WalkerFiend

Ok, sorry again for the long delay. The DD ended up at the doctor because of a pretty high fever that did not want to go away. Thankfully, by Friday she was doing better, and we even got to do some camping over the weekend. But that's another report. Ok, let's continue... Just a few more installments left. Thursday 6/18 Up early and removed our flat tire. At least the flat was on the low side of our site, and so I don't need to raise the camper any more to get the tire off. The trailer is a tandem axle and these two wheels are on the levelers. So, I have a pretty easy time of it

Yup - That's about the size of it. Reason 100 to ditch the meal plan next year...

I'm not 100% Positive, but I think our Dining plan covered just about everything at Trails End. The one exception I can remember for sure is Sticky Buns! The last morning we tried to get some and were told that they were not covered on the DP. Pizza for sure and some of the other selections I think count as two meal credits...

So this is how the MultiQuote thingy works! I've learned over the years that a statement starting with "Would it be stupid..." Is normally something She really wants to do, and I'd better be paying attention! :) - Yes She has trained me well. Well - I say*. I do need remedial training on a somewhat regular basis. *Some opinions may vary... Thanks! I really appreciate the kind words and encouragement from you and everybody else. I have really had a *lot* of fun re-living this trip with the Fiends and world at large. I hope Snarky and the "Fiends Trip Report Rev

Wednesday 6/17: Today is going to be a long one. The route is I-95 to I-26 to Columbia, SC. Then onward North on I-77 and back to Fancy Gap, VA. Retracing our route. The weather calls for heavy to possibly Severe thunderstorms along the northerm most leg of our path in the late afternoon and into the overnight. With my luck, just as we need to set up camp! I was not looking forward to today, or the final leg tomorrow, which promised a lot higher chance of yucky to downright severe storms. But all of that was about to change. We stopped for lunch near the junction of I-95 and I-26. Eve

Yah - Whatever this virus is has kept her home all week. And cost us a lot of sleep. So, I'm a little behind. I wanted to combine a couple of days here, but I think I'll make this a short update and get another posted later on if I don't fall asleep! :) Thanks again for your kind words. Tuesday: 6/16 We’re headed home today… You know you have had a good time at the Fort and Disney if you try to use your Magic Band’s PIN to open the keyless entry on your truck! :) We took our internet kit back to the Meadows Trading Post and used some left over snack credits for some sweets fo

Well, we have a sick one at home today, so I'm going for the trifecta... Monday 6/15. Our last day at Disney... 7:52 AM:One thing I've noticed, or noticed at lot less of on this trip are the geckos. Our site in 1400 last year was covered by what seemed 100 geckos per square foot! This year, there are plenty, but much less than last. I don't know if it's just because of our location, if the geckos have had a bad year... Or if it was the giant Owl? This Owl is HUGE. At night you can sometimes see it sitting on the fence just outside the comfort station here in 1300. As a matter of f

Holiday two for one special - today only - bonus post!!! :) Sunday, 6/14 Fort Day! We made the very purposeful decision months ago to schedule NOTHING today. We just wanted a day to actually spend some time looking around the Fort and relaxing. We also figured that if bad weather had really been a problem, we'd have this as kind of a make up day. Just a flexible, no plan, no schedule day on vacation! I think this is one disadvantage of Disney. It seems like, as great as it is, you have to schedule everything... It's vacation!!! I'm not always very good at planning. That's one ar

Well, I didn't go into every dietary detail here in the report - haha - but - we uh, ate well. If I recall it right the DW and I ended up about where we started in the end. So, at least we did no damage! :)

Hope everybody is enjoying a long Holiday weekend. Let's continue. For some reason I do not have a lot of notes or pictures for today. I'm not sure if I've lost some, or if we were just so busy that we didn't take as many. Oh well, here we go: Saturday: 6/13 Back to Epcot!We slept in some today and didn't leave the campground at about 10:45. This time, Ben wanted to ride the big ferry boats, so we rode to MK, and got on the ferry to the transportation hub. From there we caught the monorail to Epcot. The masses of people were still headed in the opposite direction into the MK and we pr

Thanks! Been looking for a book. I'll have to add that to my Christmas list! :)

As I recall it, we started up the stairs and she was standing outside, went in as we got to the top. When we went inside I think there was one family already in there and we were next. Several more folks got in line just behind us. It was strange come to think of it. We'd never been able to just walk right up to one of the characters like that before.

Thanks for the kind words. This is a lot of fun for me to write. I'm Working on the next installment but work and my grass and the holiday weekend are competing for my time. Sorry for the delay.

Thanks and thanks again! I think Ben and I can share though. I read elsewhere that the Spike supply might be gettin a little depleted.

LOL! I guess as an "adult" I enjoy the place at a different level. Heheh.

Ok - let's continue: Friday: 6/12 - back to MK Took the boat to the MK and then up to the train station at Main Street for our start of the day Train ride :) and got our very first unexpected treat of the day as well. Who is waiting in the station lobby? Mary Poppins! First thing. This is a good sign for sure! We got our books signed, took the train to Fantasy land, and then walked to the Tomorrowland Speedway for a second try at driving. This time we made a point to avoid getting into the line that would put us in that far right hand lane. I have no idea if that made any real diff

Ahh. Well I've done a little research because I didn't actually know myself. The Steps to distance conversion is not exact. Variables include how accurate your devices are at recording steps. Then you have to take terrain and the length of your stride into account. What I have read online suggests that (on average) one mile will generally equal 2,000 up to 2,500 steps. This is a rule of thumb. You might find people ready to put up a spirited debate about it elsewhere on the net where they can get pretty serious about this stuff. Not that Campers or Fiends could ever get passionate about

Thank you! I've read and enjoyed many of your trip reports, normally after the fact, so I do not get to comment very often. I do not have words or pictures that really capture those Dolphins. It was really a special treat. I could have watched that all day. As for the "issues". Really I don't intend them to make anybody think we enjoyed our trip any less. I've worried that I'd give a negative impression. Not my intention. It's maybe not always the most fun while it's happening, but in the balance, it was all about as close to perfect as it gets. So when I'm describing them I'm trying to

Thank you very much! Yah. I think we've all been "That Parent". It's only a matter of time before your number comes up if you have kids! :) We were using the Pedometer built into our iPhones. Not sure how accurate that really is, but, incidental spot checking seems to say that it's in the ballpark accuracy wise, at least for my purposes.

OK! Sorry of the long delay - here we go... Thursday: 6/11 8:27AMTo Epcot!Well... First, to Trails End for take out Gravy and Biscuits! These Disney and Fort calories do not count on vacation. Repeat this with me, does not count... I'm not a big breakfast eater but today the craving has set in and I got up early to get some yummy Fort breakfast food. We're taking this vacation seriously, and we have no really early FP this morning and so we managed to get to the Marina at 5 till 10. Again, we take the boat to MK and then we hop onto the Monorail to the Transportation center, and chan

Thanks everybody. The wife has pointed out about a thousand grammar and puctuation and spelling issues so far (she's a teacher and grades hard!). I'll fix them! :) I had a work emergency intervene tonight, and all weekend I've had very limited internet access. I'm working on the next installment. All I'll say right now is that we are no place close to the record Pedometer step count yet! And with that little tease. I'll get back to work. :)

Wednesday: 6/10 9:12AM - We’re off! Rain, Rain Stay Away! Once again we’re off at the crack of 9AM. Hey it’s vacation. You can still see some raindrops from the off and on all evening rains from the day before. Last year we were haunted by wet weather pretty much our entire stay - so much so that we never once got to see any of the parades; they ended up getting canceled every time we tried. We are starting to worry about this year as well - but we’ve build in more flex time and generally a less demanding schedule this year. We’ve got Park Hopper passes because the price difference w

Ok - I just had to hijack my own thread for one second and post this here while I'm working on the next chapter - LOL. This is a picture of my living room this evening. The kids are off school tomorrow and so they wanted to sleep in the tent This Camping thing just might have been a good idea. I think they like it. :) Stay tuned - I'm working, just had to share.

This is probably a good spot to do a little explaining. Ben (DS) is a high functioning kid someplace on the Autisim Spectrum. While we relish and even celebrate the "typical" and there is plenty of it, we've long ago faced the special challenges Ben has. Some folks with kids on the spectrum will relate, but, there is this saying I'm fond of: "If you've met one Autistic kid... Then, you've met one Autistic kid." Such an interesting, frustrating, scary, and sometimes awe inspiring journey we are on... In fact we came to our decision to get the camper in the first place based largely aroun

Well, thanks! I just think of it as common sense and trying not to be completely oblivious.