DH & MIL should not travel together - IL. IN. KY. TN & WA, oh my! - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I began moving furniture so we'd have enough room to lay the air matress. MIL got out electric air pump and began blowing up matress, DH offered to do it but she wanted to. I had to scoot a large basket, end table, recliner, our suitcases, coffee table, magazine rack, rocking chair x2 and dining room chairs (has a fancy set in Living room) and rearrange box fan placement. Finally there was enough room and air mattress was laid out with a sheet top and bottom and pillows. I got a sheet to cover leather couch for DD but she doesn't like sheets over her and wanted a blanket! I told her it was too hot for blankets but we found smaller lightweight one, which she of course kicked off in the night and lost her sheet that was under her so she stuck to the couch which made her sweaty. Me on the other hand had a bouncy night; everytime DH turned over I would bounce up almost off the matress . A couple of times I landed 1/2 off the matress hitting the recliner or dining room chair. I do not know how bounced my husband was when I turned over trying to find a cooler spot. Needless to say it wasn't a great nights sleep.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I forgot to mention for yesterday, after MIL & DH got back I mentioned I couldn't find the taco meat. MIL said it was in the cool whip container... I never would have looked in there for the meat, I thought it was cool whip.
Road trip begins.
We all got up, showered, dressed and MIL made pancakes for breakfast which were yummy. MIL & I were gathering items and DD & DH were carting items down those long stairs to Jeep. I had told them to leave items at back of car and I would load them (being that I am an amazing packer, DH says I can fit a 2 tons of goods into a one ton truck. When I got outside, MIL was trying to arrange things and having trouble fitting everything. She still had 1/2 the stuff on the ground. I asked her to let me try and she agreed. We had MIL's largest suitcase, a bag (like the cloth shopping bags), her large purse, 1 medium suitcase for DD & I, DH's carryone (small suitcase) his C-PAP machine, the cooler, a box of picnic food and paper products, my laptop (in back seat with us) and my catch-all bag (from WDW). I got everything settled without burying the cooler since we still needed to pick up ice and leaving room for rear view mirror. MIL in drivers seat, DH beside her up front since back seats were cramped and he's 6'3" so that left DD and I in the back which DD liked since she got to sit with me.
First stop - ice.
The gas station close to MIL's place was out so headed to another place. On the way MIL stopped at bank ATM for cash but machine wasn't working; drove to another bank (I took pic of flowers while at bank)
and after she figured out how to use machine got her cash then stopped for ice. I dug out cooler and filled with ice, of course it wouldn't all fit so had 1/4 bag of ice left. We topped off water bottles and MIL took rest of bag of ice to eat.
Finally - we were on our way. MIL took back roads to let DH reminisce. They enjoyed talking about all the changes and argued some too, you know...
""That was over there"
"No, it wasn't"
"That place used to be so & so's store"
"No that was over on first street"
DD & I rolled our eyes and kept quiet. We passed quite a bit of farmland and new housing developments.
Here's DD enjoying the breeze from the window.
Once we got on the freeway there wasn't as much to see but enjoyed looking out the window anyway. It's just so flat, as far as I could see, not one mountain or hill in sight! Not what I'm used to.
After a couple of hours we needed a restroom so MIL started looking for a rest stop. We pulled into the rest stop along with several other cars, there was a separate parking area for the truckers, trees on a grassy area with picnic tables, vending machines and a building with maps, info pamphlets and indoor bathrooms! Now you might think I'm a little silly for describing a rest stop but in Alaska a rest stop is a pull over with a senic view and thats about it. Sometimes there might be an outhouse with odor that reaches far beyond the structure itself. I was impressed by this rest stop, in fact when we came back to the jeep MIL was complaining about the cleanliness (I thought they were quite clean) which I didn't want to hear about for the next hour so I raved about how wonderful it was to be able to use a heated indoor bathroom with running water! MIL had no further complaints.
Once we got farther away from MIL's house, she knew we were driving on I65 South but nothing after that, as far as my side trips so I was elected navigator. Here I am studing a map before we all got back into the jeep.
Up next: best laid plans...
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Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Last edited by Alaskan Mom; 01-23-2016 at 05:44 PM..
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In my PTR for this TR I had mentioned that if I was going on a trip to meet a bunch of people I didn't know I'd like to see do a couple of things on the way that I was interested in so the plan was to stop at Lincoln's Memorial birthplace then on to Mammoth Cave tour and stay the night there. I had already made reservations at the Mammoth Cave hotel so we were set for the night.
One interesting thing we saw was the windmills which I'd never seen the like before.
We had to make a stop for gas in some little town I don't remember the name of, but do remember we were trying to find a KY map and had no luck at the 'vistors center' there. Found another rest stop for our picnic lunch -sandwiches, fruit and chips at a picnic table. We took some pics there.
DD was goofing off and I got this pic, which I like.
Me & DH.
We repacked our food, had a restroom stop and climbed back in the jeep. I liked gawking at Louisville as we drove through.
Just before the IN - KY boarder or just after we found another rest stop that had KY maps and some really nice lady volunteers who gave me directions to Lincoln's birthplace. We jumped back in the jeep and set off when MIL noticed the time on her phone had jumped ahead an hour. There went the hour I had slotted for Lincoln's stop so I told her to just go ahead to Mammoth Cave, well she didn't want for us to miss that too and was driving a little fast for my taste and made DH grab the dash a couple of times when she came too close to other cars. I hated to say anything because she was trying to get us to the tour in time but I didn't want to end up in an accident either!
Up next; Did we make it in time?
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Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Last edited by Alaskan Mom; 01-23-2016 at 05:44 PM..