WalkerFiend

Well, I can attest to the place filling up on weekends!  The empty loops I'd mentioned above, we're both full by last night.

i will add...  We basically bought our camper just so we could come to Disney and stay att he fort.  We've been back three years in a row.  We will probably do a beach next year, but I have no doubt we'll be back here again.

3 hours ago, WalkerFiend said:

Interesting diacussion about full or not on weekdays...  We did some looping last night on our way to/from the marina.  Maybe it's because schools are getting out now: At least in the loops I've visited so far , there aren't a whole lot of empty sites (my perception.) 

I was just thinking back:  In both of my past trips to the Fort at basically this same time of year - there have been entire loops left empty/closed. I have not seen one closed down or empty this year (well, not so far).

Just observations here.  I'm only on my third trip, and they've all been at about this same time... It seems a bit more full this time around.  

Update:  I found the empty loops tonight!  1000 is completely empty (not blocked or anything, just 100% empty.)  Also in 1100 there were only two occupied sites.  

The other loops we visited were fairly, or completely full.

Interesting  discussion  about full or not on weekdays...  We did some looping last night on our way to/from the marina.  Maybe it's because schools are getting out now: At least in the loops I've visited so far , there aren't a whole lot of empty sites (my perception.) 

I was just thinking back:  In both of my past trips to the Fort at basically this same time of year - there have been entire loops left empty/closed. I have not seen one closed down or empty this year (well, not so far).

Just observations here.  I'm only on my third trip, and they've all been at about this same time... It seems a bit more full this time around.  

1 hour ago, Timsmith7 said:

Hey Walkerfiend, im at 1458, just look for the Mickey Ear RV. Stop by and say hi.

We're in 1447. Hi neighbor. :)  I'll get my shorty ears out there tomorrow. 

14 minutes ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

We are starting to get some higher gusts of wind in the 30-40 mph range as more bands move through. Nothing bad, but if I were you I'd hold off on awnings or any outside set up till tomorrow.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Yah.  I am soooooo happy to be here and not on the roads anymore! We got our Golf Cart, and then the deluge started in earnest.  All our  outside stuff will have to wait for morning. 

The Bus driver reminded us that the comfort stations serve as storm shelters in the event of really nasty storms.

And, it seems I have a leak someplace around my rear door.  Meh..

10 minutes ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

Wasn't weather a major factor on your last trip? If I remember correctly it was on the return home portion. Have fun even rain at Disney can still be magical. 

Two years ago on our first trip it seemed like it rained non- stop.  Last year was awesome.  Hot, but awesome, despite some grimlins. 

Were on it!  It's vacation. 

10 minutes ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

Wasn't weather a major factor on your last trip? If I remember correctly it was on the return home portion. Have fun even rain at Disney can still be magical. 

Two years ago on our first trip it seemed like it rained non- stop.  Last year was awesome.  Hot, but awesome, despite some grimlins. 

Were on it!  It's vacation. 

Woot!  It poured rain as we hit the exit.  Let up in time for me to pull into 1400 loop.  We're home for a week!  Now off to fetch the golf cart before it starts up again. 

So far so good!  We're stopping for some early lunch before we hit I4. 

Looking at the radar it looks like we made a good bet so far. :)

We have a poncho per person per hour...  ;-)

16 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Looks like the worst of it will be passing north of the Fort.

Yah...  I'm thinking I get up and out of here early and try to get to the Fort earlier.  Hope it stays on its route north.

Sigh..  Well...  On the bright side I know how to start my Trip report now!  :-). Wish me luck folks.

Uh...  I just pulled into Savannah for the night and learned of TS Colin...  I'm thinking I can leave out of here early tomorrow and make it to the Fort before the worst comes...

Should I?

If I stay here (assuming I can get an extra day). I'd just end up right under the thing...

If I make a run for it and head on to the fort, will they still be open?  

I kinda hope they keep the Modems as an option of those few that can't use Wireless, but I have to agree with those that say they'll be eliminated either all at once, or fairly soon.  It's just safer to assume this will happen sooner than later (IMHO.)

Users (like bhall) *might* be able to use a device such as this one I found on Amazon:  Check out/search for  NETGEAR Universal N300 Wi-Fi to Ethernet Adapter, or similar device.   I've never used one, but it seems like it might work.

23 hours ago, keith_h said:

One thing to keep in mind about using your wife's mac or your iPad and that is once you use it for work you have given full authority to your employer to legally access that machine and allow them to decide to do whatever they want with the data on it. People have had their contacts files erased on the basis that they might use them with a competitor even though the were strictly person contacts. I also know of a number of companies that will force employees using their personal machines to still install corporate spyware, etc meaning they can look in on your personal habits too. It's best to keep work and personal usage separate and let your employer provide the equipment used for work. This way there is no question about who owns what pieces of data on a machine when the time comes to separate (no matter the reason).  

I worked for the company that made those big and small mainframes and worked from home using my WiFi network to the company VPN between 1999 and retirement in 2010. I wasn't the only one working from home or wirelessly via the company VPN. I was accessing financial institution systems, including the Fed, remotely from open networks for years in order to support and debug our OS software so the argument of no wireless access doesn't hold a lot of water. All I can say is I've seen and awful lot of confidential information in system dumps and traces that all flowed over my wireless network.

Not all BYOD setups are equal. 

None of my employers information or other property ever resides on my (or wife's) PC.

True, on my phone or IPad their app allows them to remotely wipe anybody their data that the app might have within their "Sandbox", which does not extent to my own personal data  

Your Experiencre and company policies may vary.

Do we have WiFi yet?  It's Monday!  :)

8 hours ago, bhall said:

I am supplied an encrypted laptop where the wireless adapter has been disabled through the bios.  I of course cannot access the bios as I'm not privy to the password :).  Anyway, after 5 minutes of booting up I can then connect to the VPN.  Once connected to the VPN, then all the applications installed locally on my machine work, like iTera, Netsupport, Outlook, etc.  They hired a new VP who was supposedly a "God" on the AS/400 system and I will be assigned to him now in the bank hierarchy.  I've been informed by my current and soon to be old supervisor that changes are coming to "make my job easier" and no that doesn't include wireless :). 

After 6 years there I make more money at night from the bank then my regular 9-5 job.   I have a pessimistic suspicion of what is going to happen is they will be automating processes and eliminating other processes knocking the time it takes from 4-6 hours down to 1-2 hours a night.  Therefore reducing my pay drastically.  My wife works for the bank as well (16 years) and she was informed in January that by June her job may be eliminated as well.  So, we will see.  I might be worrying about the need for a modem unnecessarily if these 2 things with the bank happen :) 

I remember having my encrypted corporate laptop.  Between that, their internal spyware, and antivirus... It all made a fairly beefy laptop into a complete dog.  Now with VDI/VPN I can use my wife's Mac, or my iPad. I hope you are wrong about your job, but, most companies will relentlessly work to reduce costs...  It's just the nature of the beast.  I hope it works out.

I've been haunting this thread for months now because we'll be back at the Fort in June.  ( YAY!) Here's hoping for a happy WiFi Monday, and, options for those of us not able to cut the cord!  :)

1 hour ago, bhall said:

Yeah, the policy stinks for me, but I handle all of the financial data for the bank day to day and send it to the fed.  In a nutshell as explained to me, that's why I can't be wireless.  The other issue is I'm the only one who is assigned to the job.  My supervisor (who is not going to be my supervisor in a month, I'm going to have to train my new supervisor) is the only other person that can do it (and he doesn't know how to do it all as he had to call me to ask questions the last time he did it on April 16, 2015) and the problem with that is he's at the bank 8-5 am and it's almost impossible for him to work the 4-6 hours in the evening to the early morning hours.  So I have to keep my travel limited to places with RJ-45 jacks.

I'm frankly amazed you are allowed to use any external network wired or otherwise with sensitive data, being as I am in the same industry as you are...

I might be misunderstanding your situation as well...  Have you ask your tech people about the possibility of using a virtual computing solution, where none of their data ever actually has to pass out onto a machine/network of yours at all?  

Virtual Computers have been a godsend for me anyway.  I don't have to lug a corporate computer around, or worry about a personal device being lost or stolen.  If my connection drops when I'm remote my virtual computer sits right there waiting for me to reconnect, and I can pick up right where I left off...

No judgements here, just saying there is some new tek out there that might let you get out camping more!  :)

We stayed in 1303 back in June.  Right across from the comfort station if you want to make use of the laundry or showers, it's very convenient.  Its also very close to the playground for the little ones and the bus stop.  But it's also far enough away that noise from the playground and stop are not going to be a issue in the camper.  We really enjoyed our week there.  

We did hear some noise during the daytime pool activities, but really only if our AC was not running...  When that thing runs you could almost set a bomb off on our steps and we'd not hear it LOL!

Heh. I saw this post marked as unread and got though the whole first page crying "Noooooooooooo!!!!".

Then I realized it was from 2012!

Shew!!! (For now)

I'll add. I have not been at the Fort when it's crazy busy... So maybe I just don't have a good frame of reference for the cart parking situation when it's really full.

There was a bit of speculation that they'd close down the beach parking area... As far as I know that has not happened - yet. In anothe thread (or one of the trip reports) I read that the staff actually would *not* allow parking there on July 4 weekend... And indeed forced folks to park near the beach, even when they had arrived at the Settlement early and there was no real need...

So, I'm interested and a bit confused about the end game here, the reason they thought it was so needed.

My gut tells me it's either because they are planning to close the Marina area to carts, or, for some reason they expect a lot more cart traffic in the future for some reason I have no clue about.

Haha, don't say that out loud around there. You don't want to give them any ideas!

I'm a Starbucks addict.  If they had a Golf Cart drive thru - I'd be all in favor! :)

And - The Gremlin is still around!  Had a flat tire on my home from work tonight.  Sigh...  :)

What a fitting base for your Mickey Light - great trip report

Thank you - I had a great time reliving it all.  Now I have something to do (working on Mickey) over the long winter.

What a great report!  Loved every minute of it :)   We've been to Pigeon Forge, but never Gatlinburg... we need to go and we need to stay and that CG!   Doesn't looking at pictures of your kids through the years, just make you ache??!   It goes by so, so very fast.  Our little miracles are the main reason we started camping.  I saw a sign once that I loved and plan to order one for our TT:   Forced Family Fun.   Haha.  I'll be "forcing" this family time on our family, for (prayerfully) many...many years.

 

Oh... LOVE the Mickey light and the base is PERFECT!

 

Thanks for the TR :)

Pigeon Forge is cool...  Especially I love eating at "The Old Mill".  Yum!  :)  I do admit that I personally prefer Gatlinburg because it is much more pedestrian friendly.  You can walk the whole town.  It still has a old school downtown type of feeling that I really like.  It's actually quite the spectacle of people watching when it's busy.  They used to have a walk up dacquiri place...  (Sigh - it's gone now.)  I will say that it has gotten less kitschy in recent years with more well known brands moving in, and some old local establishments going away.   Still, there are a lot of local type of places, a lot of tourist trap places, the Aquirium of the Smoky's is (IMHO) a world class facility well worth a visit, and the Space Needle for a view of it all at dusk or in the dark is a great view.

And we loved Twin Creek campground.  Online reviews sometimes complain about noise from the nearby fire station.  I think I heard sirens once or maybe twice.  The location close to downtown and the Arts and Crafts loop make that a minor thing.  It's a clean and well maintained campground, nice friendly staff.  I recommend it without any second thoughts at all.  We'll be back for sure.

Enjoyed your trip, good job on report.

Thank you!  :)

Lol what an awesome base and story to go with it. On a more serious not, what a tragic accident. I must admit I too shed a few tears upon reading your entry. Just recently a good friend watched a fellow rv puller jack-knife right in front of him. Those moments are always a great reminder at how precious and short life is. Great TR and thanks for sharing

:)  Yah - When the idea struck, I figured for sure that they'd already tossed it in a dumpster or something, then I nearly forgot to ask about it.  But it all worked out.

I had assumed that the helicopter had perhaps taken somebody to the hospital to be treated and recover.  Sadly it was not to be.  Even knowing what I'd seen already.  Reading that article and finding out that they'd just finished changing a tire.  Yah...  That puts a lot of stuff in perspecitve.

Excellent trip report.  So many things that remind me of how we have done WDW & FW over the years.  We didn't always roll with the crowd.  Sometimes we did.  But we always made memories that I wouldn't trade for anything!

Thank you!  On our first visit last year we tried to cram so much in that it was actually kinda stressful at times.  It's vacation!  This year we focused on less and just tried to make sure everybody had fun.  It really worked for us.  I completely understand that it's a very expensive proposition and folks want to get the most out of it that they can.  I totally get that.  I think our two kids would have stayed at the pool the whole time left to their own devices!    :)

So sorry for the folks killed in the accident.  I'm very glad your family wasn't near it when that happened.

 

Good job finding good food at the Artisan Center in Berea.  The gift shops on Skyline Drive use to carry beautiful hand made items from Berea.  Not any more, most made in china

 

I like the way your family doesn't try to do every thing or ride at WDW, but go with the flow of your family and enjoy the time spent together.

 

YEP the base is cool, good thinking!

 

Thanks for this TR

That area is beautiful.  Love the Artisan center there.  I want to spent more time there someday, check out some of the Daniel Boone history.  Work my way west and see Mammoth Cave...  So much to see, so little vacation!

Great idea using the wheel as the base for your Mickey lamp!

 

But, What the Fort?  I've never heard of a wheel cracking like that and causing a tire to flatten.  That's not good.  Thank goodness you were parked when it happened.

 

I really enjoyed the comparison photos of your children.  You have a beautiful family, and I hope that you get to continue taking those photos.

 

So, when are you going to be back at the Fort?

 

TCD

Thanks! 

Nobody had ever seen a crack like that.  More than one shop told me it was most likely a defect in the metal that had been there since the day it was manufactured waiting to bite me.

Oh my goodness - I'd collected these pictures over the years, but had not really put them together like that till this report.  The wife says we'll have to get them printed out and farmed in a set.

Ahh...  When indeed...  The earliest we can get back is probably next June.    Unless I win the lottery or the Schools decide to close early.

I think you did a great job on your trip report! Thanks for sharing it!

Thank you!  It was a unexpected joy for me to do this.  I was sorry to finish it.

Sunday- 6/21…  

 

I think I have just this one more update for this report.  

 

Here we are at the end.

 

 

Actually, this is also where it all started...  The reasons I'm here writing this now are still sleeping soundly in the camper. 

 

I wake up with this fragment of a bizarre song parody playing in my head: 

 

"All the wheels are - round, wheels are round...

- and the sky is not grey, sky is not grey..."

 

LOL! Really!  My mind is a scary place.  

 

I double and then triple checked all the tires with this playing over and over in my head.  Heh, all is well, all of the wheels are round!

 

And, it looks like our unplanned trip extension has allowed us to miss pretty much all of the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill and the heavy rains and flooding that have been pounding Ohio and surrounding states for days.  The forecast calls for a slight chance of pop-up type storms, nothing severe is expected.

 

Today is also Father's Day... Happy Father's Day!  We'll be making a 500 mile drive today...

 

But today is special for another reason.  It really does mark the start of it all:

 

 

Remember, I told you that we were married in Gatlinburg?   Yah. Today is not just Father’s day, it is also our anniversary!  We were married here in this town, on this day, just a couple of miles away In 2003.  

 

 

Due to our unexpected one day extension of our stay…  We’ll be having a nice dinner at a slightly dingy truck stop Denny's later this evening on I-71 just north of Cincinnatti to celebrate both.   :)

 

No cards, no flowers, just us all together crammed in a truck for 12 hours of travel.  Heheh.  Not exactly how we planned it, still it’s all good.  Just how we roll!   :)

 

But before we get home we face a few challanges.  Todays route is 321 to I-40, and around Knoxville on I-640, then I-75 North to near Cincinnati.  There we will pick up I-71 North to the Columbus area.  The home stretch is I-270, to 33E on the South side of town, and then we are home (after a stop at the storage lot to drop off the camper.)

 

Since it is Sunday traffic is fairly light and the construction on I-40 is not a major nightmare.  Knoxville was no issue and northward we are headed.  Our plan is to stop for lunch someplace in KY.  That “Someplace” will become an interesting challenge because, well, we forgot, it is Farther’s Day…  Oopsy!

 

Normally we would stop someplace in southern KY at a particular Cracker Barrel that we know is an easy in/out with our rig.  No such luck today!  The parking lot is full and there is more that an hour wait…  Back on the road we go.  We don't have much left to eat in the Camper and so we need to find another place, but, place after place - everybody was out with daddy having their dinner.  

 

We continue north.

 

Another stop we always make in KY is the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.  So we decided that the food court here would have to do for lunch.  As it turns out, the food is good.  There is ample and easy RV parking.  And it is not very crowded today - because it seems all of KY is at their nearest Cracker Barrel!

 

This place is worth a visit if you are passing the area.

 

We proceeded north toward home.  Just past Lexington, the effects of the extra large lunchtime sodas had the predicted effect and an unscheduled potty break is in order.  

 

Normally it's the kids that make me stop before we need fuel or food.  And my dear bride sheepishly admits that maybe she should have stuck with a medium drink!     We had a laugh at that, it happens, nature calls!  Luckily, we see a rest stop just ahead and pull in to let everybody take a short break.  

 

I think this may have been lucky. Potty breaks when we do not need food or fuel are fairly short so we were back on the road in probably less than 15 minutes.  

 

Very shortly after getting back on the freeway all traffic ahead of us is stopped...  We knew something bad had happened when we noticed that we can also see no traffic in the southbound lanes.

 

The highway is actually closed, we just didn't know why yet.

 

No jokes about the Gremlin here.  We didn't know the details at the time.  Sadly a tragic accident had claimed the lives of two people less than a mile north of where we were now stuck in traffic.  Authorities had closed the freeway and started diverting traffic behind us, but we were past any point where we could be diverted off.

 

We learned the details later…  These poor people.  They had just stopped to change a flat tire on the side of the road.  

 

Just changing a flat on the side of the road…

 

Somehow another northbound driver lost control of their vehicle and struck them both.  I don't know any of these details at the time, but, afterwords I've thought a lot about our tire misfortunes on this trip, how it all worked out...  

 

It's enough to make a guy think some.

 

Certainly about how dangerous it is to be on the side of a freeway for any reason.  I knew how lucky we were to be in a safe place when ours gave out, and I was thankful then, and even more so now.  Later on we both wonder…  Judging by the time of the accident and our proximity to it, we both wonder what might have happened or what we might have witnessed had we not stopped for that extra unplanned potty break.

 

We ended up being delayed here most of an hour.  We finally saw a helicopter leave and traffic started to move again, they were letting those of us stuck north of the closure to pass the accident scene and proceed.  

 

Thank God we were not in the right lane.  I moved to the left just in time.  The kids could see some of the wreckage, but thank God they either didn't notice or did not realize the significance of everything that they did see.  Especially the one poor victim that was obviously still there despite authorities doing a decent job of shielding the victim from view.  Nor did they notice my wife quietly crying as we made our way by.  It was horrible to see, I'm so sorry for the tragic loss.  I'm selfishly so so happy we didn't have to explain any details.  

 

From here on we proceeded on homeward bound.  We took the only pictures of the day while crossing the Ohio River because we saw a train.  And well, you know, that is always picture worthy!  You can see Paul Brown Stadium in the pic.

 

 

 I still think "Riverfront Stadium" in my head...

 

The last stop on the road is the dirty Denys just south of Jeffersonville.  It was what it was.  From here we are just a hour and a half from home.

 

We arrived at the storage lot, unloaded the essentials, and got unhitched just as the security lights switched on for the night.

 

Back at home just before 10PM.  All is well and we unload.  I’m so tired.  I have to go back to work in the morning at 7AM.  It's hard to believe it's all over...

 

I'm more sad now than I was at the time.  I was tired!  

 

Welcome home.

 

Pedometer : 5846

Saturday 6/20

Friday 6/19

First we decide to visit another Gatlinburg landmark - The Gatlinburg Space Needle.

 

 

In the far background of this picture you can see a cell phone tower, our campground it just on the other side/at the base of that little hill.

 

 

 

 

You are 400 feet above downtown and the view is spectacular!

 

For the rest of the day we explored downtown Gatlinburg and one more mode of transport just for Ben.  

 

We finally Decided to ride the Gatlinburg trolley on a loop around town. As I've said this is for Ben, who loves riding anything, and off we went for our next encounter with the Gremlin… 

 

Oops! 

 

One of the trolley stops is at the Park Vista hotel that overlooks downtown.  

 

You can see it in the background of the picture above.  It's the farthest point in the route from town on top of a small hill. We reach this hotel and the Driver announces that we all have to exit the Trolly here because he has to "burn off" something...

 

These "Trolleys" are some sort of diesel powered bus conversion made to give you that Trolly look...

 

He's says another Trolly will be along soon and our fare will be good for it, or, we can wait for his "Burn Off" to finish and he'll come and pick us back up. 

 

And so.  Utterly defeated by the gremlin this time, we commence to wait for the other Trolly....

 

And we wait...

 

 

...and wait...

 

 

...and wait, and wait.  

 

Closing in on a full hour later...

 

Here comes our rescue Trolly...  Followed also by the original vehicle, which had finally competed it's burn off whatever. 

 

Heh.  Well.  We rode back into town and then just basically strolled down the main drag, doing some shopping, some people watching, and sightseeing.