MLM5.. aka Judy

agreed, one of my all time favorites I :heart: this family

This is good to know, I used a mixture of bleach and water on my tent ends thinking it would keep the black stuff from coming back.. no.. no it didnt, it drives me insane!! I didnt think about simple green, I'll give that a whirl

We are a house divided on the barefoot thing, but I'm with your girls, bare is better :)  I thinking living in Hawaii for 10 years ruined me on that one.. my youngest boy however has a "thing" about this feet, he must have shoes and socks on at all times.. I have often wondered if he is my child..lol

I had no idea that AKL had so many fun things to do, I will definatley put that on my list to check out I don't think we will be doing parks in July, the idea of that kind of crowd mingled with the heat makes me get hives. 

OH MY GOODNESS!  The pic's of the babies in the leaf's are AWESOME!  Those are a couple of cuties you got there and they are obviously having an awesome time! You have tarp skills.  In all of my years camping, I never acquired those.. my oldest son calls it the "blue blanket of death".. :rofl3: He might have witnessed a certain mother fighting with one a few times over the years.. maybe..

I'm here I'm here! More pictures please :)

Fall breaks perhaps?

I know the schools around here will get them back next year and many families take that time to go to Disney.

WE DO??? when when when??  I NEED my fall trip to the fort.. really.

HOLY COW! I just looked at that weekend and I'm seeing only TWO sites available the week of the 15th of March.. I had no idea that place was that popular..  I guess we will have to plan WAY in advance for that one

So i'm seeing 2 for the 15th?  Anybody else?

I have always just booked through the Ga State Park website www.gastateparks.org they do not assign specific sites so not sure how getting close together will work.

That's the beauty of the grand gatherings Shawn, it doesnt matter where we are located, we always tend to gather in a common spot regardless.. lol

so what weekend was the concensus?  my kiddos are on spring break the week starting the 22nd but I'm open to anything as I live just a few hours away, maybe someone could post a poll and we go with the concensus?  I think I've seen the 15th, 22nd and 29th as options.. what do ya'll think?

yea! Baby girl gets to go to Disney!!

I'd say splitting an adult meal is the best option, we are big eaters in my house and we did that and didnt feel cheated or hungry

have we lost interest in this?  I'm in full planning mode today, even though I probably wont make half of them, I need to book.  It's a sickness really.

You said nipple.. :rofl2:

Judy, you need to at least do the following:

 

1.  Drain your black and grey holding tanks.  If some water remains in them, it is probably ok as there is room for it to expand if it freezes.  But at least drain the smelly stuff as best as possible. 

 

2.  Your water heater most likely has a valve behind it that bypasses it from the rest of the water supply lines.  Not sure where you access the back of your water heater, but it's usually under a bed, behind an access panel somewhere, or maybe in a basement storage compartment.  Once you find the bypass valve, turn it.  This isolates the water heater so that anything moving through your water lines (water, antifreeze, air) won't fill up the water heater tank. 

 

3.  Drain the water heater. 

 

4.  Then, you want to blow all the water that sits in your water lines out so it doesn't freeze and crack the water lines.  Do you have an air compressor?  If so...you have a couple options.  The cheapest is to pick up one of these doohickeys from Walmart. 

 

 

You screw it into the water intake for your city water hookup, and take your air chuck and press it up against the nipple.  No jokes, please.  :)  You need two people for this....one to hold the air chuck against the doohickey while the 2nd opens the faucets one at a time.  When a faucet is opened, water should come spraying out followed by compressed air.  Do this to all faucets in your unit.  Don't forget outside showers.  Both hot and cold, too.  Also, make sure you don't have the air pressure so high it blows out a faucet o-ring or anything.  Maybe 40 psi should be sufficient? 

 

5.  After you are sure all water has been blown from all lines, get some pink RV antifreeze (also sold at Walmart) and pour a cup or so down each drain.  This protects the traps from freezing, as they retain water to keep sewer smells from coming up from your holding tanks. 

 

6.  I also pour a little into the toilet to protect the rubber seal from freezing and/or drying out. 

 

7.  Then protect your battery from draining down.  Either just disconnect or remove completely and store inside with a trickle charge on it.  I actually have stored mine over the winter without a charger hooked up and  been fine. 

 

It sounds like a lot, but it really shouldn't take too long, especially after you've done it once or twice.   In the spring, don't forget to turn the water heater bypass back the other way....or you can even do this after you are done winterizing.  You DO NOT want to forget and turn on the water heater in the spring thinking it is full of water, as it will burn out the element. 

Dave I just printed this out, thank you so much!!!

If you leave it plugged in, then your battery is fine, BUT, you will need to drain all the water and run the pink stuff through the water system.  You don't want your pipes in the camper to freeze.

stupid girl question.. other than draining the tanks til they say they are empty.. how do you get all the water out?  Is that what they are using the compressed air for? 

Is leaving it pulled in all winter going to kill my electric bill?  :rofl2:

I really need somebody to simplify this for me.. can I avoid all this if I leave it plugged in all winter?  I'm so confused..

is there a winterizing RV's for dummies book somewhere? :panic:

I have texture issues with eggs cooked in the crock pot, the kids liked it, me not so much

I love grits overnight in the crock pot and the oatmeal sounds great, but I'm not a fan of anything with eggs imho

If you get cold while camping, you are not drinking enough.  I have a simple solution.  Drink more. 

I like the way you think.

Just wanted to say welcome!! I didnt realize so many fiends lived in the Atlanta area.. and why do we not have more GG's??

We really enjoyed the Nemo show at Animal Kingdom and the kiddos liked the little Mermaid, the bubbles got them :)

YEAH!!!! We booked our reservations for July 2-July 12th.  I am so excited.  We don't have tickets yet and I still have lots of questions.  But, ya'll have been so helpful so far.  We had a family meeting and decided, this was the best time, even though it will be crowded.  We just know that it will be exciting, I can't wait.  Hope to get to meet some of ya'll when we go. It is just so much information and planning. But, we have 10 months to get it all together, (I hope). I hope ya'll don't get tired of me asking lots and lots of questions. I already have a several, but before I bug you, I want to see if ya'll have already answered them somewhere else. I'm sure we will be talking soon. Thanks again.

That's awesome!  Me and my bunch will be there from the 28th of June to the 6th of July.  Do you have kids?  How old are they?  10 months seems like FOREVER doenst it??

You can do it!!  I dont let the fact that I suck at back up stop me from taking my kids and my little TT with me, I took it up on Monte Sano this weekend and was able to back it "up" into the spot, it took me a minute but we got it.  Just get out and practice as much as you can and if you can't dont worry, there is always someone around to help a lady in distress..

I am finding it is more and more just the people on this site. Yes, Disney and the Fort brought us together, BUT lately, I don't really care where it is, as long as we Fiends can get together around a campfire!!!

Amen Carol!!

I agree the 4th is great... just not the best for someone who wants to spend a lot of time in the parks. The July 4th trips are some of the best trips I've ever had... and last year I never went to a park. There was enough to do around the Fort that after 6 days, I wanted to extend. Also, there tend to be a lot of fiends around for the 4th, so there's always a potluck or drinks to be had.

My kind of vacation!!

That really add's to my excitement, if it were a total suck fest on the 4th, I'm sure the TCD clan wouldnt have done it so many times, and those activities look awesome!  Will keep my rugrats busy for hours.. :)

Hey I know her, she tired to sell me a pop up ..

:beathorse:  :beathorse: