Fort Wilderness

I am off to Norfolk, VA next week to do a two year tour at sea and I will be leaving the family behind in the Tampa area.  We decided to get one more family camping trip in before I left so we went off to Disney's Fort Wilderness with tickets for Blizzard Beach in hand.  Tropical Storm Fay did (and is continuing to do) its best to give us a wet weekend.  We couldn't cook out last night because we had too much rain.  Woke up this morning to sun so we were pretty excited to get to Blizzard Beach.  We got in about 5 hours before the rain rolled in.  It was a good day and frankly I had had enough water time.  The parking lot was about 1/2 full but that was enough people for me.  

St. Augustine

What a great town.  We got up yesterday and went for a run on the beach.  Hard to believe how long it has been since I have done that.  After that Karen and Erik went to the beach while Jason and I went windsurfing.  Being the confident type that I am I declined any refresher lessons and asked for the biggest sail they had (bigger takes more strength and skill to control).  It was amazing how fast it all came back to me.  Jason's one and only windsurfing experience was in Saipan and the breeze that day was not very strong (read: it was a lot of standing on your board waiting for something).  We had a pretty good breeze yesterday and Jason got the hang of it rather quickly.    The fun really started when we found ourselves surfing through a pod of dolphins.  Pretty neat to have dolphins swimming a couple feet from you while you are windsurfing.  Jason was still at the stage where he was relying on his muscles instead of his balance so he was tired after 45'.  We still had 15' left so the owner let us trade in our windsurfers for the Hobie Cat.

Later in the afternoon we went shopping to get Erik some school clothes (he has a uniform code this year) and then we got some dinner at a local restaurant.  We finished up the night with a ghost tour of St. Augustine.  It was a good tour of the old city but not very scary.  I always wanted to do one of the Gettysburg ghost tours but now not so much.

Tomorrow we are planning on leaving early so Jason can get to his high school orientation.  That means everything except electricity and water will be packed up tonight and we will sleep with the slides in so we can get going right when we wake up.

We saved the best for last

Well, we have arrived at Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine, FL.  We have always been very pleased with the FL state parks and this one already tops our list.  We got here about 5:00 p.m. and after we set up the RV we headed to the beach (about a half mile bike ride).  We spent the next hour playing in the surf.  Hard to believe that it has been 3 years since I have been to the Atlantic ocean.  Tomorrow Jason and I are going to rent windsurfing boards and get in some wind surfing and then we are going to do a ghost tour in St. Augustine.

I should have listened to my gut!

Well, we were getting off of I-85 at exit 4, the exit for Fair Play, SC.  Only about 2 miles to go to Thousand Trails Carolina Landing.  The exit was a bit confusing and I ended up going the wrong way towing the Element.  We needed to do a U-Turn.  It didn’t look like any good spots to do it so my gut reaction was to stop the RV, unhook the Element (because you can’t back up when you are towing a vehicle with all 4 wheels down) and then do a 3 point turn.  I spied a small parking lot and against my better judgment I decided to go for the U-turn.  A couple of seconds later I found myself perpendicular in the road blocking both lanes of traffic and facing a 3 foot deep dish.  Needless to say several expletives came to mind (and were probably verbalized) while Karen and I were scrambling out of the RV to attempt to unhook the Element.  If the toad (the towed vehicle remember) is directly behind you it is a fairly easy process to unhook it.  Needless to say we were in the middle of the turn so the toad was nowhere near directly behind the RV.  Thanks to Karen’s persistence on pulling out the connecting pins and me flagging traffic around us, while offering apologies to everyone as they came by, we got the Element disconnected.  Yes, that one aged me a bit :-O

 

The campground looks excellent and I am kind of wishing we had more time to enjoy it but since we have 400 miles to drive tomorrow I don’t think it will be happening too much.  Oh well, time to go get laundry out of the Laundromat (the next RV will have a washer and dryer).

Today we went to Appomattox Court House where the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to the Army of the Potomac.  It was only 26 miles from our TT Lynchburg park.  This is more of what I consider a "local" attraction.  The park was very enjoyable.  When compared to Gettysburg and Antietam it isn't much but when you think about it as the "Reuniting of the Country" then it seems appropriate.  We listened to a re-enactor who portrayed Cpl Henry Coleman whose company was formed in Appomattox Court House in March of 1862 and was disbanded in April of 1865.  He gave an hour long presentation that was really impressive.  He stayed totally in character the entire time and by the end of his presentation he had Karen in tears. A very impressive event.  I am trying to upload a picture of Karen, Jason and Erik in front of the the Mclean house where the actual surrender took place.  We will see if I can get it to upload.  Oh well, I have been trying for 10' so I will call it quits since it is dinner time.

I almost forgot

I almost forgot to show our latest States Visited map.

Let me get you caught up

Sorry that I haven't written for awhile.  The last week has been very hectic!  Karen and I ran the 5 miler and Jason and Erik ran the two miler last Sunday for the Hall of Fame race.  On Monday morning we left Ohio for Thousand Trails Hershey to visit Karen's family and go to Hershey Park.

At our last fuel stop (about 80 miles from Hershey) I tried to start the toad (RV lingo for Towed vehicle) and it would not start.  So, when we got to Hershey we had to unhook the Element and then maneuver the RV to jump the Element since the RV batteries are under the entrance steps.  We got our campsite set up and went to visit Karen's mom and dad about 20' down the road.  When we went to leave their house we had to get the Element jump started again.  Not a good trend.  Fortunately when the Element died we were about 2500' from TT Hershey (the distance detail is due to the fact that the car came to a dead stop right next to a sign telling us the distance :-))  Between multiple jump starts and a 2500' tow assist we got the vehicle back to the campsite.  Needless to say my next day of "just hanging around" got turned into replace the battery and take the car to the Honda dealer to get it checked out.

We spent the next day at Hershey park with Karen's family and our friends the Mitchells.  Hershey park is always a fun time.

Thursday turned into the "just hanging around" day we needed.  All of the kids slept at the RV and then we spent the day just having fun at TT Hershey.

On Friday we headed to Thousand Trails Lynchburg.  Like all of the other TT parks we are very impressed with Lynchburg.  Hershey seemed to have a younger cliental and more families.  Here at Lynchburg we have seen one other family.  We went to the pool last night and an old lady came up to the gate on her rascal (electric scooter) and started giving me a lecture about why the gate was locked.  Being the nice guy I am I helped her maneuver her rascal through the men's locker room out to the pool (it was the only route that didn't involve steps).  She promptly became my best friend and wouldn't stop talking to me.  Karen proceeded to engross herself in checking her email to leave me to deal with my new friend.  Karen will pay for this :-O

Today we are planning on going to Natural Bridge, VA since it is listed as one of the "local attractions" for TT Lynchburg.  It is 50 miles away and it is one of the closer "local attractions".  The family doesn't seem too excited to do an extra 100 miles of driving so it remains to be seen what we will do today.

Hall of Fame Week

We are in Canton, OH right now visiting my mom and dad. This is a big week for Canton since it is the Pro Football Hall of Fame week. We got here Thursday and my sister and her family came up and joined us on Friday. We all were here in time to watch the balloon festival Friday night and then as an added bonus we woke up to the sound of hot air balloons flying overhead Saturday morning. Yes, they do make noise when they use their burner to heat the air in the balloon. Above is a picture from our camping spot in my mom and dad's driveway.

Tomorrow me, Karen, Erik and JT are signed up to run in the Hall of Fame 2mile and 5 mile races. Here is a picture of me and Karen at the Hall of Fame for our race packet pickup. The last time we were at the Hall of Fame together was almost 19 years ago when I took Karen there on our honeymoon (she picked the location, not).

Mammoth Cave KY

We spent the day at Mammoth Cave, KY.  Mammoth Cave National Park preserves the cave system and a part of the Green River valley and hilly country of south central Kentucky. This is the world's longest cave system, with more than 365 miles explored.  If you have never been to a cave before it was well worth the visit.  Below is a picture of Karen, Jason and Erik at the "New Entrance" to the cave system.  It is called the "New Entrance" since it was created by a competing cave guide back in the 1920s.  This tour only covered about 3/4 of a mile but it took 2 hours.  The next picture is one taken in a cavern called "Grand Central".  Apparently there are about 8 tunnels leading off of this one room.  All in all it was a fun trip but I am now of the opinion if you have seen one cave you have seen them all.  Tomorrow we are off to Ohio.

Diamond Caverns

Well, we are at Diamond Caverns finally.  I took us out of Stone Mountain and dealt with Atlanta traffic.  17 miles in 30', boy did I miss that while I was in Afghanistan!  Karen took over the driving about 40 miles east of Nashville.  I am not sure if Nashville was worse than Atlanta or not.  She got mountains, rain and traffic all in the same driving stint.  Oh well, she is a seasoned driver now :-)

Yesterday we had a blast at Stone Mountain.  We got there at 1000 for the park opening and did the Sky Hike first.  Good thinking on our part.  A YMCA Summer Camp of 200 kids showed up 30' later.  We spent the rest of the day touring the mountain and taking in the sites.  I will have to let Karen send you the pix via snapfish since they are too big for me to post via my data card.  Tomorrow I will use my cellphone to take some pictures of our vacation so I can post them to the blog (there are some advantages to having a cheap cellphone camera).

We are busy trying to get our portable satellite dish to work.  At the rate things are going this cheap portable satellite dish will be going back to Camping World.  More to follow.

If you are keeping track (because we are) here is our latest "Visited States" tally

Stone Mountain

We decided to take in the laser show at Stone Mountain Sunday night incase it rained for Monday nights show.  The show was very impressive with the music, lasers and fireworks.  Apparently it is a special show for the 25th Anniversary.  I was amazed at how many people were in attendance for the 30' show.  It was jammed packed.

We made our way back to the RV and pretty much everyone called it a night.  We want to get an early start tomorrow for all of the attractions at the park.  More to follow this evening after we spend the day at the park.

Return from Afghanistan

Well, I am back from my trip "Downrange" and the only fireworks I will see tonight will be here at Stone Mountain Park outside of Atlanta, GA.  This is day one of our 18 day trip.  By far our longest trip in the RV yet.  Karen is all excited because we can add some stickers to our state map by the time the trip is over.  

It was about an 8 hour drive today.  Most of it on I-75.  I took us out to 75 and about 20 miles up the road before giving Karen a turn.  It has been awhile since she has driven and she was a little rusty.  As we pulled out of the rest stop the conversation went something like this;

Karen:  Oh shit (a bunch of cars were merging in front of us)

Bruce:  Don't worry about them.  Just keep going your speed and let them maneuver around you.  It might also be a good idea to drive on the road instead of the shoulder.

Karen:  Bruce, I haven't driven the RV in 6 months and I am a little rusty.

Bruce:  Let's pray you get unrusty in the next 75 yards before we hit that bridge.

Just wanted to make a quick post before we go and jump in the pool with Jason and Erik.

Last Post before heading Down Range (part Duex)

I like using this Blogger program but it is hard to manage pictures so I broke this post up into two pieces.  On Saturday Jason had a Lacrosse game so it was an early wake up call to get JT to the game on time.  The plan was for Karen to take JT to the game and for me to get the RV packed up, bring it home and then get back to the game.  At the rate we were going we were going to miss the game.  As I was driving by the field it looked like there was enough room in the parking lot for me to get the RV in there so I went for it.  Good thing I did because I got there 2 minutes before half time only to discover that Dan Sanders had a surprise for me.  As some of you know I have been helping out as an assistant coach on Jason's Lacrosse team (my main duty is to stand behind the goal and throw the ball back on the field).  Dan had everyone sign a poster for me and then they presented that to me at half time in front of the crowd along with a photo album and a T-shirt that had a picture of the Hernando Crusaders Lacrosse team.  It was an incredibly moving event for me and I can't thank Dan and Mario (the head coach) enough not only for this gesture but also for allowing me to coach with them. When I found out that I was going to Afghanistan I dropped out of Ironman Arizona and spent my training time helping out with Jason's Lacrosse team.  It has been fun spending time with JT and getting to know the other kids on the team.  I definitely made the right decision on that one.  

We got the RV home and cleaned out and then took it to storage.  Kind of weird knowing that I won't be driving the RV for a couple of months.  We have a big trip planned for when I return so it is something to look forward too. 

Last Post before heading Down Range

Well, this was our last camping trip before I head "down range" for a couple months of Temporary Duty.  It is Easter Weekend and our good friends, the Mitchell's were in town.  Their kids had Spring Break this week and they came down to FL on Monday.  We met them Thursday night at 1000 Trails, Orlando where we stayed in the RV.  Tony has stayed with me before in the old RV when we did the MiamiMan Triathlon last Veteran's Day weekend.  This weekend we decided to join them for a day at Universal Studio Orlando.  I have never ridden so many roller coasters in my life!  Everyone had a great time.  At the end of the day we went to see the Fear Factor Live show and after watching it I thought, "I can do this".  So I let Tony talk me into trying out for it (I am sure Tony has a different version of the story but since it is my blog it is my version).  Long story short we got picked for the show and we had a great time.  The first event was a hang from a pull-up bar 40' above the floor.  This contest eliminated 2 of the 6 contestants so I just had to outlast two people.  James (the guy on the far left of the picture) ended up winning the hang so he got to pick his team mate for the next event and he chose Tony.   I got Felicia for my team mate.  The next event found me hanging from a rope while Felicia had to stick her hand in a tank full of eels and grab a bean bag to throw to me.  Her aim was WAY off and we didn't do to well.  Tony advanced on to the finals (he ended up 2nd) and I got to take the walk of shame :-(  All in all it was a fun time and Tony ended up getting two free tickets for his efforts.

Blog update

OK, a couple of folks have commented that I haven't updated the blog lately so here goes (and I guess that proves people are reading it).  I have done a couple of loads of laundry now and my take away is it works but I need to get a spin dryer instead of ringing by hand.  I bought a rack to hang the clothes on to let them dry so that helps.  Cooking has been going well.  It is amazing how many things you can cook in a cast iron skillet.  I have done a couple of steaks and a couple of chicken breasts.  I have done bacon/eggs and corned beef hash on the grill a couple of times.

During the week I have been leaving for class at 0630 and getting back about 1730 so cooking dinner and clean up leave me with a couple of hours to watch TV, read or go for a mountain bike ride.  On the weekends I have considerably more free time.  I usually get in a good 30 to 60 minute run and I try to mountain bike for awhile.  Today I think I am going to go get some sushi for dinner.

I have brought a couple of movies from home but since I have already seen them they are only kind of interesting.  I think I will have to invest in a satellite system when I go to Norfolk.  I guess I can save up all the extra pays I am going to get while I am downrange and treat myself to the satellite system when I get back.

It was COLD last night

Temperature got down to 26 degrees.  I saw that it was going to get chilly in the weather forecast but when I went to bed it was still in the high 50s.  Got up this morning and noticed the thermostat said 54 degrees!  Quickly turned on the furnace since the lone electric space heater wasn't cutting it.  Then I went to make a pot of coffee and discovered the water wasn't working.  Uh oh.  I went outside to find my water hose frozen.  At least nothing had ruptured so that was a good sign.  I bent the entire length of the hose with my hands and that was able to free up the ice enough that I could get the water running.  I guess I will have to invest in some heat tape to wrap around the hose to keep it warm when I full time on the RV in Norfolk.

Laundry Day

Boy, it is pouring hear in Fayetteville, NC so I decided it would be a great time to do the laundry.  We didn't buy a big enough RV where a washer/dryer was an option so I have to either go to the Laundromat or come up with another answer.  After scouring the web I came across the WonderWasher and I decided for $45 I would give it a try.  Needless to say it involves a lot of muscle power but that is OK since I am using the RVs electricity to power the electric heater right now (well, I am getting warm by that and muscle power :-))  It does a fairly good job cleaning and rinsing clothes.  It will do as many rinse cycles as you want to do.  I didn't buy the spin dryer yet since I wanted to see if the WonderWasher would work out.  Thus I have to wring the clothes by hand and then hang them in the shower with the fan blowing on them to dry them out.  The system works but I have to make sure I am not planning on taking a shower anytime soon since the clothes and me won't fit in the shower together (another laundry alternative I considered).  I am done for the weekend so now I need to figure out what to do with myself.  I am thinking of going to Home Depot to buy another electric heater since it is supposed to get below freezing tonight.

FT Bragg, NC

Well, I am here.  Camped at the FT Bragg Family Camp known as Smith Lake.  It is located right next to the Army Airfield.  I sure hope the helicopters don't keep flying all night or there won't be a lot of sleep tonight :-O

Smith Lake is pretty rustic.  It is located outside of the base.  It appears there are only about 12 full hookup sites and maybe the same number of water/electric sites.  The camp is about half full.  It looks like there is going to be some great running here (plenty of hills) and some great mountain biking.  They actually have 3 trails.  I rode the beginner trail today and it wasn't very challenging which was probably good.  Tomorrow I start class so I am not sure if I will get a chance to ride or not.

The roads in SC were very bumpy.  I almost stopped at South of the Border for fuel but I remembered the last time I was there about 14 years ago at 0200 in the morning.  Many unsavory people around.  Gas was the cheapest by far in SC.  

The trip begins!

OK, so the trip was supposed to begin yesterday.  Sunday night I decided to put my route into Mapquest just in case I had problems with the GPS.  While looking at the maps I noticed that I was adding a little more than 400 miles to my trip by going to Indian Spring State Park, GA and Carolina Landing 1000 Trails campground.  Whoa!  I didn't want to be doing that.  The trip was going to be long enough already.  And the trip from Carolina Landing to FT Bragg brought me south and than east to go north.  It was definitely the great circle route.

I did some quick research and discovered a Resorts Preferred International (RPI) park in SC that was about 70% of the way to FT Bragg.  I decided to give that park a try since we have an RPI membership with our 1000 Trails membership.  So instead of leaving Monday I got on the road Tuesday at 0550.  The trip was uneventful until the end.  Gabby (our GPS) took me down a dirt road and like a fool I went along thinking "isn't technology a wonderful thing?"  Two miles later the road was a dead end and of course I was towing the Pumpkin (our Honda Element) so I can't just do a three point turn.  Get out, on hook the Element, back it off to the side, three point turn (ok, more like an 11 point turn) the RV, hook up the Element and get going again.  Turns out I went about 10 miles out of the way.  Oh well, the point of this trip is to learn lessons for when I move to Norfolk so that goal was achieved early :-)

Now I find myself at The Oaks at Point South RV park.  Seems like a nice enough park but right now a torrential rain is moving through so I am not doing much exploring.

On the way up I stopped at the Camping World in Savannah, GA.  Camping World is to RVers as Starbucks is to yuppies.  Can't pass one up if you see it.  

Now that we have finally got the RV out of FL we can proudly display a state map with the states that we have visited colored-in.  Only three states but it is better than one!  

MaxxFan

Today's project was to get some ventilation in the RV.  I am a little disappointed that though our RV has two a/c units (which can make it plenty chilly) it only has one roof vent to the outside.  Our old Class C had a vent in the front and a power vent (i.e., a vent that had a 12V fan that could blow air in or out) in the bedroom.  With that combination you could really get a nice outside breeze flowing through the Rv.  Our Itasca only has one vent (not counter the bathroom vent) and it doesn't have a fan.  After posting a couple of questions to the forum I follow iRV2-Winnebago owners someone replied that there was probably already 12V power to the vent since it is easiest to build RVs pre-wired.  So our research turned to a powered vent.  There are really only two choices Fantastic Vent and MaxxFan.  The Fantastic vent, while a great product, involved switching out the vent which meant pulling up sealant which after our class C experience I did not really want to do.  The MaxFan just bolts on top of the existing vent.  What could be better :-)

We went with a TurboMaxx 

and $197 and 2 hours of Karen and me

 working we had a fan.  Actually it was more me because Buster ended up sitting on Karen's lap and she could only hand me tools :-)  

Tomorrow I will start loading the RV for my trip.  For my deployment I got issued warm weather and cold weather gear but I have a feeling that I won't want the cold weather gear so I am planning on leaving that behind.  I will still bring it to my training though just in case they tell me to take it.

Getting ready to travel

I will be transferring to Norfolk, VA this summer and leaving the family back in FL.  The plan is to live on our RV while in Norfolk.   I am going to class next week in in North Carolina so I have decided to take the RV and use it as a "test drive" for Norfolk.  One of my questions was, "how am I going to get internet connectivity" while I am living out of my RV.  Some campgrounds have wi-fi but most don't.  Internet connectivity is a must.   There are a couple of options

1) find free spots in town (e.g., library, Starbucks, sitting in the car  on the street where I find someone that has an open wi-fi connection :-))

2) satellite connectivity

3) cellular EVDO connectivity

I decided to try Verizon's EVDO.  My plan costs $50/month and I will be able to suspend it while I am out to sea.  I have it up an running right now so I am excited to see how well it works out on the road.

Tomorrow we bring the RV home and Karen and I are going to install the MaxxFan we purchased.  Standby for a report on that install.

Things are crazy here

Start of the President's Day weekend and we got a lot happening.  We invited Karen's sister, Colleen, and her family down to do a couple days at Disney and then come hang out at home for a couple of days.  Karen has been trying like crazy to get a room at the Disney Boardwalk (President's Day weekend, what are the odds) with a back up plan for us to use the RV at 1000 Trails, Orlando.  Well, I am sitting here listening to a dog (Buster can be a heavy sleeper at times) snore mixed with all of the other normal camping sounds.  

Me, Jason and Buster brought the RV over yesterday afternoon/evening since Karen will be taking Erik to the big end-of-year soccer tournament and then come over this afternoon.  We got here right at sunset and checked in.  Jason was busy talking to Colleen on the phone and they ended up pulling up right behind us as we were heading to our campsite so that part came together well.

Jason had a lot of fun hanging with his cousin Alex and cooking dinner.  We ended up just throwing some shrimp on the b-b-que.  Worked out great.

Alex slept in Erik's bunk last night and watched the Incredibles.  Colleen thought she would be sneaky and start the movie half way through.  She got to deal with a wide awake kid who was busy proclaiming that he wanted to watch another movie after the Incredibles was over :-O

Boy, that was fun

We spent the night hanging around the campfire talking and everyone got a pretty good nights sleep.  It was a beautiful breezy morning and Buster was itching to get a run in today.  Karen and I got up and had a couple cups of coffee and then took Buster out for his run.  The conditions were perfect and we just ran down roads that meandered along the Homosassa Spring River.  When we got back we decided to for go breakfast and stop for lunch at the Asian Bistro.  When I think of Homosassa Florida I don't exactly think of fine Asian cuisine but Karen had read good things about the restaurant.  She was right.  On the way there (it was only 8 miles from the campsite) we got lost twice.  Always fun trying to do a three point turn on little winding roads.  Even more entertaining pulling a U-turn through the church parking lot as church is letting out.  Well, I figured that was our excitement for the trip.  Boy, was I wrong!

We got to our parking spot at Castle Keep Storage and prepared to park.  Our spot is very sandy so Karen and I had thrown down several bags of mulch to try and build up the parking spot.  It works fine if you get on the right spot but a foot right or left and you are stuck in the sand.  We were stuck in the sand.  Much trying and spinning of wheels only got us deeper.  I finally went to the office and called Good Sams Club for our free towing.  It was going to be a 2-3 hour wait so I asked the owner of the storage if I could borrow a rake to try and dig us out while we were waiting.  Luckily we have levelers on our RV so we were able to jack the RV up really high and dig the tires out and put wood and anything else handy under the tires.  After about 10 tries we broke free.  Good thing because my free towing was going to cost me $180.  I talked the owner into giving me a temporary better spot until another spot opened up.  At least we are on concrete now.

Interestingly enough when I took the rake back to the owner he said, "Oh, if I had know you were going to dig yourself out I would have helped you".  I replied, "Hey, no problem.  It gave us something to do while we were waiting for the tow truck" as I was thinking "what did you think I was asking for the rake for"?

Homosassa Springs

Everyone was feeling the itch to go camping this weekend even though Erik had a soccer game and Jason had a lacrosse game about 90' from Spring Hill.  I attended the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) Southeast Area Rally (SEA Rally) this week in Spring Hill (that worked out well) and I got a flyer for Camp -n- Water RV resort in Homosassa Springs, FL.  That is only about 34 miles from us so we said, "hey, let's run up there Saturday night and camp out".  Everyone was game and so here we are.

It is a very nice clean park on the Homosassa River, created by the Homosassa spring.  If you have come to visit us you have probably been to the Homosassa State Park.  We are all clustered inside the RV right now because the no-see-um bugs are just a little too much.  We just watched a little ol' lady walk by with her dog on a leash.  Bu

ster started growling like there was no tomorrow.  We took a closer look since Buster usually doesn't growl at other dogs.  It was a cat.  The lady was walking her cat on a leash.  I felt like letting Buster out the door just to put the poor cat out of its misery ;-)  Jason and Erik could not stop laughing.  Oh well, the plan is to fire up the grill and cook us up some steaks.

At the FMCA SEA rally I purchased an Electronic Monitoring System (EMS) and

 I installed it yesterday.  Always a bit of a "pucker factor" when I install something that impacts something we absolutely need to

 camp (e.g., Joe and I installing the water heater).  It only took 30' and it appears to be working fine.  I purchased a couple of other items at the rally also this week.  I bought an Extreme Vent to get rid of those obnoxious odors and I got some quick connect adapters for the water filter and hose.  All said that took about 10' to install all of those items.

Well, Karen is telling me to go set up the charcoal grill s

o we can do some steaks.  Right now we are drinking the bottle of white wine that Bill and Donna Davis bought us from the Disney World Marathon.  Thanks Bill and Donna, we are thinking of you while we are drinking it.  More tomorrow.

DIsney's Fort Wilderness

The whole Black family (Don and Eva, Laura, Lyle, and their kids from Canton, OH, Brenda and Jeff and their kids from Severn, MD) met us at Disney World for the weekend.  They were all staying at The Grand Floridian and we stayed at Disney's Fort Wilderness.  They had been there for three days when we got there Friday, the last weekend in January (I am writing this post late).

If you haven't been to Fort Wilderness it is a treat.  The campsites are big and clean.  Lots  to do.  It costs, about $61 per night, but you know you are not in a state park.  We were amazed at the amount of "yard crap" (decorations people set out in their RV, campsites, etc) that people had on display.  We got there Friday before sunset (always easier to setup camp while it is light) and got camp set up.  We then got together with our friends Bill and Donna Davis (yes the same ones we saw the weekend before and ran the Disney World Marathon with the weekend before that) and had dinner at Artist Pointe restaurant i

n Fort Wilderness Lodge.  It reviled the food at the Flying Fish!

Saturday morning we got an early start and headed over to Animal Kingdom where we were to meet everyone.  We got there early enough that we decided to sneak a ride on Expedition Everest.  What a ride!  When we got off we ran into everyone.  We were to meet for lunch at the Yak and Yeti restaurant.  We had enough time before our reservation so me, Jason, Jenna and Megan went on the Kali River Rapids.  Given the cool temperature and light on/off rain it might not have been our wisest choice but what a blast!  Everyone got soaked but since there was no line they let us just stay on the raft and go around again.

We ended up doing the usual rides to include Expedition Everest 5 more times.  We left the park at closing (1700) and headed back to Fort Wilderness since everyone was coming over to the RV for dinner.  Buster was hosting :-)  Karen made a big pot of chili and I threw a bunch of dogs on the grill.   The clan had to do the planes-trains-and automobiles thing to get over to the RV but they eventually arrived.  I think everyone had a good time.  At one point we had 13 people and one big dog in the RV! Laura's daughter Eva had a great time driving the RV :-)

Sunday morning, despite the best of intentions, Karen, Buster and I didn't go for a run.  We just lazed around and made breakfast and go ready to go.  We decided to swing by the Grand Floridian and if they would let us park we would surprise everyone.  The look on the security guards face was worth it.  He directed me to the back of the lot and said, "best of luck".  No problem.  I found four empty spots together and parked in the middle of them.  It is nice to have an RV in a crowded parking lot.  You don't waste time trying to figure out where you parked it :-)  We had a great lunch with everyone, decided it was too cold to hit the pool so we headed home.  That concluded our three weekends of Disney World.  Hard to top that.

Downtown Disney

We decided to take in Mass at the local church right down the road from 1000 Trails on Sunday morning and then head to Downtown Disney.  The service was great but the location appeared to be an old roadside stand that used to sell oranges to tourists.  Very cozy ;-)  

We went to DT Disney and had lunch at the House of Blues.  I think between marathon weekend last weekend and this weekend we have decided that the service is very slow. Maybe it is because of the fact that we have always had 6 or more guests so there is an automatic 18% gratuity and thus the server realizes he doesn't have to work hard for a tip.

Joe and I took Jason and Erik to Disney Quest while Karen and Leona went to a movie.  We met up at Wolfgang Puck's for drinks and to watch the end of the AFC championship.  We then met Bill Davis for dinner at Portobellos.  Good to see Bill again.  He hasn't changed much since last weekend :-O   We will be having dinner with him and his wife Donna next weekend.  Three weekends in a row.

This morning we are going to have breakfast, break camp and go visit the Lake Ridge Winery.

Joe and Leons's first night

Well, Karen's mom and dad had their first night camping in an RV.   Of course a huge weather front came through with 30 knot winds and lots of rain.  We turned on the TV in time to see that there was a tornado warning for our area.  Luckily Karen and I looked at the weather yesterday morning and decided that maybe we should do something for dinner other than burgers on the grill outdoors ;-)  We decided to try out fondu in the new U shaped dinette.  It worked out great.

Karen and I converted the dinette into a bed and slept on that last night.  It was a little bit tight but doable.  We started out the night with the air conditioner running and by 0630 I had to turn on the furnace.  It was 45 degrees when I took Buster for a walk this morning.  The plan today is to have breakfast, go to 11oo Mass and then off to Downtown Disney for a day of fun.  We will be having dinner with Bill Davis who is in town for a conference.  It has been a long time since we have seen Bill ... not!  Him and his wife Donna were here last weekend for the Marathon.

Hott Rod Installation

Well, the hot water heater on our new RV is LP gas only. I really want to have a choice between gas and electricity because when I am hooked up at a campground I much rather use electricity and save my LP gas. I searched my forum ( iRV2.com ) and came up with the answer of installing the Hott Rod.

I ordered my Hott Rod from rvUpgrades.com and it arrived three days later.  I read the instructions and it seemed like a pretty straight forward installation.  Yes, I know that this installation voids my warranty but since the other choice involves and upgrade to a new water heater I decided to not worry about the warranty.

Joe, my father-in-law, and I started the project Friday night.  We figured we would tackle the outside portion and finish up the inside portion on Saturday.  The installation involves replacing the drain plug with the heating element.  Things went smoothly until we re-pressurized the system and discovered a trickle leak.  When we went to disassemble everything I forgot to de-pressurize the system and Joe and I got soaked.  Well, we went through this process again and once again I forgot to de-pressurize the system and water went everywhere.  When we finished up with the outside part Joe and I decided to fire up the LP gas portion of the water heater just to make sure it still worked.  It didn't.  We were hoping that we just got everything wet and when it dried out it would be fine.  We also now had an incentive to get the electrical element working since we were going camping the next day.  I knew no one would be excited about cold showers :-)

We finished up the inside portion and powered up the system.  It takes 45-90' to heat up the water.  We also shop vacuumed the outside portion to suck up as much of the water as possible.  At 0100 I let Buster out and decided to see if the water was hot.  It was :-)  I also decided to give the LP gas a try and it also worked.  What a relief.

Shakedown cruise in the Sunstar

We did our first over-nighter in the Sunstar last night.  Everyone was eager to try out the new RV so since we were pressed for time we decided to go to Hillsborough River State Park just for Saturday night.  Bruce, Jason and Buster picked up me and Erik from Erik's soccer game and we headed straight to the park.  Gabby (our Garmin Nuvio 650 GPS) ended up taking us down a very small country road but a friendly State trooper helped us get back on track.  We got to the park about an hour before sunset.  Boy, was it crowded!

We set up camp quickly because we had Bruce's friend Kevin, his wife Gina and his daughter Megan coming over for chili and campfire pie pizzas.  Megan brought a friend and that worked out well since Jason and Erik brought their Wii.  Apparently all four of them were busy playing tennis, golf and bowling since every one had their own Wii remote.  My chili was excellent as always (or so everyone thought :-))

To the left is a picture of Gina, Bruce and Kevin in the U shaped dinette.  We are impressed with how big and comfortable that dinette is and we expect to have lots of good meals and conversations there!

Erik was really tired and crawled into his bunk at 9 o'clock.  Jason stayed up playing Wii by himself while Bruce and Buster went for a walk around the campground with me.

It seems that everyone had a good nights sleep and Bruce enjoyed the ability to shut off the sleeping area from the lounge.  This let him make his coffee and read a book at 0600 while everyone else was sleeping.

We took Buster for a run around the park and we ended up going over the Hillsborough River and running the "Florida Trail".  We wanted to run 30' but it turned into a 50' run.  Oh well, good shake out run for Disney next week.

When we got back Jason was ready to try out his culinary skills and cook us some pancakes.  They were great.  After breakfast we got the RV ready to go.  Since we were so close to Camping World we decided to swing by and pick up a couple of things.  As we were walking out we ran into Joanne and Tom Heppe.  Joanne is our Lazy Days sales agent and she is the one that found us our great Itasca.  Thanks Joanne!

The ride home was uneventful (we decided not to use Gabby) and we quickly cleaned up the RV and then took it over to storage.  It looks like we won't be RVing again for two weeks when we will take Mom and Dad to 1000 Trails Orlando for their first RV trip.

Happy New Year

Well, we turned in the Jayco and got the Itasca Sunstar on New Year's eve.  Turned into a long day at Lazy Days but I had Jason to help me out.  He was a wild man when it came to unloading the Jayco and loading the Itasca!  Just get out of his way and let him do his thing.  He was stressing about where to put everything and I told him not to worry because no matter where we put it Mom was sure to move it.  We had a couple of minor issues but finally got on the road at 1630 and home about 1730.  Parked it in the driveway and hoped that my neighbors didn't land any fireworks on it.

Karen spent the next morning rearranging everything (didn't see that one coming :-))  We took the RV over to storage and parked it until this weekend.  Everyone wants to use it this weekend so we are going to take it to Hillsborough River State Park .  We will update the blog after the trip.  Below is a picture of our RV in our driveway.