ImDownWithDisney

The inmates where my mom works can do that for free.

This is a really great TR. Enjoyed looking at the pics of the kids having a great time. My kids are of similar age to yours and enjoy the same things. My DD5 sat in my lap and wanted to look at every picture just now.

Eternabond for sure. Pay close attention to the corners around the front and back caps. Also surface prep is critical with eternabond.

My suggestion is to avoid PF and camp in Townsend.

Don't go around messing with this. It's a sewer lift station...think pressurized poop pipe.

Awesome diversion! My F250 pulls to the south sometimes, but I have to rein it back because it won't spit $100 bills out of the cd player.

Loving the ice cream face. I do the same thing.

Never been there, but it sure looks good.

Props for taking the kids by yourself.

That is a great looking CG.

I LOL'ed at the drawing. :rofl2:

Never tried the fish and chips. I may give them a try next time.

Cool TR as usual.

This is a great TR! Looks like fun, fun, fun!

That's pretty common. The pin carries a lot of the load. My 16k GVWR trailer has 2 7k's. It weighs (depending on loading) about 14 - 15k with our stuff...it has about 11- 12k lbs on the axles.

That doesn't surprise me at all. Lippert frames have a hard enough time staying together anyway.

There are 5'ers out there that will handle it (ie. New Horizons), but they are spendy and heavy.

Just got back from a 3 day weekend at the Ocoee River. Nearly every year my ski buddies get together in the summer for a blowout at a river. We usually choose the Ocoee or the Nantahala. The weekend usually goes like this drink, party, drink, frisbee, party, paddle, drink, party, cook, drink, drink, sleep, drink, mountain bike, paddle, drink, party, party, party, drink, music, yelling, really cook, camp fire, sleep, breakfast, and pack up.

This trip was no different. We had a site at Adventures Unlimited just down for the Ocoee. AU is known as one of the more wild campgrounds. It is really, really hard to get kicked out of the place, and that is a good thing. They had a school bus converted into a bar, and a rickety stage in the front part of the property (by the RV sites). We were up till past midnight Friday and Saturday nights listening to live music. There was about 15 of us total, and we had a big ole' time. Unfortunately, there was a group of men/teens (youth group, I think) that obviously didn't know what type of crowd that AU attracts. They packed up and were gone before we all got up the first morning. :unsure: :cheers:

We mountain biked some of the local trails in the 90+ deg heat (which sucked, btw). We also went down the Ocoee totally unguided in a borrowed raft. It was a huge s#!tshow.

Camp Chaos

How not to do the Ocoee

It was a good time. My head still hurts!

Headed up to TN to camp near the Ocoee next Friday. Then we will probably take a few local CG trips. Saving up for the Fort at Thanksgiving.

Here's what my official Disney book says about the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake...

The excavation of the Seven Seas Lagoon took nearly 3 years. Today it spans 185 acres, embraces 3 islands, and reaches an average depth of 10 feet...snip...Bay Lake was excavated, too. Its water was simply too polluted to meet Disney standards. When refilled, Bay Lake was stocked with bass, not only providing sport for anglers, but also aiding insect control.

I use an Android phone and the Photobucket app. Photobucket allows you to access the links of your photos and one touch copy the IMG code. You may have to hit menu or something in the iOS version...not sure.

We use the standard redneck issue green astroturf.

Thanks for the compliments.

Thanks for Sharing! One of the things I like about Fort Pickens is, if there is a breeze you will get that breeze in the campground. We were there Easter weekend and it was packed full house. Glad you had a good time. Did you go out to eat anywhere?

We went to Peg Leg Pete's on Friday night. The other nights were spent cooking at the camper.

Nice report. Are you coming to the fort for Halloween? You are the one who decorates or did decorate 802 correct?

Won't be there for Halloween. We are going Thanksgiving week this year....nope, we don't decorate. Must be someone else you are thinking of.

Thanks for posting this great report!

I am ashamed to say that I am not familiar with Fort Pickens.

And that is bad because I visited Pensacola many times when my brother was in flight school there.

But, in my defense, that was 25+ years ago, and I can tell you all that you want to know about the bars in town.

Anyway, great job on your report, and photos!

TCD

Thanks....and I know nothing of any bars.

Can you tell me what site # you were in? We stayed there just after the hurricanes in 2004 and were in site #2 in loop A and liked it but it was really sunny. I also had never seen so much wildlife inside a bathroom before. As my daughter and I were showering we had a biology lesson about insects and spiders!

I will PM you my secret shaded site #.

Great job on the report and pics. Nice 5er. Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

Thanks!

Nice job on the TR!

Were the millions of biting ants used to defend the fort at one time? :laugh:

Are you sure they were biting ants, and not "army" ants! :rofl2:

Sorry about that, sometimes my mind wanders......Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

They were gently carressing biting ants....bastages.

Looks like you guys had a great time!

Disclaimer....This report is a mix of old pics and two recent ones...sorry for being lazy.

Onto the report...we had planned on leaving late Thursday night and driving part of the way down, but the stormy weather made me decide to wait until morning. We got up at 4AM and somehow managed to get the kids up (DD's 4 & 5) and dressed with minimal fuss. The kids had been so excited about going to the beach that they were wide eyed and ready. By 430 we were at our shop to pick up the camper. I had worked a little each evening on the camper for the last week. By Thursday evening I had it packed up, hitched up, and ready for the road. We pulled out of the building at 5AM exactly.

After a quick stop at Jack's for some breakfast we were steady rolling south. This was the first long trip in our new toyhauler, so I was anxious to see how the combo did out on the interstate. I soon found the sweet spot was about 65-68 mph. Over the winter I had been steady working on a bunch of mods to the truck and camper, and this was the first real test. I was very pleased to find out that everything worked just as I had hoped. Some of the major mods were new tires on the truck and camper, EGR delete kit, new oil cooler, 18k Pullrite hitch, 19.5K 5th Airborne Sidewinder pin box, Airlift bags for the truck, and a Trail Air suspension kit for the camper. With all of that installed the truck and camper handled great. I was amazed at how smooth the ride was over the rough expansion joint concrete. We rolled into the Yellow Hammer truck stop at exit 69 on I 65 and filled the nearly empty tank. I was surprised to see 11.5 mpg from the 6.0 Powerstroke. I CAT scaled the combo on this trip at 23,300 lbs.

For those wondering a Sidewinder pin box allows this with a short box truck

After filling up on diesel, Redbull, and Snicker's we made the short drive on to Pensacola Beach. We rolled up to the gate at Pickens and paid our $8 entry fee. The lady working the gate was very nice and quick. She directed us to the separate CG check in building on down the road. As we rolled down the new asphalt road we were sure to not exceed the speed limit of 20 MPH. This reduced limit is due to seasonal nesting shore birds. I wondered why the 20 MPH limit, until I noticed that the offended birds would take off and fly parallel to the road when disturbed. Each bird seemed to be able to maintain right at 20 MPH and not much more.. I guess they don't want birds bouncing off of windshields.

I had some run ins with the same birds several years prior on the same weekend. That year I decided to bike out to the Fort after hurricanes Ivan and Dennis did a number on the park. When I was pushing my MTB through the 2 miles of washed out road these little SOB's would dive bomb me and try to poop on me. A few found their mark too. :argh:

Here are some pics of the Fort from that trip. I was the only one out there that day.

A view of Battery Pensacola which is built inside of the old fort

Looking back at the destroyed wall...due to an ordinance explosion. It was strong enough to throw bricks all the way to NAS

Another look at the missing wall

I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of this one.

Notice the green roofed buildings in the background. In this picture they have been shoved from their foundations, and one is sitting about 45 degrees from normal. These buildings have now been rebuilt and house staff and a museum.

There it is again...guarding the mouth of the bay

The inner dry moat. What you can't see in this pic is the millions of biting ants that cruise the lesser traveled areas. They are still there today.

Another view of it

It is easy to think what it may have been like to be stationed here when staring at sights like this

This was piled up in the large day use area. Thankfully it is all gone now.

Battery Worth...it housed two large mortars. It looks mostly the same now,

Another shot of the damaged wall...check out the wall construction/thickness

I think it is way cool to have views like in these next two pics in the same area.

Alright enough of the old pics and small history tidbits. Back to the check in process. I pulled up at the CG building and found several open RV length spaces. I had done the pre check in thing on line and was in and out in less than 10 minutes.

I had made our reservations months in advance, and in doing so I was able to virtually pick any site that I wanted. I used their website, which has pics of each site, to pick one that had some shade and would hold our 39' 5'er. I was super stoked to see that I had made a wise choice. Backing in and set up was a breeze once I had our neighbor move their vehicles from the side of the road. I quickly put out the slides, awning, chairs, grill, EZUP, and all of our other crap so I could relax with drink in hand.

The hurricanes really brought down a lot of the huge pines that once stood in the CG. I have seen pics from years ago, and it really does look like a different CG now. Keep in mind that some sites have zero shade. I had read reviews that "A" loop had the most shade. I rode through there on my MTB, and I wouldn't say that it much better than some of the other shaded sites in the B - E loops. "A" loop was not nearly as big rig friendly as the others, IMO.

Our home for the weekend

Our neighbors had a kiddie pool set up. Our kids and theirs wore it out.

The next several days were spent playing, relaxing, swimming in the bay and gulf, grilling, bike riding, and generally just chillin'. We had a big family cookout on Sunday evening after everyone returned from the beach. My wife's parents and sister live in the area, and some relatives from GA made the trip as well. There were kids running in every direction possible. Mayhem, but good mayhem.

The campground was absolutely packed the whole weekend. It was really fun to ride around and check out other set ups. There was every type of rig there...from class A's to tents. Some people had elaborate camp set ups, for sure. One family/ies would have made TCD's real men of genius status. I went back the next day to take a pic, but they were packing up. I have never seen so much stuff at a site. It would have taken at least 3 sites at FW to hold it all. I don't know how they crammed it all in their TT and suburban. One thing nice about Ft Pickens is that there is a large area around most of the sites to spread out. One could easily team up with other families to form some sort of camping compound. The ability to reserve specific sites makes this very easy.

The park ranger/camping host presence in the CG is very good too. I did not see one single person causing trouble or creating a nuisance for any of the other campers. This was a nice surprise. 99% of the people there seem to be there with kids or family.

There are several bath houses throughout the property. I didn't set foot into one. I didn't buy a camper to use a bath house. My wife did take the kids over to one to rinse them off, and she said it was nothing like what she is used to at FW. :rofl2:

One thing that I wish had brought was a sewer tote. The sites do not have full hookups. Our camper has 50 gal grey and black tanks. I didn't fill the grey up, but we were careful to conserve water. The outside shower on the camper was nice to hose the kids off and wash the big pots and pans.

Sadly, Monday came way too soon, and we were forced to pack it all up and head home. It was a great trip.

la fin.

Woot Woot! We have a great shaded site. Sitting at Peg Leg Pete's now with a buzz.

If a salesman's lips are moving there is a good chance lies are being told.

Hey IDWD, are you planning on buying kayaks anyway or just for this trip? I have a nice 14' Pelican 2 person sit in that you can borrow. I'm down that way 4 wheeling I can drop it off. Let me know.

Wow....that is a very generous offer. I do want to buy some for future trips. I have been looking at the Pelican Apex 100. I was wanting to keep them at 10' or under so they will fit in the garage of the TH. I've been checking Craigslist hoping to save some $$$. I may take you up on that offer if we don't have them by then. I could haul it back to the Fort later in the week, if needed.

Thanks for the info. I do plan on mtb'ing on the trails. Hopefully, we will have 2 kayaks by then to explore the river.