MetalDad

Nice Smashing Pumpkins reference! I used to get sad leaving Disney, until I got married and had kids. I guess knowing that you live in proximity, and having your family in the truck with you kind of stems the post-trip let down, and I can totally see how once that changes, you sort of get back to that sad place where the seats are empty again. I get it.

Don't you get the feeling that your neighbors think you're nuts when you climb out of the camper in your driveway in the morning? They just don't understand! Mine think I'm nuts anyway, that just seals the deal!

Jason, there should have been a small ceramic heater left under one of the dinette seats. That thing will get the PUP nice and toasty. Almost burned my scalp one night from having it too close to where I slept. Keep a bottle of water handy, keeps the air dry too, several cold nights I woke up thirsty from the dry air! The booze does help though, I've studied that!

Is that an mp3 player sat on top of the fridge? If so, good choice, music should be the priority on any trip. Just make sure there's plenty of bluegrass and Rolling Stones, and you'll be OK!

Can't forget Radiator Springs

I thought I’d share some photos for the backstory. I’ve been battling photobucket for some time, but I’m forging ahead for the sake of the TR. First, here’s a picture of the PUP, the first one I sent Jason. This was the night before, we popped it up & down, and packed it full of goodies for Jason and Sil, this is my Annie holding the keys! The next day, Sunday, I gave up football to deliver. Here’s the first few feet of the journey! On the way, we had to stop by BassMaster’s to pick up a very important component…the potty! The moustache lives! My son, a little old m

Holy Crap... a unicorn!

I read about an almost identicle scam on a car being sold by a "deployed soldier" (may have been on Ripoff Report). Ready to be shipped to a buyer, shipping paid for, in a far away town...The prospective buyer was a tipped off by a lot of the details that didn't seem right, odd use of language, bizarre requirements, not being able to see it locally... He kept going back at the seller, and chipped away at the scam. The scammer was from Eastern Europe, admitted that he wasn't interested in hacking him, just taking his money, knowing that there was no international law to recover the funds. He wa

Woohoo! I'm in too. It's been a little difficult to post as often as I used to, our new office system is web based, so the streaming, and sites like FB and photobucket are blocked, so it's more difficult to upload and write TRs. Serendipity indeed. Our part of the story goes back earlier this year. We were wanting a bigger unit for the five of us (and dog), and we had our heart set on finding a 3-bunk hybrid. I happened to mention it one day to Cyndee (fp4), several weeks later, they announced they were moving north and would be selling the camper. She contacted me. Would we be interested?

You got that right! We didn't have a plan for fireworks viewing. The first on went off and we just went towards the sound. Probably a tougher sell in the summer with full foliage. I'm sure we'll be there together at some point. Ben pointed that out. "Hey! I'm on beer!" I saw in Wal-Mart that the have duct tape with moustache graphics on it. Gotta get it for him. It was awful. And of course, I couldn't stop looking. Then we talked about it. What if it had been there for a long time? Fallen on the ground? A bird pecked at it? Maybe baby spit-up or nose blow was on one of the napkins that was

Agreed. We left the day after TCD, which means I was packing and folding a popup in the rain. Drag. Somwherez in there you came by our site with your husband. I recall meeting him late in the trip.

Day Three: Continuing on, now it’s time to get our evening rolling. New Year’s Eve. We hopped a DTD bus and headed out for some snackage. First stop, always is Cooke’s for some curry and Guinness. We moved quickly across to Ghirardelli’s when it dawned on me. We’re in DTD on NYE! What was I thinking? Remember when it was NYE every night at PI? Anyway, we got a seat. Notice the lady with the Rent Me cart behind the kids. The reason I took those shots is because she totally grossed me out. We were waiting for the server to deliver the goods when she pulled up. Scooted out of the cart and

Corny, Cheesy, and Severely Outdated. I love it. My kids love it. Not everything has to be super-ultra-high-tech. I love that my kids look forward to it. I love that it has had very few changes since it's inception. I love that it's FREE! I also love that when we hear it at the campsite, the kids yell out what scene it is! Octopuss! Flag!

I agree on that one! Wait til you see the pics I have! We now carry the big can of hash, as we've attracted some hangers-on. I may be making a batch sunday morning after church. Text me for a to go order, or a drive-by. Awesome. They wanted it several days, but it can't be a daily thing. The milk run is awesome. Early morning adventure with just the two youngest. I'll expect to read about it next time! Oh boy, the capris again. I won't bring up your mom jeans again either. Thanks. Glad to have you along. Very cool. It's a vital part of the experience. Steal on... But share the adventure

BTW, whilst we were in that cart lot, getting ready to cross the street, out of the WL path comes the TCD 3 on wheels! You may recall, he had cart envy over NYE, so he and the twins were bikin' it. Saw him everywhere. We must've been like gum on his shoe!

Day Three: Sounds: The Outlaws, Cheap Trick, Joe Walsh, Pickin’ On Series Smells: Horses and gun powder Tastes: Chocolate milk, curry, and a shipload of Shipyard. Good morning, and welcome to Day Three! Today’s New Year’s Eve! A busy Fort day. We slept in a bit, knowing that we’d surely be up late! If you’ve ridden on this written cart before with me, you’ll recall a few traditions that developed over time. Today was the MetalDad Chocolate Milk Run. Like a beer run, but with kids, in the morning! As per usual, it was me, John 2, and Annie. We looped, looked, and explored. Everywhere from the

We did several drive-bys. And you'll be in the late night NYE update! Yeah, not sure how that happened with the beer. She has a kindle now, hopefully that helps with the reading/lighting issue. Yes, the PUP sleeps 9. It's wall to wall breath-n-ass, but we make the best of it! Hoping to go bigger one of these days! Heck yes it was cold! I've been in the south so long now I actually hurt. Yes, my son has a tendancy to backwash. He's a gross little 8yo boy. Whenever he wants a sip of my drink, I just save him the last bit. He took a sip from a friend's kid's drink at a Rays game one time and m

I saw a hunk taken out of the gingerbread over at the Contemporary that week too! Gross. I don't even like gingerbread. I can't imagine eating industrial 'model' gingerbread not intended for human consumption, after it's been touched by thousands of international tourists. I'll have a Clampett story to finish my TR. We either had to laugh it off, or drop luggage and throw fists!

Continuing on, we stopped by the trading post to goof around and blow some allowance money. Now, given my status as resident rule-breaker dirtbag, this graphic that they’re working for 2013 appeals to me greatly…very metal! The goils shopping and looking for stuff… I decided to wait outside in the much coveted rocking chair. I think my son took the pictures. Annie joined soon after for some laptime! BTW, did you know there was a bathroom inside the Meadows Trading Post? All these years, I’ve never seen it. It’s behind the milk cooler. Annie used it. We meandered back to the site to prepa

I used to work in a toy store when I was a young man (on the weekends, I'd wear the clown suit and demo the new toys!). After the doors closed, we used to listen to the SexPistols, and the only cassette player we had was a Teddy Ruxpin doll. The bear would dance and sing along to whatever tape you played, with intentions that it would be the Teddy Ruxpin tape. The accelerated tempo and distorted guitars freaked that thing out. Ahh, youth.

I'll try to keep up. There's a bunch of material to cover. Thanks. New phone-cam since last TR, I hope the pics are sharper. No kidding. Who would have thought a golf cart could bring so much joy! She loves that bird! Excellent. Glad you're along!

Alright, trying to keep up, as my TR is a day behind yours now. We did the train track investigation with the FamilyofBears on Monday too! It was about 2:30pm when we did it.

Day Two Sorry about the delay. Some serious life events at hand. Including but not limited to staffing, elderly parents, sports, garage sales, illness, and a weekend trip to MK! More on that later! Back to the TR, Sunday after breakfast and church. We did the vehicle dance to locate our carts. The first stop was up to the settlement for Hot Chocolate and Pibb. We had two carts that will be loaded with kids. But for now, it was just Ben, Annie, and I on a mission. I stayed in the cart parking lot under the guise of watching the carts. Truthfully, It’s a few minutes of quiet that I get to just l

Good Lord, my pants have now made it into a third TR! I do have the photo you mention and it will show up shortly!

Cool! I like it! I'm still trying to get my TR back into shape. Crazy life stuff at the moment. I discovered a lot of cool local off-Fort stuff this last trip. Went shopping 3 times, lotta mouths to cook for! Out of habit, our first list we make when set up is "what'd we forget?" On our 2010 trip, my oldest daughter veered her attention away from packing, and packed NOTHING! Everyday she had to wash clothes by hand in her bathing suit. She hasn't NOT packed since. The kids forget sneakers or flip-flops, whichever one they're not wearing.