Barney Fife

Its almost time. Pulling the Vengeance out next Wednesday to load her down. Leaving for St. Mary's KOA Friday morning, the 9th. Should arrive at the Fort around noon Saturday.

I do lawn maintenance. Saw myself years ago mowing a big church I regularly maintain.

Only time I've seen the camper is one year they got it sitting in the driveway.

It has been the biggest surprise for us with this camper. I was strongly in favor of the side patio. My wife was really on the fence. She felt losing slideouts on that side wouldn't be worth it since the living room would be smaller. But after this trip, she loved it and its probably her favorite thing about the camper.

With the patio set up and the awning out, it creates such a nice chillin' spot. We could see the ocean over the dunes and could see much more of the campground just because we were above the cars. With the legs down, its very stable. The rear door becomes a patio as well but I knew we'd be too long to set it up at places like Ocean Lakes. So this works great. We highly recommend it.

We just returned yesterday. H69. Pretty good crowd. Plenty of Canadians.

The porch has a sliding glass door going into the living room. Then the TV, stereo speakers, and the electric fireplace are in the middle. That door to the left goes into the second bathroom. That bathroom is accessible from the patio or the garage. I guess the thought was to give access to a toilet without them having to go through the camper.

If anyone is ever debating getting a side patio model, I would HIGHLY recommend it. The back ramp is a patio as well but I knew places like Ocean Lakes, it would stick out into the road. My wife was concerned the side patio wouldn't be worth the loss of a second living room slideout. By mid-Saturday, she was completely sold on the patio. She stayed out on that thing almost the whole time. With the awning out, it was so relaxing. Its probably her favorite part of the camper now.

We're shooting for one trip per month this year. Some may be local but now that I'm through racing, we're going to catch up on some family time. We have Ocean Lakes booked again in August. But we're planning for once a month through October. Then we'll take November off because the Fort is reserved for December 10.

Took the new Vengeance out to see if everything worked OK. I think the bedroom A/C might need to be replaced as it possibly has a leak. But everything went great.

Ocean Lakes

I just read some more recent reviews of SAI and they were pretty positive. I guess I just caught some on bad timing.

Our last trip many years ago, we ate at San Angel Inn the evening we arrived. It was great. Food was very good and for some reason, the tea was something my wife still talks about. It had sort of a slight "fruity" taste. But usually the things you do on the first day of your trip are always fond memories because you're just so happy to be there.

But I've read some "not so great" reviews of San Angel Inn recently. I hope that's just a few off experiences. We will be making our reservations in a few months and we hope to include this place on our list. Has anyone else here been recently? Are the claims true that things have changed for the worse?

12 minutes ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Congrats on the trailer and the chance to get back to The Fort!!

Two questions:   Is that a deck and what is your TV?

Yes. It has a deck on the rear and one on the side. My interest in side patio models was growing. This one had the best patio because its larger than some others and when its down, there is a TV, speakers, and electric fireplace. I'll try to post some more pics soon.

We're towing with a 2015 F350. It pulled it great. I ordered this camper with GoodYear G614s and coming home on I-95, 73-75 mph was easy and smooth. I'm pushing the limits on the rear axle weight and wouldn't recommend anything heavier. It sagged a little when hooked up but I have air bags and they were pumped up to 65 psi after hooked up. I'll probably drop it just a little for our next trip to get things fine tuned.

This makes me even more anxious to get back to the Fort. This pic was taken at a potty break on the way home Wednesday. I like this one a LOT more than that old ragged Cyclone.

Amazing how many names I remember from a few years ago. Not to mention the amount of posts some of you have? Wow!

We were supposed to pick up our new camper yesterday. But the weather delayed the delivery driver enough that we all agreed it would be too much of a rush getting it prepped. So it should be at the dealership right now and hopefully, we'll be heading up to Md. to pick it up Wednesday. We already have three trips reserved including Ocean Lakes in two weeks. Really looking forward to a fun year with the Fort being the final run for 2016.

We were last at the Fort in January, 2008. Did a 12 day trip and had a blast. Sold the camper a month later because we were building a new house. We had APs so we went to Contemporary for a long weekend in June and POFQ in August for another long weekend. After that, the family agreed we didn't care to go back until we got another camper.

Life has been busy since then. For one reason or another, we never could get back down there. We made reservations twice but had to cancel both times several years ago. But I truly think this is the year for our return. Got a premium site for December 10-18.

Good to see several names I remember from the old days. Should be back here browsing around from time to time.

The computer in my Ford tracks my Cyclone's mileage. Right now, we're around 15,000 miles in 27 months. I always check the temps whenever we stop to see if anything's getting hotter than usual. Nothing so far.

But I have a good friend who owns a local shop and we talked just this past weekend about having them replace my bearings. I expect to have them done soon and especially before we head to the Fort.

My Ford 6.7 gets changed about twice per year. I think it calls for around 7500 miles or so. It uses a similar setup bigdisneydaddy spoke about but I put so few miles on it, I never get to see the computer tell me its time. I am starting to stretch that though. I have a 7 year/200K extended warranty and Ford does all my service work. So why not just go with what the computer tells me to do and if something goes wrong, its on Ford's bill?

Based on this posting, a favorable posting elsewhere, and the fact that we live 90 miles from Willow Tree RV Resort, we tried this campground this past weekend and was very pleasantly impressed with this campground. The grounds were immaculate, staff very friendly and helpful, the bath house were private restrooms with plenty of room (and clean), and the amenities were great. WiFi is weak but is primarily due to lack of cable networking to the area that they are in which limits their bandwidth. It gets our vote. We are returning Labor day weekend as we were able to get a spot from a cancelation while we were there.

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Nice. I hear Halloween is a fun time there as well. I still would like to get a hot tub spot in late October/early November. But since we're headed to the Fort in mid-November, that might have to happen next year. :)

Hello old Dis friend. I've been away far too long. Here's my .02.

Both are great brands. We actually want a Work & Play because we've gotten back into ATV racing. Our Cyclone has been a lemon since day one.

But the KZ is a great camper. Their MXT line carries a two-year warranty. Most brands only go one year so to me that tells me they believe in the quality of their campers. We have friends with a Spree and its been great.

If you're doing something like racing or something similar, I'd go Work & Play. If its more camping and golf cart toting, the KZ will probably be a more comfortable choice.

We're still big Willow Tree fans. If you don't "have" to be on the beach at Myrtle Beach, its about as nice as they come down there. Besides my sig pic, here's another plus one with our former Sabre TT.

www.willowtreervr.com

Did someone say tire tread separation? Its not just a motorhome thing. :banghead:

And yes, I replaced all six right there that day.

We are south of the most of you guys and just a mile or two west of you Barney, but when we head to the Fort, we like to break our trip into two days going down and usually dead head it home....  Our place to stop going down is at Exit 29 in Brunswick, GA.  The place is Coastal Georgia RV Resort.  All of their sites are paved, with the majority if them pull throughs.  Its easy off and easy back onto I-95.

 

Also one of my resources that I check is http://www.i95exitguide.com/index.php. I use it mostly to check for construction and lane closures, but it tells by state and exit number where the restaurants, fuel stops and campgrounds, as well as hotels are...

We do the same thing. Two days down, run it hard all the way home.

I was thinking about the KOA at exit 1 this year. But this place at exit 29 sounds nice.

The New Green Acres is the place to be.....

Nice. Now I'll have that song running through my head all day. :bugeyes:

My tip.

Used to be everyone would try to time their fuel stops so they could fill up once they got over the SC line. SC has always been famous for cheaper fuel and the FlyingJ, Wilco, Loves, etc. seemed to be competing for everyone's business with really good diesel prices.

Well no more. We've had to go to Columbia several times this year and its ridiculous how expensive the diesel is in SC. Gas is still pretty cheap but the diesel at the Dunn/Benson NC area has been almost a dime/gallon cheaper than SC. Not sure what's going on there.

We used to go straight through Jacksonville on our way down. Drove right down I-95 business and crossed that bridge downtown. But what's the norm these days? I know there's the by-pass to the west of Jacksonville but someone was telling me about another by-pass to the east. Supposedly one with a really huge bridge.

Considering pulling an RV, which is best? I don't mind going through town if that's the quickest way to go.

We love Pizza Planet. And it has very little to do with the food. Yes, we like the food but I'm sure there are better places.

In 2006, we did Disney and the Fort for the first time. My youngest son, Luke (now 12) was only five years old. My oldest (now 19) was only 11. Luke was Toy Story crazy. Our first park we visited was MGM (HS) and at 9:15 we were at Al's Toy Barn when Buzz and Woody walked out. I will never in my lifetime forget the awe on Luke's face. It still makes me smile thinking about it. Later that day we ate at Pizza Planet and played video games.

That's why we love it. Who cares if the food is just "OK"? Its the experiences and the memories that brings us back. He'll be 13 when we go this November. But we'll all eat and play video games just like we did almost eight years before.

Always good to see some home folks. Plus good to hear from others I used to chat with years ago on the other forum.

We've been gone way too long. :rofl3: