August 2016 coming quickly....

[WorldWacky]

Okay, another day of prep gone. I've been pre-cooking meatballs for subs, taco meat, chicken for fajitas, a batch of empanadas, banana bread for snacking, etc.
The car went in for an oil change today. Camper is all set maintenance wise. (Still have to put everything that's in my living room into it though.) We seem to be all sorted with our route down. 95 to 695, yadda, yadda.
Okay, so NOW I need advice for our trip back up. DH's been looking at the map. (Yes, a physical atlas. We recently had a very bad experience with the Waze App taking us in circles around the Bronx so we're leery about trusting the GPS.) And have determined that our route North from Florida to Assateague State Park should be the following:
95N into VA
58E
664S
264E
64W
13 to Maryland
376
611 over the Verrazano Bridge

I'm so worried about overpasses or restricted roads. We've had a close call with an overpass before. We fit, but we would have preferred an alternate route.
Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[friendofeeyore]

Peg110, I love your sign!! I told DH he needs to do our using wood. I work @ a paper co., & we sell paper that is waterproof. DH used that paper to make our sign, the wood looks 100% better. Have fun @ the Fort & if you have time, keep us in your fun. We love lots of pictures!

 

[peg110]

Thanks @friendofeeyore, I am still not quite done with it. I picked up the Polyurethane today to protect it. The letter on it is the vinyl lettering. My friend has one of those printers and helped me out. I just wanted something more substantial that I didn't have to worry about it blowing away. Hopefully this weekend the Poly on it will be done.

Yesterday (Friday), I got the Furrion backup camera for the TT. I only got this brand because it was "Pre-Wired" for it. Yeah, right! I was only supposed to have to take the cover off, (4 screws) connect the wires, put the camera in it's place and 4 screws to hold it in. Then the "Pairing" was to be simple. Um..... NOPE!

Turns out the Pre-wiring that was done..... Yeah, the reversed the polarity. You can often times get away with that on AC, but DC, generally not! (should be careful on AC too though). Thankfully I have a bit of an electrical background and could fix it. Once it was fixed, it worked great (at least when I wasn't moving). Let's see how it goes traveling down the road.

I also got the Camco Vent Hood (yesterday) to cover my bathroom vent to keep the rain out while the vent is open and allowing me to keep the vent open while traveling to hopefully keep the TT cooler. Wasn't too bad to install. Took me about 30 - 45 minutes. Mostly because I am a BIG guy and I was trying to be REAL careful on the roof. Don't want to fall through you know! Plus, it was like 85 degrees with a humidity of like 10000% (okay more like 85%, but still crazy humid)

Any way, here is the end product of that.



It started to rain about 30 minutes after I got that put on. Maybe the rain will clean the dirty mess I left on the roof.


Next task, get those "Levels" put on the TT so it makes it easier to level the trailer. I was in the process of doing that after I put the vent cover on, but I wanted to move the TT first as there was quite a bit of grass growing under the edges that I wanted to clean up too. Since I had to move the TT to get it level in the first place (to mount the levels on the TT), I started this. I got it pulled up, Grass cut and then camper moved back in to place. Just taken off the hitch (not yet leveled) and down comes the rain.... Ugh. So that was a good time to come in and check the disboards.

 

[jeffrey1966]

I also got the Camco Vent Hood (yesterday) to cover my bathroom vent

Hey Paul, I see that your new vent cover is set in something like Dicor lap sealant or equivelant but just wondering what kind of hardware/fasteners are used. I can see 2 pieces poking through the slots in the flange on the right side.I need to install one as my son left the bathroom vent open and 20 minutes later we had a thunderstorm last weekend. the bathroom was soaked. You guys must be getting excited. Looking forward to following your report!

 

[peg110]

The sealant was what was on the bathroom vent when it was installed from the manufacturer. The hardware for installing the Camco vent cover are 4 L type brackets. They screw into the side of the ceiling vent and it actually "Floats" over top of the roof and does not sit on it.

On Amazon, where I bought this one, they also have a video which does a good job of showing/describing the installation. The flanges you see actually are on both sides. The other side doesn't stick out as much but it can be adjusted a little to one side or the other. I don't need it perfectly centered because it covers the whole ceiling vent. I wasn't worried about centering too much

We are very excited for our upcoming trip. Reservations are paid for. Tickets are paid for. Reservations and fast passes are set.... Just getting the final preps done.

 

[FtW Mike]

Paul vent cover looks great expect it will work fine and help keep your rig cooler Know ours does.

Okay, another day of prep gone. I've been pre-cooking meatballs for subs, taco meat, chicken for fajitas, a batch of empanadas, banana bread for snacking, etc.
The car went in for an oil change today. Camper is all set maintenance wise. (Still have to put everything that's in my living room into it though.) We seem to be all sorted with our route down. 95 to 695, yadda, yadda.
Okay, so NOW I need advice for our trip back up. DH's been looking at the map. (Yes, a physical atlas. We recently had a very bad experience with the Waze App taking us in circles around the Bronx so we're leery about trusting the GPS.) And have determined that our route North from Florida to Assateague State Park should be the following:
95N into VA
58E
664S
264E
64W
13 to Maryland
376
611 over the Verrazano Bridge

I'm so worried about overpasses or restricted roads. We've had a close call with an overpass before. We fit, but we would have preferred an alternate route.
Any advice would be appreciated!

WW I live here in Delaware and camp near AI regular. I would suggest the following route back to 95 from AI as 13 alone will take you through a lot of small towns. Get on 13 to go North and in Pokemoke City get on 113 and take into the town of Milford where you will get on Route 1. Take this to just near the end then get on Rt 1/7 extension which will take you to 95 and from there to VZ bridge. Any questions use contact option
BTW where on LI are you I am Nassau co boy originally little town of East Rockaway (Next door to Lynbrook)

 

[friendofeeyore]

Good Job done! Getting excited to read all of August trips. Wishing we were there. My dream is to land @ Ft. Wilderness mid October & leave mid January. Hey a girl can dream & a big dream. Safe travels to all!

 

[WorldWacky]

Paul vent cover looks great expect it will work fine and help keep your rig cooler Know ours does.



WW I live here in Delaware and camp near AI regular. I would suggest the following route back to 95 from AI as 13 alone will take you through a lot of small towns. Get on 13 to go North and in Pokemoke City get on 113 and take into the town of Milford where you will get on Route 1. Take this to just near the end then get on Rt 1/7 extension which will take you to 95 and from there to VZ bridge. Any questions use contact option
BTW where on LI are you I am Nassau co boy originally little town of East Rockaway (Next door to Lynbrook)

Thanks FtW Mike! That helps a lot! We're out in Suffolk-East Yaphank(Exit 68 off of the LIE). We actually just had dinner tonight not too far from East Rockaway in Mineola. It was one of those Portuguese restaurants that just keep bringing skewers of meat to the table. It reminded us of 'Ohana. We'll be able to make a better comparison on the 11th.
This trip we have ADRs for Beaches and Cream, Boma and 'Ohana.
Down to the wire now. All of the food is prepped and packed. The kids packed their clothes and I'll just give them a once over before moving them to the camper. Otherwise I'm afraid my son will end up with 45 t-shirts and 2 pairs of underwear.
DH had to move our hitch up. When we got it, we were told we needed some special drop hitch and they set it. It's an older camper so it's lower to the ground to begin with, but it just didn't seem quite right. Our RV service guy also thought the hitch was set a bit too low.
The house/dog sitter came by yesterday to get the lay of the land. So we seem to be on track. I never did get a chance to make a Disboards marker. I'll have to try to throw something together. Won't be as nice as Peg110's though.

 

[fireupchips]

We left on Friday! We will be rolling in the Fort on Monday. After we check in we have to go pick up our golf cart from Kenny. It has been five years since we have been there and we are excited to get back.

 

[peg110]

I never did get a chance to make a Disboards marker. I'll have to try to throw something together. Won't be as nice as Peg110's though.

Thanks WW... Mine was inspired by Chris (@PaHunter) as he did one of wood too. I liked his a lot so I had to try. I am happy how it came out. He also re-did some of the door trim in his camper with a bit of a Disney theme too. They also looked awesome. Maybe some day when I get a chance I will try and do similar type things. Don't have the time right now though.

 

[FtW Mike]

Thanks FtW Mike! That helps a lot! We're out in Suffolk-East Yaphank(Exit 68 off of the LIE). We actually just had dinner tonight not too far from East Rockaway in Mineola. It was one of those Portuguese restaurants that just keep bringing skewers of meat to the table. It reminded us of 'Ohana. We'll be able to make a better comparison on the 11th.
This trip we have ADRs for Beaches and Cream, Boma and 'Ohana. ...

... The house/dog sitter came by yesterday to get the lay of the land. So we seem to be on track. I never did get a chance to make a Disboards marker. I'll have to try to throw something together. Won't be as nice as Peg110's though.

WW know Mineola well went to High School there. We got our coach so we can bring our furballs with us. DW decided we had to do this as on one trip i would wake her up when I sat up and called for our big one in the middle of the night

We left on Friday! We will be rolling in the Fort on Monday. After we check in we have to go pick up our golf cart from Kenny. It has been five years since we have been there and we are excited to get back.

Congrats on coming back and enjoy your trip

 

[JETS70]

August is here and we are at the Fort with my family. We actually made it here on Saturday. Just wanted to post a couple of pics of the beach area. You can see from the pics that the rope fence also has heavy netting that goes from the top rope all the way to the sand. They are also in the process of adding sand to the beach. Looks like almost a foot of sand has been added. Looks like they are still adding more.

 

[jbrostek]

WW - LI native as well. Grew up between Astoria Queens and Melville LI. My aunt still owns and runs Nissequogue River Canoe Rentals in Kings Park! There is no good easy way on or off LI with a trailer, but FTW is right. 13 is not the best route up with a trailer, lots of small towns to pass through and smaller then US30 through PA!! 113 to US1 to I95 near Milford is a better route.

This weekend I probably sweat off about 5lbs, but I got a lot done on the RV. The trailer is serviced, but the rains came and I did not get a chance to lube the slide gears yet. The rear hitch has been installed allowing for a bike carrier or small cargo carrier which will be nice. Interior wise I made a few fixes to loose hardware and screws that have popped up over the season. After all that I brought the house vacuum in and ran that. The built in is nice, but without a beater brush not all the dog hair gets pulled up. So when it's home I like to run that.

Saturday morning Caren and I worked up our "On the Road" meal plan. Since we decided to do more ADR then originally planned, we made a plan to keep costs down for eating on the road south. We also took stock of the RV and worked out what food items we need in the camper for the trip. Breakfast will primarilly be in the camper, we have two dinners in planned. Plus lunches since our plan is to head back for a late lunch and get away from the heat of the day.

I also washed the RV top to bottom and had we not had storms every afternoon for the past few days I would have started to wax the body. Right now my biggest concern is polishing and waxing the nose gel coal at the sun is starting to oxidize it. Like a boat gel coat, if it is not taken care of it will fade and be costly to repaint. I hope to get the rest of the RV done soon too since once you setup and get going it moves pretty quickly.

This week I am working on a setup and breakdown list and everyone is going to be assigned work to do. This will be a help for me and I think a benefit for Caren's kids to understand all we put into this trip. Up until lately we both feel a little unappreciated by them as to how hard we worked and saved to make this possible. She and I agree this might make them feel part of the trip and at the least give them some responsibilities.

 

[peg110]

Our plans are changing too. The DW finally decided to back off a bit on our ADRs. Since we are going again in November (and maybe again in April 2017 since we plan on getting an AP in this August trip), there is time to slip in those things we want over the multiple trips. We will do a lot more eating in the TT particularly for breakfast and lunch. In the past we have always done Breakfast at a cracker barrel on the morning after our first stop. This time she is like "We don't need to spend the money at restaurants". She'd rather spend the money on souvenirs for our our little one (DD11) then to spend them on the higher priced meals. Particularly when we can cook and bring our less expensive food from the grocery store.

We are getting down to the wire. I did get the Levelers on the side and front of the TT so that it helps us to level the TT easier. Not to much an issue at the fort but it's nice to have elsewhere.

I am also very happy to report that after I put the Camco Cover over our bathroom vent, within an hour we had TORRENTIAL rains blowing every which way. The bathroom vent was open and not a drop of water was in the camper after the storm was over. Good (unintended) test. Very happy though.

Also now trying to figure out where to "Mount" the display for the TT's back up camera. My dash board is "Rough" so those suction cups don't work. I bought a "Mount" to use my cell phone as GPS and it came with a plate that I had to attach to the dash (I actually had to use an epoxy as the lame "Sticky" they gave held for about 3 seconds) but I don't want my dash board full of "Devices" I am going to see if the suction will HOLD up above my rear view mirror, but ford has this "Dotted" stuff there to set of their "Super Duty" writing. We will see. It would be a good spot though. It's out of the way but not unavailable when needed.

Oh well.... Getting much closer now.

 

[jbrostek]

If the ones that came with the display wont work, maybe a universal one like this one, or maybe this style would work. I have used these in the past with various degree of success. How clean your glass is and getting past the painted areas are key.

 

[JETS70]

A couple of pics from our first couple of days. Crowds have been good and the weather in the evenings has been actually enjoyably bearable.
The first 2 pics are renderings of Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios.

The new Jungle Book show at Animal Kingdom is worth staying late for.

The Frozen Singalong is still a show worth seeing. They have even made reference to the new Pokémon Go game.

Disney always did go big. The door to the added on side of Toy Story Mania.

Don't have any pics of the new Soarin ride. I wasn't sure that I was going to like the new movie. It was good. They really take advantage of the height perspective in this version.

 

[WorldWacky]

We made it to our first stop with no problems yesterday. We left Long Island at 5am. We used 695W around Baltimore. No issues. We stayed at the Americamps KOA in Ashland, VA. The kids got to use the pool and this morning they had free waffles. Got on the road at about 9:15. Right around Selma, NC we hit our first snag. 95S was closed due to two tractor trailers involved in an accident that blocked both lanes. No problem. We got off and had lunch and figured out an alternate route. By the time we finished, they had everything cleared up. BUT about 20 miles down the road, traffic was again at a standstill because of ANOTHER accident. It took us FOREVER to get out of NC. I think we'll have to stop earlier than we wanted to tonight. It's still another 4 hours or so to the Jacksonville/St. Mary's KOA and that's really pushing it for dh AND the kids.
I think maybe you guys might have misunderstood my earlier post. I was wondering if anyone has traveled north from Florida to Assateague. We're hitting that on the way home. I think we've got it mapped out now though. Happy travels to all. Hope you have better luck than we did in NC.
Great pics, JETS70!

 

[JETS70]

We had a really good day today at the Fort and at EPCOT. Here are a few pics.
Today we actually took time to swim. I usually don't post pictures of myself but this one I will make an exception. I'm sure if you look up grace in the dictionary you would see this pic

We had a quick lunch at the camper and then headed over to EPCOT. We took the stand by line for Soarin.....25 minutes. Adding the addition concourse seems to have made a significant difference in wait times. Spoiler alert if you haven't riden it yet. A few pics.

We also rode Frozen the ride. 120 minute stand by / 15 minute Fast pass (thank goodness the DW planned this one) / 5 minute ride time. Really nice ride but I wouldn't wait 120 minutes for it. Again spoiler alert. A few pics.

We took time to watch Illuminations before heading over to ride Mission Space. I was the Commander.

During the briefing for Mission Space, I noticed a young lady that my DW and I met last year. She was with her family. I had to say hi and introduce the rest of my family. Many of you may know her as the only full time resident of the Fort. Absolutely wonderful family. Because there were no crowds, we teamed up for a couple of rounds of the Triton / Orion Mission Control game. All I can say is "go Orion". Hope we can meet up again soon.

 

[jbrostek]

8 days to departure!!! The excitement is building with everyone. We are all looking forward to this and even the drive down.

Monday night I had dinner with Caren and her kids, we where finalizing our Disney plans. Caren is awesome at this and we worked together, we know that unlike the adult trip, this one will need a plan and schedule if we want to get as much done as we want there. We spent some time talking about the drive down and what they can expect. We have take the kids camping before but the trips where shorter and did not require overnight and fuel stops. At their age it will not be too difficult to deal with, but it is best to know what to expect.

Yesterday I did not get as much done as I had hoped. First I had a phone interview that took about an hours time. It is a great opportunity for me with a shorter commute, new challenges and all the things that go with a good opportunity.....that is as long as they make an offer I cannot refuse. After that I kept plugging away at trip prep. I got the last of the bed pillows through the wash (they where due.) While that was churning away I turned my focus to the oxidation on the trailers gel coat and that's when things hit a stop. It turns out that in the 2 years since I last used it, my 3m marine/RV gel polish and gloss had gone bad and separated. So my plan to start with the nose and work my way down the sides are on a temporary pause until I get another bottle. I did finish lubing the slide out mechanicals and decided to take some time to relax before bed.

Tonight Caren's mother is in town so I know I will be going over there for dinner. I am sure we will talk more about the trip. Caren and I spoke and we plan to have the kids be involved in the trip down and back. So I have worked up a list of setup and breakdown for both overnight stops and our stay at Disney. We are going to assign them some tasks and chores for the trip, of course we will check to make sure they handle the RV stuff properly but it should help us get setup pretty quickly.

The rest of the week and weekend nights I will take the time to polish the RV and get the truck cleaned. As well as to the final loading of the trailer and get everything hitched up and ready to roll by Wednesday night. Then all we need to do is hit the road Thursday night with Petersburg, VA as the goal!!!

 

[Teamubr]

Thanks for the pics, Jets. Great stuff. And I'm not sure you can go down that slide at the Pool with grace unless you are under 14.

J.

Keep up the hard work. Just a few more days.

j