a replacement for the 2001 models.
2) All late model Troopers, Rodeos, Passports and Amigos use the same blower motor resistor as the 1999 and 2000 Vehicross models.
3) From the looks of the 3 prong resistor opened up, it is difficult to tell that the resistor is actually blown. My working and semi-working resistors looked the same when the plastic cover was unveiled. Nothing looks like it needed to be soldered.
4) As an amateur do-it-yourselfer, I found it difficult and awkward to remove the bracket carlymac mentions in the thread linked before this post without totally removing (unscrewing) the glove compartment. Also, the bolts are 10mm and I couldn't get my english tools to remove them. The blower motor was difficult for me to screw into place but, again, I am a novice and a pretty big guy for that tight space.
5) I probably would have been better going to the local dealer (or Merlin) to get my parts or get the work done but they've gotten enough money from me this year and I was trying to fix my air more sooner that later.