Another TCD Trip Report!! With Sanjaya, Tom Cruise, Valentine's Day, and More!

[Tri-circle-D]

Stand back.

Here comes another installment.

After checking out the pool, next stop was the 1400 loop.

Disboard member Drafthorsecrazy a/k/a Susan reported last week that the 1400 loop was closed for renovations. And it was.

BTW- I met Susan on one of my morning patrols. And Mr. Drafthorsecrazy, too. They have been at the Fort since late December, but will be leaving in a couple of weeks. Good to have met you, Susan (and Mr. DHC)

Back to the report . . .

Oh wait, I forgot to mention something else. For the sake of completeness and accuracy, I should mention that we were at AK for rope drop on Friday morning. I was wondering for a minute why I didn't have any early morning Fort photos from Friday, and now I remember why. We hit AK early, and were back at the Fort before noon.

This was not to be a trip of leisure and naps.

Now, back to report . . .

The main entrance to the 1400 loop was blocked off by the now familiar barricades, as was the entrance from the campfire area.

But, it is easy enough to sneak by these barricades for a quick peek.

Here is a photo taken looking to the right as you enter the loop from the campfire area:

You can see that they are still in the process of cutting down trees and removing the frames from the sand pads.

This is a shot of the site that is more or less straight ahead as you enter the loop from the campfire area. Because of its configuration, and the curve in the loop here, it is almost parallel to the road. The result is zero privacy for the occupant of this site. Looks to me like it is going to be even worse after the expansion. There are other problem sites on the 1400 loop. I thought that maybe they would rip out the old concrete pads on some of these, and re-orient the space, but it looks like the aren't going to do that. Some of these sites will be interesting to see as finished products:

This is another shot of the 1400 loop, now looking to the left. The site there on the right in this photo also has the parallel to the road situation. I camped in this site before, and there is a definite lack of privacy:

This is the site right next to the sidewalk/cart path that leads out of the loop to the campfire area. You can see the campfire area and movie screen in the background. I have also camped in this site. With the expanded pad, you will be able to watch the movie from inside your camper! I like this site, but those who prefer quiet and less activity will not:

Here is a shot looking back toward the 1400 loop comfort station. As you can see, they have erected a barrier there so that campfire guests can still access the comfort station. There is no barricade down by the ladies' room, so you can walk right into the loop from there, if you are so inclined. Again, this is a temporary situation, that should only exist for maybe another few weeks:

Here are some photos taken at the main entrance to the 1400 loop:

Here are all the picnic tables waiting to go to a better place:

This is looking straight ahead into Little Bear Path:

Looking to the right:

And, here are some more casualties of the expansion :

Next stop, the 600 loop. There are still workers present here on Friday afternoon, so no up-close pictures yet. But stay tuned for more in depth coverage later in the report. For now, you can see that they are still going to town on this project:

Back at the campsite, I took some photos looking from the back of our site, 1507, toward the 1600 loop. Someone asked a question a while back about whether any sites on the 1500 loop backed up to sites on the 1600 loop. The answer is yes, they do.

Here is a photo taken from 1507, of site 1624. 1624 backs up to 1508:

Here is a photo taken from 1507 looking straight back to site 1626. As you can see, these back right up to each other. These are probably the closest sites to each other in the 1600 and 1500 loops:

For anyone who wants to know, the sites that back up to each other are:

1504-1630
1506-1628
1507-1626
1508-1624

There is one more site on the 1600 loop, right next to the comfort station sidewalk, which is 1632. That one kind of also backs up to 1504.

Time for a soda run.

I don't remember seeing the take out menu posted outside of Trails End before, but here it is:

Also, for those interested, the lunch cold cut buffet has been replaced by hot food.

We found some rule breakers on the 200 loop. Here are some folks who had a dog (which apparently is vicious):

I don't know what the deal is with the sign. The dog seemed perfectly calm to me. Maybe it was angry about the Minnie ears?

When we arrived back at the camper, we found a visitor in our screen room. We captured him and brought him over to the 400 loop so Keylime359 could sautee him with some onions and pancetta in his own fat, but she was taking a nap, so we had to let him go.

The girls found a neat looking fungus on this tree at our site:

Perfect for Valentine's Day! Look:

To be continued . . .

TCD

 

[DaveInTN]

When we arrived back at the camper, we found a visitor in our screen room. We captured him and brought him over to the 400 loop so Keylime359 could sautee him with some onions and pancetta in his own fat, but she was taking a nap, so we had to let him go.

Great TR...keep it coming! We are anxiously awaiting an update on the 600 expansion...if only those pesky workers would go home so you can get on with it.

 

[PolynesianPixie]

So, did you go to the American Idol Experience on Saturday? We considered it, but decided we will wait until things die down a bit. It was probably a madhouse on Saturday.


TCD

We expected it to be mobbed and planned to do not much else while we were at the studios, however, it wasn't bad at all! We saw the 5 pm show, got there about 30 minutes ahead of time. Just in time to be there for all the taping they do before they let you in the auditorium. They have a host come out with a mic and TV camera and get the crowd going. I was interviewed and taped dancing....got to be in the final film for the production inside...yeah, yeah! It was so well done! I'm really glad we went!

They do the finale at 7 pm....I imagine that one had to have been standing room only!

 

[stacktester]

Too bad the fungus shape wasn't of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. You could've sold it on Ebay like the guy who had the toast did.

 

[Luv2Camp]

And, guess what? Sanjaya noticed that TCD was in the crowd, and he whipped out his camera to take a photo of TCD:

That was hilarious! Thanks for the great report!

 

[proudmomof4]

TCD,

Thanks for the info on the 1400 loop, that is our favorite loop. We have been stuck in both of those sites which you stated have no privacy and if anyone is interested in knowing the site numbers they are 1434 and 1436. 1434 is the one right where the road curves around to the right, there is zero privacy in that site, you get people looking every time they walk, drive, bike or loop by, no matter which direction they are going in. 1436 is right across the street from the CS entrance so everyone looks as they are coming from the CS. We dread getting either of these sites every time we come to FW.

It seems that prior to the conversion 1400 loop had become the party loop, each time we checked in and asked for a specific site they would tell us "no, you can't have that one it is reserved for a grand gathering as well as all the sites around it". Hopefully things will change in 1400 once it is open as premium loop.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Great TR...keep it coming! We are anxiously awaiting an update on the 600 expansion...if only those pesky workers would go home so you can get on with it.

The workers did knock off early on Friday afternoon, and no one worked on Saturday or Sunday. Stay tuned for some up close photos.

TCD,

Thanks for the info on the 1400 loop, that is our favorite loop. We have been stuck in both of those sites which you stated have no privacy and if anyone is interested in knowing the site numbers they are 1434 and 1436. 1434 is the one right where the road curves around to the right, there is zero privacy in that site, you get people looking every time they walk, drive, bike or loop by, no matter which direction they are going in. 1436 is right across the street from the CS entrance so everyone looks as they are coming from the CS. We dread getting either of these sites every time we come to FW.

It seems that prior to the conversion 1400 loop had become the party loop, each time we checked in and asked for a specific site they would tell us "no, you can't have that one it is reserved for a grand gathering as well as all the sites around it". Hopefully things will change in 1400 once it is open as premium loop.

I have some more 1400 loop photos coming up, too.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Continuing on with our story, it is now Friday afternoon. Time to decorate the golf cart for a weekend of fun.

Here is what the girls came up with:

We did some decorating at the site, too:

I wanted to see what the 1500 loop looked like from the 1600 loop, so here is a photo of our site, 1507, taken from the 1600 loop, in front of site 1624:

By the way, Valentine's Day is not a big decoration holiday around the Fort. A few folks had minimal decorations around their sites. Nothing like Halloween or Christmas.

We ate lunch at the site, and then headed out for some looping.

The Trails End take out menu for dinner was posted by 2:30 pm:

The azaleas around the Settlement have started blooming. I would guess that peak time will come in the next couple of weeks:

This is one of my favorite times of the year to visit the Fort. The azaleas really make things look nice.

As we were cruising around, we noticed that a cast member was setting up Bingo in the campfire area. This activity is usually conducted at the Meadow Pool. With the construction going on, it looks like things have been temporarily moved over to the campfire area. We are not big Bingo fans in the TCD family. Not a real exciting game. But, we have played at the Fort a time or two. They award a prize for each game. And the games are only a dollar per card. The prizes are board games and other toys. If you look in this photo, you can see the prizes set up in front of the stage:

The castmember hosting Bingo was Henry. He was trying to attract folks to come and play, but there was nobody around. We noticed that there were exactly two people sitting there getting ready to play. I mentioned that they give out a prize for every round, right? Those odds seemed pretty good, so we stopped to play. Here is a photo of the crowd gathered to play Bingo on Saturday afternoon:

That is one of the TCD DD's there in the Gator camo hat. And that is the other couple there in the background. The lady of the couple played 5 cards. We played one each. She won the first round. My DD had her eye on a Nerf gun, and the lady did not pick that prize, so we played another round. BINGO! DD got her Nerf gun. We were on a roll, so we played another game. The Bingo lady played multiple cards again, and she won the next game.

During the third game, another family showed up, and joined the fun. Here is where I noticed that when the games were reaching their end, the castmember started asking people what numbers they needed. Somehow, everybody ended up a winner.

As I was sitting there on this glorious February afternoon, I noticed that no one was around the lake in front of the Bike Barn, and particularly, no one was around the pedestrian bridge that goes from the campfire area over to the 600 loop. There was a plastic gate blocking the bridge, but it looked like that would be easy enough to bypass. I decided to make my move. So, during one of the games, I tip-toed over to the bridge, scooted past the gate, and walked across. On the other side, there is a chain link fence blocking access, so no way into the 600 loop from here. But, you can see things pretty well from here on the bridge. Look:

These photos were taken a little later, from over the fence near the Meadow Trading Post:

So, here is what I see so far: If you look at these photos, you will see white PVC pipes sticking up at intervals around the loop. I am guessing that these will be the water supply for each site. You can also see larger, blue pipe sticking up. These pipes seem to be about 10 feet away from the white PVC pipes, and there are not as many blue pipes. I need some help from the experts on this (Lonestar that would be you, but any others, please chime in). What do you think these blue pipes are for? They are a lot wider than the sewer pipes on the existing loops, and they seem like they are located closer to what will be the roadway of the loop, not back where the water supply will be, like in the other loops. There will be some more photos of the 600 loop, taken from an even closer vantage point coming up later in this report.

Anyway, I rejoined my DD. We did not play any more Bingo. We spent $8.00, and got a Nerf gun. That came out about right. We went back to the site, and DD practiced by trying to shoot things around the campsite. After that, for some reason, we didn't have any squirrels or birds hanging out around our site for the rest of the weekend. For the record, in case there are any PETA members reading along, DD did not actually hit any of her intended targets. She was, however, quite a good shot when she took aim at old TCD (big target). Thankfully, the gun only came with four balls, and they were made out of foam, and she had to pick up all the ammo and reload after every four shots, so I only got shot a few dozen times. I also had to sleep with one eye open.

After our Bingo adventure, we did some more looping. We saw some interesting things on the 800 loop.

Like this RV:

The writing under the artwork says Division Seventy something. I am not sure if this is some type of military unit, rock band, motorcycle gang, or what. Anybody know?

This RV was advertising a book:

If you go onto the website advertised on the side, you will see that the wife in this family apparently won a car on Oprah. She apparently then sold the car, and she and her family took off on a trip around the country in an RV. She then wrote a book about the adventure. Sounds like it might be a fun book to read. Why don't one of you buy a copy, and report back to us here? I am also guessing that this whole thing is a business expense. Smart lady.

Here is a great campsite sign:

Be sure to notice that Mickey and Minnie are holding little lanterns. It looked like these would light up at night time. I intended to go back after dark to check on this, but we never got around to it.

There is still a lot more to come . . .

TCD

 

[juligrl]

Enjoying your TR! Keep them coming!

 

[BigDaddyRog]

Division Seventy-two (if thats what the mural said) seems to have been a Naval squad in the late 60's according to this webpage:
http://www.ussprime.org/MUC.pdf

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Division Seventy-two (if thats what the mural said) seems to have been a Naval squad in the late 60's according to this webpage:
http://www.ussprime.org/MUC.pdf

Wow! That is what I call internet research. You could be right. There is a disc shaped object to the left of the skull in the mural. Maybe this is a mine?

Time for some more photos, right?

On Friday afternoon, the pool work crew knocked off early, too. This allowed me free access around the perimeter fence. Here is a close up of some of the plumbing going in around the new tower:

Those are some big pipes! I think maybe this will be the plumbing used to provide water to the slide. It also seems like there is going to be something running off to the right as you look at this photo. There is a trench dug, and there were workers digging in the corner of the pool deck area opposite where the hot tub has been installed. Maybe this will be a water play area/splash zone?

Over at the 600 loop, I get a look at things from over the fence near the temporary 600 loop entrance:

This shot is taken over the fence, looking back toward what was originally the loop entrance. This is currently being used as the construction entrance, and it looks to me like it will be eventually taken out, and that the new loop entrance will be down toward the Meadow Trading Post. Or, it is also possible that this will remain the entrance, and the loop will split into two different directions from here, with two exits:

This is site 602. As you can see, it is on the other side of the construction fence. If you look in the back of this photo, you will see a yellow pole- that is where the pedestrian bridge entrance is:

These ducks were hanging out in the back of site 604. This site is right next to the construction fence. It looks like someone could be assigned this site, but it was empty all weekend. Probably too close to the construction:

This photo was taken from the back of site 604, looking into the 1400 loop. You can see a bunch of the wood forms that used to border the sand pads piled up:

I can't remember if the 600 loop was a pet loop before it was converted from preferred to premium, but here is a poop bag dispenser in the 600 loop:

For those of you keeping track, there are poop bag dispensers now in all of the completed premium loops (400, 500, 600, 800) except for 1200 and 1300.

Check out this Mickey light in the 500 loop:

And, to top things off, the light rotates, just like a light house! Good job!

Over on the 1700 loop, this tree was blooming with pink flowers just in time for Valentine's Day:

Check out this camper's cool decorations (home made I assume):

And,then, I ended up back at the pool. This time, I am looking for an open gate and/or a permit box with a set of plans. I found neither, but I did take some additional photos:

And, here is a photo for clkelly:

This T@b was set up just around the loop from us on the 1500 loop. They were from Canada (Ontario tags)

And, there is still more . . .

TCD

 

[clkelley]

And, here is a photo for clkelly:

This T@b was set up just around the loop from us on the 1500 loop. They were from Canada (Ontario tags)

And, there is still more . . .

TCD

Wow!!! They are back down again!! There were there when I was there in October for the T@B Rally, and also there the same dates I was there in December!!

 

[TheFlame]

TCD........................

Thanks for the awesome TR, I love it!

 

[dngtrumps]

I feel like I was there! Fun to read. Thanks!

 

[Whipperwhirl]

I have to find some of your old trip reports - this is way too much fun to read.

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

Thanks for the pictures and fun report! I'm sooooo interested in what they are doing with the pool so happy to see the pics update. Hope it's gonna be good and Disneyish!

 

[lklasing]

Keep up the good work, TCD! You're making me very homesick!

 

[3gr8kids]

Sorry, slightly OT but I couldn't find the original posts on this - TCD (or should I say "Super Sleuth") - do you (or does anyone) have any idea when the 600 loop expansion is due to be completed? Thanks!

 

[mjmoon]

After our Bingo adventure, we did some more looping. We saw some interesting things on the 800 loop.

Like this RV:

The writing under the artwork says Division Seventy something. I am not sure if this is some type of military unit, rock band, motorcycle gang, or what. Anybody know?

This is an awesome looking rig.. it's across the street and a couple sites down from ours! The nice lady at the site stopped us walking to the bus stop and gave us a big bag of grapefruit grown locally by a friend of hers. She said she had a bunch and wanted to share it. I love this loop.

 

[LONE-STAR]

Wish I could be more help TCD but around here the only people that use the blue/green colored pipe is the cities public works dept. and its used for both water and sewer. So if they already have white pvc in for the sewer dumps not really sure what there for. If the where not so many of them I would think water feed for fire hydrants but that would be alot of hydrants. Ok I think I just figured it out (maybe) everybody knows how FW floods in the rain. So I would say storm drains. But I could be wrong.