ependydad...Doug

My wife always appreciates it when I say I like my trucks like I like my women- with a big ole booty.

Oh, the picture is a lie from that perspective- it was one lone spot between 2 driveway entrances.

I'll try to knock out another quick update. Up next was a carefully planned date night with my wife. First we'd go to the movies to watch "Into the Woods", followed by an early appetizer-like meal at Bo's Fish Wagon, and ending with a boat ride and fancy-schmancy dinner at Latitudes. It was an evening fraught with mistakes. First, before we left- my in-laws were at the pool with the kids. My son threw up in the pool! They were dealing with that as we rolled out. Next, I ordered movie tickets online for the wrong night. Which meant I got to pay twice to see Into The Woods. I didn't like it

Thanks for the Port Orleans Riverside pictures! We're going there in 2 weeks and a day! And how much fun are you two?! These pictures were a HOOT!

So, using a travel agent is a first for me. Jason does Fastpasses? What else can Jason do for us? I'm the type that generally wouldn't want to inconvenience someone and wouldn't think to ask.

This is a great question. We're looking to spend a few days at the Fort come June and I was just talking to my wife about which loops we might want. Turns out she really liked being near the beach/boat dock, so 100-200 or 700 would be her preference. But, the 100 & 200 loops are generally smaller sites (which will be fun with our big rig of a camper!). Where are you thinking of overnighting at on the way?

Ok, so the holidays done. We did explore downtown Key West a bit. Lots of funny sights and sounds. You can tell it's a party town, but it's also a pretty amazing "everyone is accepted" kind of place. So, let's see what I can make of that. First things first, I heard nothing but horror stories about parking - especially a big truck like my dually. So, I was nervous and mapped out the parking lots, garages, etc. The first day we drove in, we were a little further out than I would have preferred, but we found a spot right on the road. It was the opposite way, so I busted a u-turn just in time f

Jason, we'll give it a shot. My father-in-law and I literally had this discussion at Thanksgiving and Christmas this year about how it's just not the same unless it's in glorious can form! The letters are cute. My daughter used to dictate it to me in the car on our drive home from my in-laws (we do Christmas Eve there every year we're in town) and she would fall asleep on the drive. She is such a cutey- she had something set out for each reindeer, Mrs. Clause, and her elves. LOL! I can only imagine. My kids are such big eaters- I can only believe how much worse it'll get, never mind

I'm in! The mission trip reminds me of a place a cousin of mine went to teach at until she got sick.

Ray beat me to it. Super cute kids!

We have a 42' fifth wheel with an A/C in the living room and one in the front bedroom. I honestly wouldn't mind a third back in the bunkhouse for some of the super hot of summer.

Sounds good.

I know full well about weighings. I've actually weighed my rig quite a few times. I have a few blog entries on my experiences. Your numbers don't make sense to me. Your camper weight is going to be 7200+6600+910=14,710 pounds. Being that 910 pounds was your pin weight, that's something like 6.4% which is underheard of low for a travel trailer (norm is 10%-15%) and even further from accepted norms of 20-25%. I'm not saying their wrong- they're just wildly unexpected.

Technically, your tires were likely fine- just at the maximum end of their weight capacity. A fifth wheel camper's axles and thusly tires generally carry only 75-84% of the total weight of the camper. The remainder of the weight is carried by the truck as pin/hitch weight. So a camper that weighs in at 15,000 pounds will carry somewhere in the ballpark of 11,250 to 12,600 pounds on the tires. Assuming 4 tires at 3,200 pounds means that you had a carrying capacity of 12,800 pounds. Like I said- they were maxed out, but probably not underrated as a whole. (Individual axle and wheel weights are

So I left off my last update with an early morning assist for Santa. Once all was well and good, here's the kid's gifts from the North Pole: Backing up a little, you can see our tree and the gifts the kids got from us: As you can see- Christmas in a tiki hut is glorious. :) The kids busted open gifts in what was likely the fastest ever for our household. In years past, it has taken 3 or 4 sessions as they get tired of opening stuff. Not that we get them a whole lot- they just get bored of opening stuff. Weird, I know. But, not this year- they tore some gifts up. (Well, that's not entir

Thanks, TCD! I'll tell my wife that you said I was right. That should help my cause. Thanks, Gwen! We definitely decorated more for this trip than we did back in 2012. I think we had to move to 2 boxes of camper decorations and the Mickey head being loose for now. Pretty soon, I'll have to explore that purple storage place! Thanks. I get all smiley when I think of that story. It also helps remind me of what I like so much about Disney. Thank you! We loved it. It was expensive but so nice. I do believe we'll be back. I'd actually like to go in the warmer months and plan for more

We did our first Christmas vacation in 2012 and absolutely loved it. My in-laws joined us (we rarely vacation without them) so it wasn't just the 4 of us, but it was still a small group which was really nice. We decided every-other-year works well for us. Great trip report!

We definitely found that in 2012. The crowd levels exploded from before vs. after Christmas. Sorry to hear that you guys couldn't extend your stay! I was wondering if you could have done an off-site Disney campground, but you aren't towing a car. Guess that's what you need to figure out next! :)

I think if it were me, I'd consider putting the opening down so that it also shined a light down to help you see your way.

I showed up in my dually. Not quite a RV but still big. Go and have fun! We loved the HDDR!

I designed a 20' overall length camper using Visio. But never pursued how to build it. It was fun to play around and see what kind of limitations there were. Camper Design - sleep 6, under 20'

I have yet to have a ride where I don't try to cover my kids in some way. It's instinctual. I'm getting better now that she's 11, but I still can't help it. :) Loved the pics and TR!

So you're saying that your GD needs to ... ?

I've tried being the one to give directions and I SUCK AT IT. It makes me appreciate how hard her job is back there ordering me around. Fortunately, we have a pretty good system down by now. We've had the same experience with radios vs. cell phone. I greatly prefer cell phones, but every once in a while we are in an area with crappy service.

What kind of gooseneck do you have? I had an B&W Turnoverball gooseneck installed into my truck and then use their Companion hitch to go with it. Leaves me with an empty bed when I take the hitch out. And the 5th wheel companion comes out in 2 parts meaning it is manageable for me. http://www.turnoverball.com/ Their customer service is second to none and their customers generally end up as fanatical fan-boys. :) That said, if you don't have a B&W gooseneck, you might look into the Andersen Ultimate 5th Wheel Connection. The people that use it swear it's the greatest thing ever. I