February 2011 Trip Report From TCD

[daddyphat808 - Eric 16]

Whooo up Doodle! Now I am scared and I am just reading along! :rofl2: :rofl3: :flush2:

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Andrew, now look here. I am sitting in a hotel room in freakin Sombertown, watching it rain outside, my wife and daughter are sleeping, and the only thing I have to entertain myself is your trip report.

Dave, you better hide those toys your daughter is playing with. You don't want the Burgermeister Meisterburger catching wind...

See what happens when TCD abandons his TR in the hands of the asylum residents for a whole 12 hours?

By Monday this thing will be barely recognizable!! :rofl2:

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

:rofl2: Be afraid, be vedry afraid

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Here you go guys

You found my picture!

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

You found my picture!

Is that you? Good to know. Now I will recognize you should we ever meet. :rofl2:

[Avatab.... Steve 124]

Dave, you better hide those toys your daughter is playing with. You don't want the Burgermeister Meisterburger catching wind...

See what happens when TCD abandons his TR in the hands of the asylum residents for a whole 12 hours?

By Monday this thing will be barely recognizable!! :rofl2:

Hey, he SAID to go ahead and hijack the thread....!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTlChGL0lsk

:) :) :) :) :)

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Can I just say how cool it is that we can embed video on this board (way to go Chris!!)

...oh, and I love that movie. :heart:

[Ok Grumpy AKA Cindy~~ 9]

I'm so Glad you made it here! Great TR can't wait for more! :banana:

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

And true to TCD's promise, as of now this TR has 1433 views!! :banana:

[Lil Lisa 53]

See what happens when TCD abandons his TR in the hands of the asylum residents for a whole 12 hours?

By Monday this thing will be barely recognizable!! :rofl2:

And of course BitchMasterKathy is not around to spoil our fun! :popo: :rofl2:

[Lou... 3,118]

And of course BitchMasterKathy is not around to spoil our fun!

Great point. Just think about that and let it sink in for a while. Imagine if we had to go back.

[LONE-STAR 370]

I hear Lonestar is having a TCD party at his place to celebrate. Probably just him the wife and Tinkerbell watching a Disney movie but no doubt a celebration.

We have been waiting on you to bring the pop corn and your copy of The Little Mermaid so we can start the party. Hurry up already.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

WOW!

Just, Wow.

I said when I started this trip report that I wanted to see it have at least a thousand views.

We are now closing in on two thousand, and we are not even close to the half-way point in this report.

Awesome!

As is my practice, I will be responding to your comments, but before I do that, I wanted to say that while some of you may have missed me, I didn't realize how much I missed all of you until I started reading your comments.

What a great group of folk this is!

And think about it for a minute.

We have a guy reading along in Russia.

And another in Texas.

And a lady in Minnesota.

And another couple in South Carolina.

And, then there's a lady in New Hampshire.

Plus a bunch of Florida folks.

And, folks everywhere.

All sharing a couple of laughs and enjoying a story about some guy's trip to Fort Wilderness.

What a great site this is.

To those lurkers reading along.

Welcome!

Why don't you join and let us know you are reading along.

You will not find a funner or friendlier group anywhere!

So sign up!

It's free!

And, you can join in the fun!

Now, back to the report . . .

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Ta Da!!! Anything for you TCD! I'll even give you three!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

That's three thankyou's for three moonwalking bananas.

I love it!

Andrew, so happy to see you, and as usual, enjoying your trip report!!!

Oh yeah, I changed my user name, I am the camper formerly known as RvUsa, and EjmBibb before that LOL

Hey John!

I am happy to see you here, too.

It has been a while!

I know you had some medical issues a while back.

I hope all is well with you and your family.

You left us hanging. Help. Will TCD make it out alive , will we be able to wait until Monday for another post. Tune back in at the same Fort time same Fort channel.

P.S. I need a beer. That is all.

I need a beer, too.

But, first I'm going to give you a special treat.

A Saturday installment!

That doesn't happen very often.

But, I am going to reward all the loyal readers.

It is great to be back.

w00t....a TCD report. This man needs a memory card and battery sponsor.

True.

I also need a new camera.

But that is a story for another day.

Great to have you on board Andrew! True to your word, your first trip report is not even finished yet and is already the most viewed and replied too thread on the trip report board.

Hey, Harold!

My old buddy from down the street (although I have only met you and the family at the Fort).

I am glad to see that you are part of the gang here, and reading along.

When do you plan on being back at the Fort?

TCD

p.s. As far as I can tell, I can only include 5 quotes in each post. So, please stand by for more responses, and then an update to the report.

[lklasing 16]

Man - I was off the boards due to waaaay too much work to do, and look what happens - TCD appears! And, a 6 page (so far) report too! ;D

Really, TCD, I'm so glad to see you here! I've really missed your reports. They make it just like being back at the Fort.

So, keep it up! Can't wait for more of this report and the next one too!

Leslie

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

So glad to have you here TCD.. your TR are so entertaining... but how long are you going to leave us hanging?

Not too much longer!

Ah that is the beauty of TCD... he's a master of building suspense in his TR. I think he likes to keep us on the edge of our seats...

:suspense:

Thanks, Monique.

I think y'all have waiting long enough.

So, more is on the way.

who is Andrew?? Doesnt fit my vision.. :rofl2:

I don't know?

It's like trip report foreplay... :rofl2:

No comment.

Never seen Andrew post on a weekend. Nothing after 5 on Friday until Monday morning but you never know.

True.

(About the you never know part!)

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Andrew, now look here. I am sitting in a hotel room in freakin Sombertown, watching it rain outside, my wife and daughter are sleeping, and the only thing I have to entertain myself is your trip report. If you don't post something again soon you are going to be VERY LUCKY that I am in St Petersburg Russia and not St Petersburg, FL, cause I'd hunt you down, steal your SD card and post the damn report for you! :argh:

Ok, just kidding, sort of. But get with it, man! :rofl2:

Sorry, Dave.

But, I am about to post an installment for you to read tonight.

Have you been eating a lot of cabbage pie on this trip?

Andrew I'm glad you finally came over. I was at a wedding at the Grand Thursday and got back last night to find you were here and catch up. I'm caught up so on with the report. I hear Lonestar is having a TCD party at his place to celebrate. Probably just him the wife and Tinkerbell watching a Disney movie but no doubt a celebration.

Hello Mr. Mayor!

Your powers of persuasion finally paid off.

I made it.

You will be getting a shout out in just a bit.

I saw you on this trip.

No surprise there, eh?

Hey, he SAID to go ahead and hijack the thread....!

Yes, I did.

And, I am loving it!

What fun!

Can I just say how cool it is that we can embed video on this board (way to go Chris!!)

...oh, and I love that movie. :heart:

That is awesome!

Our Webmasters absolutely rock!

I am going to use the heck out of that feature.

BTW- I still need that video of the arrows that lop off turkeys heads if anyone can find it.

I'm so Glad you made it here! Great TR can't wait for more! :banana:

Man, everybody is here!

Thanks.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Man - I was off the boards due to waaaay too much work to do, and look what happens - TCD appears! And, a 6 page (so far) report too! ;D

Really, TCD, I'm so glad to see you here! I've really missed your reports. They make it just like being back at the Fort.

So, keep it up! Can't wait for more of this report and the next one too!

Leslie

Hi Leslie!

I am glad to see you over here!

I have always enjoyed your trip reports, too.

If I remember right, you were planning a visit to BLT.

Has that happened yet?

If so, we could use a report over here.

If not, I would love to hear about it when you get back.

TCD

[Judy in Texas 150]

...And another in Texas.

Make that two in Texas...

Nice to see the real TCD is back and the amateur TCD'ers can get a refresher course.

[anolefan 8]

But, first I'm going to give you a special treat.

A Saturday installment!

That doesn't happen very often.

But, I am going to reward all the loyal readers.

It is great to be back.

TCD

Dude!

What are you doing online on a Saturday?

Not that I'm complaining, I just remember your posting style and this IS a treat for sure.

Can't wait for more.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Now, where were we?

Ah, yes . . .

We were at the support for the old FWRR trestle.

About to begin our journey through the wilderness in search of the old tracks.

Here we are, in that very spot, looking across the creek toward the dog park. In these two photos, you can clearly see the dog park fence:

Here's a look at the creek in this area. You can see that the creek curves off to the right here:

Remember those rocks we saw around the sidewalk that was poured over the railbed on the way to the Meadow Trading Post?

It is called ballast?

Well, look here.

Here we can clearly see an old railroad tie- and if you look toward the bottom of the photo, you can see the ballast:

Here at the edge of the concrete support, we can see the remnants of an old vertical pole:

From here, we are going to walk into the woods to follow the tracks. We have to go through this:

You can see the ballast all around here:

Here is an old tie:

And more ballast:

You can see a lot of ties in this photo:

Still more ties:

You can see the old rail bed here. All along here, all that is left is the ties and ballast. No rails:

To the left of the railbed is the canal. To the right is this swamp:

To follow the railway path, we have to walk through this brush:

In some places, all evidence of the old railroad is almost completely buried under debris:

It is tough going through here. But this is nothing compared to what we will encounter down the line:

You can see in this photo how the old line is almost completely obliterated by vines. These have died back considerably because of all the cold weather. Once spring arrives, this area will be impossible to travel through:

This tie tells us that we are still on the right path:

You can see a tie and ballast here:

We have arrived to the area of Horseshoe Bend.

The trees clear out a bit here, and it is a little more open.

We can see the canal over to our left, through the weeds:

Here, the path of the railroad takes a definite turn. We will not have any fallen trees to contend with here. But we will have plenty of tall weeds:

These weeds are taller than me, and I am going to walk through them. You can see a very narrow path through them. I figure this must be a trail used by the deer that live in this area:

From here, we are now walking parallel to the big canal, heading toward the 1500 loop.

The brush is thick here.

Will we be able to make it through?

What will we find here?

All will be revealed in the next post!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Make that two in Texas...

Nice to see the real TCD is back and the amateur TCD'ers can get a refresher course.

Check.

And, there are plenty of folks who can and have written great trip reports.

And I enjoy reading every one of them!

Dude!

What are you doing online on a Saturday?

Not that I'm complaining, I just remember your posting style and this IS a treat for sure.

Can't wait for more.

I know.

I promise you it would never happen during football season.

I am signing out now.

Maybe I can squeeze in another installment before Monday.

But, if not, I will be back then to pick up where we left off.

TCD

[LONE-STAR 370]

Well I said you never know and I guess you don't . Nice update.

[stefa70 205]

I remember hearing something about all good writers being a little wacky (think Dean Koontz, Stephen King) TCD, this report proves it! No way would I go stomping through that stuff. Don't you ever worry about snakes, gators, yetis, or even trolls? Every B rated horror movie I've watched in my life would be playing in my head, and I just might :wetpants:

[wdwbound 0]

Okay TCD, you just made my weekend and of course the cliffhanger.."will he make it back" type of trip report is something that will ensure my coming back to read till the end of your installments. Missing pics of the twins though, hope they are included soon, they are definitely photographic!

Nancy