Missed a lot of great threads!! But I am back!!!

[jbrostek]

I wanted to say hello to everyone again. I been a little busy lately and seems like I am only catching up on all the great trip reports, questions and discussions.

Things are going well here, the RV is happy in its mostly seasonal location. I have a nice trip planned at the end of the month to visit Luray with Caren and her kids. The big news and time taker is I finally am moving back into home ownership. After 3 years in the N. VA area I finally honed in on where I would want to own. Then went on the hunt for a property of at least .5 acres or larger with no HOA and a place for the 5th wheel to rest outside racing season and in between tirips to FW.

After 2 months of searching (this area is expensive and sometimes way overpriced) I found a home. Its a nice home, larger then the last one I owned on a .5 acre lot with no HOA and great highway access. Still has a reasonable commute to work and everything. So I am under contract and expected to close by May 22nd (was not the plan but closing had to shift a week.) Followed by moving and settling into the new place.

In other great news we are honing in on when the next trip will be. Some want to go first week of December which can at times be a bad time of the year for me to go. Or the latter half of February, which is my pick and usually and easier time for me to take off. It will be a two trip year, one adult only trip, and then Caren and I will be taking her kids on a separate trip either in Spring break 2016 or early Summer 2016.

I hope everyone has been enjoying the new year and trips down to FW. I can't wait to catch up on some trip reports and start planning our own.

 

[tiggerdad]

Glad to hear from you again. Was wondering where you had gotten off to. Congrats on the property. Luray? fill me in.

 

[Teamubr]

Congrats on the house. Sounds like the perfect place to keep the family and toys. No HOA is generally good in my book. I think I'd probably go for December (early). Weather can be a mix in February and the peak rates seem to kick in earlier and earlier every winter.

j

 

[bama_ed]

jbrostek,

Nice to hear from you, man. Good luck with the closing on the house. I get wound pretty tight when it has been time to do that.

Sounds like you've got some great outdoor time planned in the trailer. It does create a sense of mobility, doesn't it? No matter where you go, you can feel like you are "at home".

Don't be a stranger!

Bama Ed

 

[Jimsig]

Welcome back

 

[jbrostek]

Tiggerdad - Caren and I planned the luray trip pretty much on the drive home from Disney. We also did lots of research on how to fit in two trips to FL in the same year to take the kids seperate from the adult trip. The two could combine, but it would not be easy. Once home and in front of calendars for ourselves and her kids school and summer activities we decided on the 29th through 31st at Jellystone. That was all settled in January, it will be the first trip towing with her, the kids and the fur kids. We chose there because its a 3 hours tow which will let us figure out how to make it all work for the longer trip.

Ed - I have had my moments, I started looking in February as there where some promising properties on the market. Most of them turned out to not be the right one, over priced for the amount of work needed, and my first pick was a great 4 acre property, but lacked one essential I need to earn a living. Solid broadband of some sort. The property I am under contract was under a contract and fell through. I negotiated hard to get it for the price we contracted on, and glad that it appraised for 20k more then that. Still a little wound up and with that plus the racing season its been just crazy. I still been using the RV since the last weekend of March, but this month is the first planned trip away from a race track!

J - That too has been discussed, the hard part of early December is usually dealing with FY closeout and the new FY all at once and the big rush to get things sorted or finished by the holidays. Late February does not seem to have as much pressure and the weather has to be better then early January down in FL. The tricky part is getting south of the potential snow lines during that time and it would be in closer proximity to one of the better times to take the kid trip, but more time to save for it.

Looking forward to the Luray Trip, there is talk of going back to my favorite place for July 4th weekend up in Burnt Cabins, PA. It really depends on where I am with the house though so hard to know right now.

 

[PaHunter]

Congratulations on the house. I know moving takes a lot of time and effort.

 

[jbrostek]

Thank you, seriously is a lot of work. And whats worse is they seem to be dragging their feet getting the inspection items repaired but at the same time serving lip service they want to the deal to go through. Its quite frustrating that we are 4 days from closing and most of the items have yet to be addressed. I knew it was going to be an issue buying a bank owned home, but they are selling it as move in ready not a forclosure. In that case they have to make the repairs for it to be move in ready.

My fingers are crossed they take care of this but my confidence in the bank is seriously low at this point since for the 5th time they claimed the contractor was going to do something and they had not done a single thing in the past 6 weeks.

 

[jbrostek]

What a weekend and week. Closed on Friday, started the move on Saturday. Rental house is cleared out and turn that back over to the property manager by end of the week. The new house is coming along, but of course my luck would have it and the AC/Heat pump went out after 2 days. Friday the home warranty is sending out a tech and I seriously hope they can get me up and running soon.

 

[jbrostek]

Still getting settled into the new home. But that does not stop camping. After finding out the AC needed major repairs and needed approval from the home warranty company, I was already packed up and waiting for Caren to get home with her kids. We then hit the road, though only 65 miles away to Luray, VA for the weekend. We got there before dark and I had site 200 at Jellystone. It is a great site for pet owners, lots of room and the foot traffic is not bad at all. Directly in front of the playground, comfort station just up the hill and you can see the bounce pillow from the patio. This was perfect with the kids. We got shorted on our pool time Saturday with a 2 hour downpour, but that just meant we had a lot of fun at the Arcade.

We have also started our Disney trip planning, I think spring break 2016 with the kids is the best bet, and the adult only trip will be either early December or late February. Both have me excited and it helps with the stress of making the house a home.

 

[tiggerdad]

Sounds like the bumps in the road aren't slowing you down.

If you don't mind my asking, how far is the Jellystone from Luray Caverns and Shenandoah National Park? We went to the caverns and stayed in the park way back in 2003 but I don't recall the Jellystone Park. We are thinking of doing a national park run next summer or maybe even this upcoming spring break and was thinking of Mammoth Cave National Park and maybe a run over to Shenandoah and head south to the Smokies. If you have any pics that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jbrostek]

Jellystone is on 211 just east of Luray, if you take the bypass its just about a mile to the Jellystone campground entrance. Shenandoah National Park Thornton Gap area is maybe 5-6 miles east down 211 from the campground.

To be honest, we did not leave the park. With a short weekends, the kids go to the caverns as part of Summer Camp, we where fine with just doing what there was to offer at the campground.

 

[tiggerdad]

Thanks for the info. We might utilize it as a launching pad to go over to DC and tour the monuments and let Shenandoah be a solo trip for just that purpose: The park (I remember seeing a lot of black bears when we were there), Luray Caverns, and touring Washington DC and some of the monuments and parks.

 

[JETS70]

Sounds like the bumps in the road aren't slowing you down.

If you don't mind my asking, how far is the Jellystone from Luray Caverns and Shenandoah National Park? We went to the caverns and stayed in the park way back in 2003 but I don't recall the Jellystone Park. We are thinking of doing a national park run next summer or maybe even this upcoming spring break and was thinking of Mammoth Cave National Park and maybe a run over to Shenandoah and head south to the Smokies. If you have any pics that would be greatly appreciated.

tiggerdad, The DW, DS, DD and I stayed at Jellystone at Mammoth Caves. We stayed there in October and had a great time........... with the exception of the chainsaws screaming late at night in the Haunted Forest. Not high on the "must do" list for the kids. There are lots of planned activities at the campground and several attractions around that area. I'm not a huge fan of cave tours but will say that they were educational and worth the time.

 

[tiggerdad]

Thanks Jets,
Yeah, that Jellystone is where we have our sites set on for our stay at Mammoth Cave. Seems like it was just right outside the park. I didn't realize there was one right outside Shenandoah as well.

 

[jbrostek]

We saw no bears at the RV park. But there was a lot of activity. Not packed solid, but full. If you where to use it as a base for DC, your ride in and out of DC would be a bit of a trip. I can't recall how big your camper is, but for the DC side of the trip have you considered bull run state park in Manassas? Its about an hour from DC and even less to the Vienna Metro station. It would be a good home base for the DC side of things and then scoot up to Luray to relax and do the caverns. But you could do DC from Luray, it would just be a hike to get there.

 

[tiggerdad]

I'll look into that. I really appreciate the information. Sorry to drag the thread off topic but I'll consider it payment for you being away.

Seriously, good to hear from you again.

 

[jbrostek]

I do not mind sharing my local knowledge on the area or places I have stayed.

 

[tigger92662]

I'll look into that. I really appreciate the information. Sorry to drag the thread off topic but I'll consider it payment for you being away.

Seriously, good to hear from you again.

Ditto tiggerdad, although we all LOVE the fort, it's always great to get/share info on other places to stay. Congrats on the new homestead, can't beat havin your rig right there at the house.
Hey tiggerdad, love the new addition to your signature line. Amen to that!

 

[tiggerdad]

New picture courtesy of Grumpyaggie