Westward Ho! A month-long adventure! - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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We are on the road now, so I don't know how much updating I will be able to do before I get home. We got Victoria last night. Yay! She is all stopped up, though, due to so much smoke caused by the forest fires surrounding the area. It is so smoky. Poor Montana.
Anyway, we are headed to Yellowstone National Park in an hour or so. I will update when I am able!!
We got back early Saturday morning. I was checking online and getting ready to post pics when I saw that I was missing the last five pictures from Thursday, August 4. So, I have remedied that.
I am working on my update now. I hope to have something posted tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks for all of the pixies and well wishes. I appreciate them! See ya on the boards!
Weary Travelers from Virginia:
Laura, me (36)
Victoria, DD (12)
Michael, DH (34)
DAY 5: Friday, August 3, 2007
Today we got back on the road. Our destination today was Ft. Custer Campground and Restaurant. The picture on the internet is absolutely gorgeous! We were going to camp out underneath a big mountain in Big Sky Country.
We got up bright and early and were out the door by 4 a.m. I decided to take my time and enjoy scenery along the way. I didn’t mind a stop here or there either.
The Minnesota countryside was lovely. It was very misty with morning dew. We hit Fargo, ND, around 7 a.m., and got some breakfast at McDonald’s. We got back on the road. I loved the sunflower fields in ND. They are awesome! We don’t have those in VA. Victoria tried to take some pictures for me out of the window, but they didn’t come out very well. That’s okay. I stopped later on in the trip.
We drove on for a while and came to Jamestown, ND. Great name! We thought we’d check it out. They had a cute (and FREE) Frontier Village to visit. So, we stopped on in.
It was a cute little “town” with lots of little buildings you could go into. This old Wells Fargo stagecoach was pretty cool to see.
I think our favorite, though, was this old log cabin with the laundry hanging on the line to dry. Victoria couldn’t get over the corset hanging out to dry. The cabin was built in 1898.
The caboose was neat to walk through.
And, we loved the old one room schoolhouse which was built in 1910. The sign on the schoolhouse reads: One room prairie school placed here as a monument…in memory of North Dakota teachers.
The old church was beautiful!
Inside was a lovely old pump organ.
Victoria wanted to stand behind the pulpit in honor of her daddy.
Behind a row of little shops, there was this HUGE rocking chair to relax in. It was so funny to sit in!
In the post office was a newspaper from August 21, 1888. This is what it says… I laughed and laughed over that one. Poor woman!
Jamestown’s claim to fame is the world’s largest buffalo. So, we were sure to get our pictures made with it.
We spent about an hour in Jamestown enjoying the little buildings and stretching our legs. Then, we were on the road again. This time, I made sure to stop and take a picture of the beautiful sunflowers.
There was another little “scenic” spot along our route. This is Sweet Briar Lake. This is just one shot of several. It is absolutely beautiful!
As we were nearing the MT border, we noticed lots of signs talking about the largest metal artwork to be seen, and there were many located on the Enchanted Highway. We looked high and low for these metal sculptures but didn’t see a thing. After driving for miles down I94, we saw a sculpture. It is called “Geese in Flight.” I like to call it “Birds Eye View.” Which do you prefer?
After seeing this sculpture, we decided to drive down the Enchanted Highway to see more sculptures. We drove to the next town and didn’t see another sculpture. I decided to turn around and get back on I94. We still had a little way to go. I later learned that the Enchanted Highway is 32 miles long! I am so glad we didn’t stay on it. So, if you are ever driving down I94 and have nothing else to do, go down the Enchanted Highway and check out all of the sculptures. They might really be worthwhile!
On the road again, we see more signs…Come Visit Home on the Range. What a cute name! We thought we would check it out. So, when we approached the exit to Home on the Range, we took it. We drove a short distance and learned that Home on the Range is a home for children. Now, what sort of home, I am not sure. But, since that didn’t appeal to us, we turned around and got back on the interstate. Oh well. You live (and drive) and learn.
We were nearing the Badlands of ND by now and decided to pull into the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I am so glad we did! We were greeted by a beautiful sight – the painted canyon. Lovely! The camera just does not do it justice AT ALL!
I took way too many pictures to post here. It is well worth visiting, and it is FREE!
We left the park and not too far past the Badlands, we saw our first buffalo grazing with some horses.
Actually, I had seen a buffalo earlier. We drove under an overpass and came across an 18-wheeler that was completely on its side on the grass on the right side of the road. All of the contents of the truck (looked like 7UP bottles) was all over the ground. Beside the truck was a buffalo. Apparantly, the buffalo had run out in front of the truck and the truck hit it. So, the first buffalo I saw was a dead one. It was sad.
Once through the Badlands and then the Missouri Grasslands, we were in Montana.
I knew our destination was in sight. (Thank goodness!) We drove about 200 more miles to Ft. Custer Campground and Restaurant. What we saw was a HUGE disappointment! It looked NOTHING like the picture on the internet. In fact, it looked downright scary. I called my husband, and he immediately got on the Internet looking for other camping areas nearby. We decided on the KOA in Billings, MT which was about 60 miles away. Victoria and I drove onward. We finally made it to Billings and found the KOA. I was exhausted.
We set up our tent. We had a beautiful view, and our site was on the Yellowstone River.
We then headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I was so tired I forgot to leave the poor waitress a tip. I have felt so bad about that.
We got back to the campsite and were in bed by 9 p.m. I was worn out.
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Pixie Dust
this photo!! Would look great on the wall!!
PassPorter Guide Author
Lisa 
The cabin was built in 1898. 
I am so glad we didn’t stay on it. So, if you are ever driving down I94 and have nothing else to do, go down the Enchanted Highway and check out all of the sculptures. They might really be worthwhile!
Apparantly, the buffalo had run out in front of the truck and the truck hit it. So, the first buffalo I saw was a dead one. It was sad. 
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