RE: The Mother Of all Tents !

[birol]

 Ok, here is my side of the story.......
 
 I will type and save on a regular basis so as not to loose everything.... Have patience...
 
 
 
 The beginning...
 
 It all started one rainy day when my mom saw my dad  []
 
 ok, ok, I won t start from that [8D]
 
 It was a tough decision for us, to drive down to VA and meet cavman and gone-camping. What with all the stories floating around, and not meeting with strangers met on the internet, it was a decision not to be taken lightly.
 
 As you guys know, I all think that campers are a great bunch of people, and I put aside all the uncertainty and doubt aside quickly and told DW and DD that there might be a short vacation waiting for us. The financial side of the equation was of course on the negative side compared to the alternative, but, we would get to meet cavman and gone-camping ! Priceless !!!! And to top it off, the weather would be warmer, how much more warmer we were to find out later, the hotel we stayed had an indoor swimming pool (DD & DW loves swimming) and was uncharacteristically cheap because it was in low season, and we would get to see Williamsburg !.
 
 So the decision was made to drive to VA, meet cavman & Gone-Camping and spend two beautiful days in Williamsburg.
 
 Sunday morning I woke up I woke up at 4 am to get the newspapers early and packing them so that we could leave around 6 am or so. Alas, lady luck was not with us that morning, 9 "  of snow had fallen during the night, an extreme cold alert was issues (It was around 10 F degrees or so ) and the truck was late delivering the newspapers. Sow e got our papers at around 5 am. Started distributing them, by 7:30 we were back home.
 
 Windstar was all packed up, breakfast sandwiches were microwaved, and we checked the answering machine, and to our surprise, the newspaper boss offered me a small fortune to distribute an additional 400 newspapers. Now that would set us back at least till noon, so we had to unfortunately believe that we hadn t  have checked the answering machine []
 
 Off we started driving at 8 am, got some coffee on the way, some gas and stepped on the speed making pedal in the car (I know I know it is called an accelerator, I am making a point here [8D])
 
 Arrived at Fort Eire Border, and got asked our citizenship, AND where we were born.
 
 When the office heard that we were from Turkey, she asked us if we have our passports and if we have VISAS. Now I had just told her that we are Canadian CITIZENS. I just looked at her for a split second with a STUPID look on my face, trying to understand why she would ask me for my Turkish Passport, when I just told her that I am a Canadian. She repeated the question, and I went, ohh, here are our Citizenships cards. She went, ohhh, and was visibly upset and disappointed. I don t know why, but it was not a nice feeling. We never felt like this before crossing the border, (even after 9/11) but this time we felt uncomfortable. She grilled me with a ton of questions which I answered and she typed a bunch of stuff on the computer and set us free.
 
 After clearing her, there was a what looked like a lane, a police officer right in front of it, and a sign which said all vehicles must stop. And that was right in front of us, like 50 . So naturally I approached that lane (More like a gate to a holding area, thinking that because of security issues they do this, and started to slow down getting ready to stop. The cop (he was cheerful and polite) looked at me and with a  smile said "  I wouldn t go in there if I weren t told to go in there"  and he had that smiling face, so I said, " oh, ok thanks"  and drove off the border. later we turned around and looked and they had a few cars there they were inspecting really carefully.
 
 We drove on hw 5 to get cheap gas from an Indian reservation and joined the Interstate around Erie, and went down  towards Pittsburgh. Stopped at Grove city to look at the outlet store but it was too cold so we just kept on going.
 
 Crossed Pittsburgh and took I68 at Morgantown. I started to get tired and was getting cranky fast, obviously I had underestimated the distance to reach  Washington DC, as at that time I was hoping to have passed it.
 
 
 We decided to stay at Hagerstown. Found a Super 8 , cheap rate (33) bucks, and checked in. There what we call Cockroaches (small but we call them that too) and I went to the reception to complain and ask for another room. She tells me that they don t have them roaches, and she doesn t have any other rooms to give me and she doesn t know what to do with me and I should take my credit card slip and go to another hotel. That was outright RUDE, but as the hotel was huge with only 4 cars outside, I decided maybe it was best not to stay here anyways. Went to a Days inn and paid little bit more but it was at least cleaner, and the receptionist was polite.
 
 Next day we get going at 7 am, and arrive at Washington DC around 8 AM. Man oh man, what a traffic jam, started like 30 miles before we reached Washington D.C. Babbette  kept nagging me for some reason to go faster ! Now I nee3ded to go but not faster, I just needed to go (TO THE RESTROOM), and here we are in middle of nowhere stopping fast on the interstate, it was hilarious  [][][]
 
 Anyways we pass D.C. and I am in need of you know what and gas is needed by the Windstar. SO we go into Springfield, and the only gas station sells it at 1.79 and we get lost and stuff, I love this ! We buy some gas and hit the road again, Richmond was easy ! After Richmond we took a scenic road to Williamsburg, and was stopped at a very cheap gas station, it was clean, nice, good coffee and stuff. You won t believe the amount of gas and coffee we consumed !
 
 We reach the hotel, and it was everything I expected of it; nice, clean, beautiful pool  and stuff ! (The stuff part is important !)
 
 We check in, and go to the pool. Everyone has a blast,  grab something to eat, and sleep. next day we get lost on the way to Cavman s house. Now I have all the maps showing directions to his house, No way we should get lost, but I manage it ! Normally I am good, but this time I am not, we arrive 45 minutes late, when they start thinking that we are not coming ! DING DONG and it is us !
 
 Cavman and Gone Camping are two very nice gentleman ! We get to meet, have coffee, DW loved the hot chocolate and we meet Cavman s girlfriend ! I tried to take it too, but he wouldn t let me have her [].
 
 Then we start looking the treasure ! We had so much stuff, it hardly fit into the back of the minivan by the way.  We set up the tarp under the tent, and then we start setting the tent up. Cavman thought us how to do it properly ! I have tons of pictures of the crucial parts so I am sure we will be able to set it up properly when we camp the first time !
 
 Once again I try to talk cavman to part with his girlfriend to no avail ! He says no !.
 
 We load up the minivan, and it hardly took all the stuff they gave us ! THANKS A TON ONCE AGAIN !
 
 After another round of drinks (No not alcoholic [8D] ), it was unfortunately time to say good byes. It was great meeting them though. Thanks to Cavman for opening his house to us and gone camping taking the time to bring the good stuff and come to meet with us.
 
 Soon we were on our way, and decided to see Virginia beach, but it was raining and we didn t get out of the car. It was lovely looking though. On the way back, I mistook Fort Story for a touristy site and went to the gate. The guard (civilian was most unsympathetic , and didn t understand my English). The young soldier toting an M4 rifle was alert and was frustrated with the guard. I was asking if this was a touristy area (Our map was showing it as such) and this guy kept asking me where I wanted to go ! Sheees, at the end I said, I just want to know if there is anything to see for a tourist , my map shows it as a touristic area. He said (at last ) that there is a  light house I can go and see. The soldier at that point said, I was welcome to drive thru, but I just didn?t think it was a great idea to get in at that point. There was another entrance after 100  , with sandbags and stuff. Obviously it was a military area. Told them I would just take a U turn, and thanked them.  The soldier smiled and waved bye after taking a note of some sort somewhere and the guard was still looking at us. DW was upset with me for some reason I can t fathom [8D]
 
 On the way back, we got lost soooo bad, wanted to go thru 664, and also see the city and we saw too much of the city in circles [:@][:@][:@]
 
 We made it back to the hotel and swam some, drank beer, swam more, ate and swam more.
 
 Next day we went to Yorktown (didn t go to Jamestown), but did not visit the historic sites as they were little bit pricey for us. Walked around a lot and walked all of Williamsburg area. I had to huge cans of beer and we swam like there is no tomorrow.
 
 Way back :
 
 Left at 7 am , little bit late for us , but didn t want to get caught at rush hour in Richmond and Washington D.C. Made it all the way to PA and snow started [: (] And it was cold and stuff [: (]
 
 All the way to Syracuse, NY it was snowing real hard, so many accidents on the road []
 
 We made it to the border at around 7 pm.  The customs officer asked me what we had to declare, I said 50 cd-roms, 15 bucks and he asked me if I stole them, I said it was on sale, and we got sent to the customs. They digged thru the car, and let us go after half an hour, what a blast [: (] We were never checked since 96 (when we moved to Canada), I don t know what triggered it.  We arrived home at 9:30 pm and I had  a sip of whisky and slept till noon !
 
 I just finished carrying the tent and the rest to the garage and can you see the smile on my face ? []
 
 Me + DS+DD will be at the eastern rally , just for a few days though, I don t think we can stay the whole week, but I will see if we can stay till Friday.
 
 Thanks to PUT we can now camp, and met two great campers !  We look forward to meeting all the rest of you either at eastern rally or the ones after that !
 
 Birol
 

[campingcop]

 birol
Glad to hear that you made it there and back with out to much trouble.
 also glad to hear that you ll be making the eastern rally.  
 
 We dw and I had a great time at last years rally in Tenn. and are looking foward to this years rally.
 
 See you and the mother of all tents there[]

[cavman]

 birol
I m glad that you were able to get back home safe and sound.  
 
 See Babette, I told you " guys don t ask directions" .ROFLOL[]
 
 Now for the trial run on the tent (and remember, I have the other one in reserve).  Soons ya can, you need to get it up and use your goodies.
 
 I look forward to seeing you in June and watching your progress.
 
 Thanks for the gifts and give the family a hug for me.

[gr8grandpa]

 birol
Hello Birol.
 
 I am glad that you had a good trip and made it home safely. I have missed your posts but I could not believe that you wanted to take caveman s girlfriend. I hope to see you and your family at the rally in June.
 

[tlhdoc]

 birol

 

ORIGINAL:  birol
 
 Me + DS+DD will be at the eastern rally , just for a few days though, I don t think we can stay the whole week, but I will see if we can stay till Friday.
 
 Birol
 
 

 I hope you can stay until Friday.  That is the last day of the Rally.[]
 

[Jeffrey]

 birol
Birol,
 
 I enjoyed reading about your trip.
 Sounds like your pretty well set-up for a summer of camping.
 That s great!
 
 Now you can have fun waiting for spring[&:] like the rest of us northerners.
 
 I hope your family loves camping!
 And I hope you post the adventures of your first trip.

[Gone-Camping]

 birol
I m glad you all made it home safe and sound! You should have asked me about Va Beach and I-664, I d have given you some helpful hints on those area s.
 
 So tell me, what did you think of the weather on Wednesday and Thursday. warm enough for you? []

[ShirleyT]

 birol
WHEW! I am tired just from reading about your trip! I am not much on driving long distances so that would have been a feat for me!
 
 Glad you guys had a great time meeting!
 
 I am so excited for you and your family!!

[DiW]

 birol
Glad to hear you ll be out camping soon. While you re waiting for the weather to warm up, you can have a movie marathon night. Just blow up those air mattresses, lay out the sleeping bags and camp inside. I can even remember setting up a tent inside (to try it out).
 
 I look forward to meeting you in VA. We have some things in common - our kids are the same ages. In fact, my son will be visiting Williamsburg in May on a class trip (I m a chaperone). My DH was out of work almost all last year due to layoffs at IBM. We made the most of a bad situation by taking lots of camping trips (mostly state parks to save $). So glad we had that opportunity since now he s busy working and only " dreaming"  of camping.
 Di

[fivegonefishing]

 birol
Hey Birol, that s just great, glad everything worked out.  
 
 As for the crossing, I think a lot of it has to do with 9/11; Canadian s were told at the beginning of March break they would need their pass port to go anywhere now so, take it for what it s worth.  And my brother is a little on the rough looking side which once caused the whole car  and us to be searched, not fun!
 
 So, you planning on camping May 1st at Bronte?  I d love to meet up with ya[]
 
 Tammy

[Firefyter-Emt]

 birol
Psst.. as a favorite quote of mine goes.. GPS... Get it, or Get lost! [8D]

[griffsmom]

 birol
I m sure someone else has already said this, but I believe that it s so important that it bears repeating:  This is what makes PUT so great--its people and what they are willing to do for strangers (at least at until we meet each other, then we re no stranger than anyone else[]) that they first meet on the Internet.
 
 Thanks for sharing your story Birol, and Cavman and Gone-camping, you rock! [insert old board frosty mug icon here]

[wiininkwe]

 birol
Lost, huh?  well, we always say that real men don t ask for directions.  Cripe, why do you think Moses and his folks were wandering around in the desert for so long?
 LOL   Anyway, glad to see that the trip was made safely, and it sure is great to hear about all the adventures, and as I mentioned to someone else, this is the kind of thing that shows this group of friends at it s best.
 T
 []

[GeneF]

 birol
Birol
 
 I thoroughly enjoyed your narrative on your trip and wish you many years of happy camping.
 
 Getting lost!!!  No problem, it is part of camping and travelling.  We have made some real nice discoveries when we were lost.
 
 By the way, I let dw navigate and I drive then it isn t my fault when we get lost. []

[birol]

 GeneF

 

ORIGINAL:  GeneF
 
 By the way, I let dw navigate and I drive then it isn t my fault when we get lost. []
 

 Duuuh, whom do you think is responsible for us getting lost,  SHE NAVIGATES [8D][8D][8D][8D][8D], I only turn the round thing right or left. [][][]
 
 Actually I took a turn thinking there would be both east and west entrances to a highway and there was only one, goinh the wrong direction, 10 miles of highway driving and 30 minutes of local road driving later we were able to join the highway in the right direction. We saw such fantastic scenery of Norfolk like factories, junk yards, ships loading/unloading and stuff, oh it was sooo much fun  All DD wanted to do was to swim, me drink a beer and DW just to get to the hotel (and swim).
 
 We flew the way to the hotel once we were on 664. I am thinking, maybe we need a GPS.
 
 Kidding aside, getting lost or taking local roads is the best way to get to see cou try side. Interstates show nothing ....