ftwildernessguy

It's more of a walk through a field than a walk in the woods, though.

Gotta watch the hitch weight.  2 Harleys is a lot of weight.

Magic Bullet, FWGirl and the Wonder Beagle.

We have a Mickey soap dispenser in the Rv, as well as a Mickey toothbrush holder and an assortment of Mickey and Minnie washclothes and towels.

Germany - love the beer, the food, the women - brings back some great memories, and some of the food is like my momma used to make.

Japan - Kirin beer in the outdoor dining area, and I love the junky stuff they sell in the store and all that weird candy and stuff - WTH?

China - they have the greatest display of reproductions of those terra cotta soldiers.

Canada - Off Kilter - great entertainment.

England - the pub.

Norway - the women.  And that funky movie nobody likes to watch really isn't that bad, they should just make you watch it before Maelstrom.

Mexico - the market place is great, and now - A TEQUILA BAR!!!!  Still have to have the scorpion.  There are also some really great memories of BATWIT there.

I think it was 2 years ago FWGirl and I took the drive over to the preserve.  I liked it, she didn't.  If you are expecting beautiful wooden walkways, souvenier stands selling Disney plush and turkey leg vendors, you will be disappointed.  If you want to see what Florida looked like prior to all the development, then you are in for a treat.  Bring lots of bug repellant and your camera.  About halfway you end up at a beautiful lake.  I was hoping to see a gator, but no such luck.  It is very under-visited.  There was one guy working there when we went.  Quite a few people stopped, but very few stayed and even fewer took the full hike like we did.  Would I do it again?  Probably not, unless my son was with me and he wanted to go.  That being said, it is worth seeing once.

Allison - sent you a PM on Facebook.  Re. the issue at hand here - I used to get really frustrated when we went on a Fort trip and all Chris wanted to do was stay in the camper and nap.  Then I realized that to her, that was vacation, and she didn't really deal well with all the activity a Disney trip entails.  We were able to leave her in the camper during the day while we were out and about, although she was older than your daughter at the time.  Everybody was happier.

As far as pulling myself out, I discovered many years ago while on an Army deployment that, at the end of the day, it helped to take a few moments and reflect on my day and try to find something that I had accomplished that made me just a little better off.  Now I will admit, some days it was hard to do, and some days I couldn't find anything, but in most cases, no matter how bad the day had been, I was able to come up with some accomplishment that showed I had made some progress.  If I can do that on a cot in the jungle in central america surrounded by people who want to kill me, you should be able to do it in Florida.

That is an idea - since we are a camping board and pretty much everybody has a spare tire on their camper, how about a Fort Fiend spare tire cover?

I really like my Outback 210rs.  Here's a couple things to watch for.  Many have had some issues with the upper brackets breaking for the supports for the rear slide.  Mine started to crack and I noticed I had to tighten them every time the slide was opened.  I bought some new ones (they are the same brackets that hold the awning supports and available at any camper supply place) and put in some new bolts from Lowes and have had no problems since.  The original bolts were actually bent.  Keep an eye on the tracks inside that the slideout rides on in the ceiling.  Some have had issues with these pulling down.  Like a lot of other Outback owners, I built a simple wooden brace that I use with a scissors jack that supports the bunk when travelling.  I have had no problems so far.  When you are using your braces for the slideout, one should be labelled with an "R".  This goes on the curbside of the camper.  The braces are adjusted at the factory and are not supposed to be interchangeable, although your dealer may tell you it doesn't matter.  When you pull open the slide, be sure the door is open and the trailer tilted slightly to the rear - this will help a lot.  It also allows water to shed away from the coach so you won't get leaks around the slide.

There's a ton of wasted space under the "jacknife" sofa in our Outback.  I relocated the freshwater pump to a more accessible space under ours and this spring I plan on replacing the screws that hold the decorative front on the sofa with industrial strength magnets, walling off the remaining empty space from the pump and water heater and using that space for storage for all the throw blankets we have accumulated from Disney over the years.

That's nicer than my house.  If I had that, I could convince FWGirl to go fulltime.

Body Wars - the only attraction at WDW that made me nauseous.

Just when I think Disney has come up with every marketing scheme around, they fool me.  A whole program designed to brainwash foreign children with Disney products under the disguise of providing an educational service!  These people are brilliant!  I really want to be part of this!  They're better than the freakin' CIA!  So Lou - what's the gift?  I want to know if it's worth my while to compromise my values.

I dont remember which one of the brilliant fiends told me this last year, but they recommended placing a crate over the pot when left unattended.  I did this last year with no issues, the critters at the fort really are rather intuitive little guys...

I will admit the crates fooled me at first, but I have figured this trick out.

I encourage you to keep your crockpot on a picnic table out of the trailer.  This not only keeps unpleasant cooking odors out of the camper, but allows me to sample it while you are at the parks.  This is a free service I provide at the Fort.  Don't worry about untensils, I carry my own spoon.

We want to do January and February in Florida after I retire.  I still have 6 or 7 years left.  We bought our retirement home 16 years ago and should have that paid off by then here in PA.  I like the spring, summer and fall here.  But winters - not so much.  I could live in our little trailer, but FWGirl couldn't.  She has said she could probably do it for 2 months as long as it was a warm place in the winter.

When we do corn on the grill, we use Paula Deen's recipe:

Shuck the corn.  Slather the ears in mayonnaise (trust me...sounds gross, but it's awesome!).  Roll in parmesan cheese.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and chili powder.  Wrap in tin foil.  Grill over medium heat, turning frequently, for about 15 minutes.

We love our corn this way!!!  :D

That Paula Deen - always into the health food.

Yep, soak it in the husks for a couple hours and lay it on the grill.  It's done when the husks are dry and starting to char.  Watch it when you peel it, though, it will release some really hot steam.

My first TT was an old Coleman popup that weighed in at about 1200lbs.  I used to push it into its parking spot at my house all the time.  My driveway was on a curve and it was kind of a pain to back it in the driveway, so one day I got the bright idea I would just back in part way, unhitch and push it the rest.  So I backed in, unhitched and started moving it down the driveway.  Did I mention my driveway was a downward slope to the house?  That trailer started picking up speed and there was me, all 170lbs holding onto the tongue, digging my feet in trying in vain to stop that 1200lb trailer.  Not one of my brightest moments.  Fortuneately, my wood guy had delivered a pile of wood for my woodstove and left it in a pile at the bottom of the driveway, so the trailer wedged itself onto the pile before it hit the house.

I second the use of a surge protector.  The initial outlay is a bit much, but it sure beats frying out your camper's electrical system.

I had some problems pushing the Outback around until I filled the tires with helium.  Now I can move it with just one finger.

For the money, you can do a lot better with a conventional TT.

Its so cute though.

My wife said that about me, and look what she ended up with.

Went past it and it didn't seem really busy.  We ate at POFQ instead and had a great meal.

For the money, you can do a lot better with a conventional TT.

As Bob noted above, we recently bought our new TT at the Nashville RV show.  I had already decided which unit/floorplan we were after, and went to the show prepared to buy if they happened to have that floorplan on display, which they did.  I had negotiated a price with one of the large "internet" dealers ahead of time, which was a pretty much "unbeatable" price by any of the dealers within a few hours of me.  I would have been willing to drive the 5-6 hours to buy at that price, and told the salesman at the show that much.  I did not disclose the price I had been given by the other dealer, but I did tell them I'd be willing to buy if they could come close, as I would prefer to deal with a local dealer.  They quoted a price pretty much dead on with the internet dealer, and with further negotiation I ended up beating it.  And yes, the Keystone factory rep was on hand to answer questions and I was told they were kicking in factory money to sweeten the deals.  I believe it. 

I just spent the weekend stocking the trailer, making a few mods and looking it over.  I haven't noticed any damage or "dirtyness" from being on display at the show.  I'm very pleased so far with the purchase experience and the trailer.

Have fun with the process!

That's cause you are dealing with a higher class of people in Tennessee.  In Pennsylvania, all the farmers come into the trailers and kick the cow shit off their boots.