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RocklandRVers · 01-02-2005, 01:31 PM

Introduction:

The Campers:
Me: Age 47 8th trip to Disney (once was Disneyland at age 7)
DW: Age 44 7th trip to Disney (3 times with me pre-child)
DS: Age 14 4th trip to Disney
Shamrock: Our lucky Jack Russell Terrier born in Ireland 7 years ago and delivered by Santa Christmas 1997. 4th trip to Disney.

We began planning for both our 2004 Disney vacations (June/July & December) as soon as we returned from our December 2003 trip. In 4 trips, each one seems to be more magical than the previous one and December 2004 was no exception. Thanks to some new friends we finally met in person after “talking” on the Passporter boards for 2 years it was a very special trip indeed. I want to dedicate this trip report to one magical lady: chezp. She was so gracious to share her good fortune in getting an Illuminations cruise we wanted so badly with us. We also loved meeting her husband, Mark “The Candyman” aptly nicknamed by my DW after he shared his bag of heavenly English chocolates with us. Not to be left out, we also enjoyed meeting Statelady01 and her hubby Kevan who joined us for the boat ride of our lives. More on this later.

Saturday, December 18th

The Quest Begins:

Finally the day has arrived. We debate on leaving right after work on Friday night December 17th, but decide its best to leave early after a good night’s sleep. Good night’s sleep? No way. All of us are tossing and turning in anticipation of another fun family vacation.

We are up at 3:00 am and after the usual morning routines and last minute packing, we are on the road by 5:00 am. This is our first trip with our fully loaded enclosed cargo trailer which includes our GEM Electric car, DS’s bike and lots of holiday decorations. I am somewhat apprehensive having never towed such a large load that far before and particularly through the heavily traveled I-95 corridor from NYC to Richmond, VA where traffic patterns change minute by minute and construction delays seem inevitable. To our delight, though, the RV performed well and towed the load without incident except for the loss of about 1 mpg. Not bad considering.

Traffic throughout Saturday was light to moderate and we made great time. We voted to stop a bit earlier than we had in June and opted to spend the night in Florence, SC in a “pet friendly” Motel 6 since we had the RV so full of extra clothes not knowing if we would encounter all hot weather or cold. We were in no mood to shuffle things around to make up our bunks at a campground and the no frills Motel 6 cost about the same as a campsite anyway. Fortunately we had a Cracker Barrel right next door and enjoyed a nice meal before relaxing enough really get a good sleep, which I needed badly.

01-02-2005, 01:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
RocklandRVers Community Rank: Trekker Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: NY (just north of NYC) Posts: 1,266	RocklandRVers Christmas: Read About 12/20 w/Chezp&Statelady01 Introduction: The Campers: Me: Age 47 8th trip to Disney (once was Disneyland at age 7) DW: Age 44 7th trip to Disney (3 times with me pre-child) DS: Age 14 4th trip to Disney Shamrock: Our lucky Jack Russell Terrier born in Ireland 7 years ago and delivered by Santa Christmas 1997. 4th trip to Disney. We began planning for both our 2004 Disney vacations (June/July & December) as soon as we returned from our December 2003 trip. In 4 trips, each one seems to be more magical than the previous one and December 2004 was no exception. Thanks to some new friends we finally met in person after “talking” on the Passporter boards for 2 years it was a very special trip indeed. I want to dedicate this trip report to one magical lady: chezp. She was so gracious to share her good fortune in getting an Illuminations cruise we wanted so badly with us. We also loved meeting her husband, Mark “The Candyman” aptly nicknamed by my DW after he shared his bag of heavenly English chocolates with us. Not to be left out, we also enjoyed meeting Statelady01 and her hubby Kevan who joined us for the boat ride of our lives. More on this later. Saturday, December 18th The Quest Begins: Finally the day has arrived. We debate on leaving right after work on Friday night December 17th, but decide its best to leave early after a good night’s sleep. Good night’s sleep? No way. All of us are tossing and turning in anticipation of another fun family vacation. We are up at 3:00 am and after the usual morning routines and last minute packing, we are on the road by 5:00 am. This is our first trip with our fully loaded enclosed cargo trailer which includes our GEM Electric car, DS’s bike and lots of holiday decorations. I am somewhat apprehensive having never towed such a large load that far before and particularly through the heavily traveled I-95 corridor from NYC to Richmond, VA where traffic patterns change minute by minute and construction delays seem inevitable. To our delight, though, the RV performed well and towed the load without incident except for the loss of about 1 mpg. Not bad considering. Traffic throughout Saturday was light to moderate and we made great time. We voted to stop a bit earlier than we had in June and opted to spend the night in Florence, SC in a “pet friendly” Motel 6 since we had the RV so full of extra clothes not knowing if we would encounter all hot weather or cold. We were in no mood to shuffle things around to make up our bunks at a campground and the no frills Motel 6 cost about the same as a campsite anyway. Fortunately we had a Cracker Barrel right next door and enjoyed a nice meal before relaxing enough really get a good sleep, which I needed badly.