Fort Wilderness Pre-Trip report

[4077]

Wow, that's quite the trip. My drive won't be nearly as long. Another overnight friendly place is Cracker Barrel. Make sure you keep the trans in low gear down the big hill!
Counting the days

Did not know that about Cracker Barrel.

 

[4077]

Great report so far...looking forward to the continuing coverage!!

 

[Chief Powhatan]

well, not just your traffic. Your housewives seem a bit snarky too.

Yea... they don't exactly represent the housewives I know.

I look forward to hearing more about your trip!

 

[tina.tina]

Thanks for sharing all your planning. I am so excited for you. I think your stroller pit crew sounds like a good idea and I think it will work out well for you. Don't forget to take bags with minimal compartments so you get through bag check lines a little faster.

 

[mightyexplorers]

So you may have noticed from my earlier post that I brew my own beer. Now the problem is that I usually keg it into small kegs and have a tap in my house.
But I want to take it with me. I have brewed two special ones just to have at Disney, I could bottle it, but that is messy, time consuming and a pain in the ....

I did have a spare CO2 regulator and I got to thinking of ways I could just bring it in the keg. My regular CO2 tank is far to big to take with but, I do have a paintball tank. The problem is one doesn't fit on the other.

After a quick google search I discovered they make an adapter for just this purpose. Yea!!. So this is what i have come up with.

The CO2 parts assembled

The whole setup

I have a small plastic porta tap I will use for dispensing. I used a splitter on the regulator so I could keep both kegs on pressure. Not really necessary since I will only have one tap and be switching back and forth but it simplifies things.

I am still trying to think how I will keep them cool. My idea now is two 13 gallon cheap trash cans that I will put them in fill with ice and wrap in an old sleeping bag.

That should solve the problem of beer, maybe just buying a couple 12 packs would have been easier but not nearly as fun.

 

[tiggerdad]

Have you priced a 12 pack at Fort Wilderness?

When they ring it up you can just go ahead and place your first born child on the counter next to the credit card scanner.

 

[mightyexplorers]

Have you priced a 12 pack at Fort Wilderness?

When they ring it up you can just go ahead and place your first born child on the counter next to the credit card scanner.

that is why we have 8 kids. Just in case we run out of beer at the Fort.

 

[tiggerdad]

Dang...I only got two kids...

Wonder how much I can get for a beagle and a short tempered housecat...

 

[Merry0405]

that is why we have 8 kids. Just in case we run out of beer at the Fort.

This actually made me LOL! I am really enjoying your pre-trip report, thanks for taking the time to post it

 

[dadof2boys]

Mighty explorer:

You are the Macgyver of of the Disboards. Truly impressive.

 

[mightyexplorers]

Mighty explorer:

You are the Macgyver of of the Disboards. Truly impressive.

 

[mightyexplorers]

We did a ton of scrambling over the weekend. First we had to go to Missouri to pick up our son, we did a down and back one day trip which was about 19 hours in the car. I guess it was good practice for our trip.
Originally we hoped to just pick him up on the way but his college was very non-giving about him staying an extra couple days in the dorms and he didn't really have another local alternative so we had to go get him.

Food is all packed
Under the dinette

In every cupboard

and the fridge

The only thing left to get are the perishables, fruits, veggies, breads, milk. Which is why there is any empty space in the fridge, believe me when we leave there will not be any space. We will do a Tuesday shopping trip and take care of that.

 

[jbrostek]

Love the keg idea, I am not a big beer person. But its a good plan in order to get it there and enjoy it.

 

[mightyexplorers]

The older kids all worked on decorating their autograph books.

 

[mightyexplorers]

I officially have bloviated enough on disboards to be a mousketeer. Ears earned, check that off the bucket list.

 

[mightyexplorers]

I loaded all the bikes on the back of the RV, which is no small feat. I didn't get a picture but we have a hitch rack that holds 4, I have modified a car rack to mount on the ladder, that hangs two. And one I take apart and shove in a storage compartment.

Here is a pic of my wife's bike. She got it from santa, it has been sitting all winter just waiting to get to the fort.

 

[mightyexplorers]

Also, this weekend I finally finished the lamp. It is wired, secure, will not fall over when you touch it, like in the other pics I posted.
Here it is, and also proof, also a shot of all the kids together at last.

Here are some internal pics.
First, I did mount a switch and outlet on the side of the box. The outlet is always on if the lamp is plugged in. The switch controls the light.

Here is a look inside, you can see there is a cord to plug the lamp post into. It was important to be able to break it all down and get it in a storage compartment.

The post will sit into the PVC bracket. There may be a better way to secure it but I couldn't think of one. The table top has brackets under it that hold it centered and solid in the top so between that and the bottom brace the pole is pretty secure.

and one more full shot for good measure.

 

[jbrostek]

Nice work on the lamp. the only difference we did was make the head removable from the pole. Easier to store that way.

 

[mightyexplorers]

Nice work on the lamp. the only difference we did was make the head removable from the pole. Easier to store that way.

We also made the head removable. There is a plug on the globe and a short extension cord that runs down the pole.

The lamp breaks into 4 pieces.
Base
Table Top
Pole
Head

 

[jbrostek]

Ahh awesome, I missed that part of the process. Great work.

Sounds like you are almost ready to load the team and go!!!