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DaveInTN's Christmas 2012 Extravaganza (AKA 700 Photos Of Anna and Food)


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Well folks, the time has come. Time for me to start my latest Trip Report. The DaveInTN gang recently returned home from a 2 week stay at the Fort. Two weeks! That's a lot of time. Which means a lot of pictures. Of a lot of food.

Yep, I took some pood forn shots to share. And of course, I have a lot of Anna pictures. And some pictures of the rest of the gang as well.

It's gonna take a while. I have a hard time focusing these days. I tend to wander a bit. And frankly, I plain old lose interest from time to time. Plus, I can't promise it'll all be interesting. This report won't be for the faint of heart. Or anyone with a love of excitement. We travel with 5 kids afterall. So the going gets slow at times. But I can promise some Anna pics. That seems to be my ace, so I play the card when I have to. And there just may a couple of beer pics to boot.

Well, now that I've sold you on how awesome this report is going to be, let's move forward.

As is customary for me, I like to begin with some foreshadowing....some headlines to give you an idea of things to come. So, for the Christmas 2012 Edition of DaveInTN's trip reports, here is what we have:

  • YMCA!
  • The Reason For The Season
  • All Aboard the Damn Judi Dench History Extravaganza
  • For Unto You Is Born This Day
  • What Am I, A Drunk?
  • Is This The Best They Can Do?
  • You Stick A Guy With a Camera In A Restricted Area, What Do You Expect?
  • STELLA!!!
  • Further Proof That I Am Getting Old
  • The Moose Is On The Loose
  • She Must Be Getting Verklempt
  • Crappy New Year!
  • Our Best Meal Of The Trip!
  • No, Wait…THIS Was Our Best Meal Of The Trip!
  • All Hail…The Oompah Belly!

Now that we have that out of the way, let's all board the Fun Bus. INC and the girls are already onboard. The van is fired up. Climb into a seat and away we go!!

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Great update, Dave! I loved the safari commentary. I think you should become a driver for the safari. You are a lot better than what they have there now. It's funny that you mention stopping to see sh

Don't forget Anna has LOTS of Aunts and Uncles. I think we could arrange an evening or afternoon for 2 :)

Hey Carol, for further clarification, I asked Anna. Her response was "это отстой обезьяны окурки".

Now that we are all aboard, let's get moving.

The girls had a half day of school on Friday, Dec 21, so we left home right after they got home. We were on the road at exactly noon CT. My plan was to take the route south through Alabama on I-65, hopping over to 231 in Montgomery and down from there. More often than not I take the Atlanta route, but being the weekend before Christmas, I didn't want to pass through Atlanta at 5pm on a Friday. So Alabama it was.

Everyone was excited to hit the road. This trip was highly anticipated by all!

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We didn't need to make a potty stop until we crossed the AL border. We hit our usual rest area...the Welcome Center with the rocket!

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Don't you just love my artful picture taking...getting the trailer AND the rocket in the same shot?

Talented, I tell ya.

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I was really Jonesing for a cup of coffee at this point, and the rest area had a coffee machine. I think a cup was a buck or maybe $1.50. I only had a $5, so the machine gave me change and I got some of those new $1 Presidential coins. Cool! I hadn't seen those yet, even though I don't think they are that new. I also got an old Susan B Anthony dollar coin. Had no idea those were in circulation.

It doesn't take much to thrill me.

Anyways, we drove on and I enjoyed the coffee. We made it through Birmingham and Montgomery, and by 6:30 I was ready to stop. It was BLACK out, and getting quite cold. We were in Troy, AL at that point, so we stopped at Deer Run RV park, which was recommended by TNBob. It was a decent place to stop for the night, and had the cleanest bath houses we'd seen in a while. Nice!

I snapped a few pictures in the morning before we pulled out.

Our site.

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The outside of the bath house / rec hall.

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There was a bit of highway noise at the pull thru sites...this was how close we were to Hwy 231.

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But it wasn't enough noise to keep anyone awake.

The check in building.

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And that's enough of that.

We continued south on 231, and within an hour or so we hit Dothan.

On our last trip south, we followed the TnBob bypass of Dothan. But this time I wanted to grab breakfast and gas, so we went through town. As it turns out, there is a Sam's Club in Dothan with a Chick Fil A right in front of it. Sweet!!

I filled up the tank at Sam's while INC and the girls headed inside the CFA.

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One disappointment....INC and I wanted their oatmeal (which is the bomb), but they were out that morning. So I got the next best thing...Chicken Minis!!

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I got INC a bagel sammich.

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Gwen got her usual chicken biscuit.

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Being early, and being Saturday, there was little traffic in Dothan, so before long we were at the Florida border and on I-10.

This shot is called "Minnie In My Mirror"....or Objects in your Mirror May be Minnier Than They Appear. :rofl2:

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We drove, and drove, and drove. One thing I don't like about the Alabama route...it seems to drag on for me. But we made progress, and before too long we saw the landmark that always stands for my family as proof that you are almost there.....coming up.

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WooHoo!! BUT, just a picture of the van and camper at your house, come on, let's get goin!!!

Patience my dear Carol! And I already posted more...

Yay! You must have been feeling my emotions as I posted on your Smokie Mtn TR! I'm ready for the Fun Bus to hit the road! :)

Glad you have a seat. Now buckle up.

Glad you bowed down to the TCD pressure! I'm in!

Oh, there was no doubt I was starting a TR. But it's fun to mess with him. :rofl3:

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First page on two tr's this week! Yay me! :D

yay for you! You are quite the overachiever this week.

Yay! I'm in! Can't wait to see some Anna pictures...I :heartsmiley: me some Anna!

Then you won't be disappointed.

I am in, looks like a fun trip report, even with a chapter entitled 'Crappy New Year!' (Can only imagine what that might mean...)

Yeah....we'll get to that.

Count me in!!! Gotta get my fix since we don't hit the Fort until June. TGFTR's! :jumpforjoy

I know the feeling.

Hooray! I'm in for the duration. Bring it on! I know y'all made it to the Fort on Saturday, because I saw you there with my own eyes. Looking forward to hearing all about it.

TCD

Yes we did! Coming up...

Wait!!!

You didn't tell me you were going to drive through Alabama. I-65 is not that far from me. I could have had my bags packed in no time at all and been waiting for you at the Athens exit.

All right carry on.

Are we there yet?

Bob was supposed to give you the message to be ready. But he was too busy crying about being left behind himself.

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Well, I'll give you credit for not leaving us hanging for days with just a picture of the van.

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