Philrad71 does Indiana (a soft porn)

Hopefully you get to. Maybe I could convince my wife that SDC is where she should pick to go for our anniversary this year...

^ And you just might be good to go with that even though you said your wife isn't into the coasters! I would be willing to bet that she would love the ambience, theming and shows of SDC. Have you two have been to Dollywood?

So far, we have two trips planned for this year...one to Orlando in March and one to Prague, Vienna and Budapest in April. Being that I got my fifth week of vacation this year (the big 2-0!) it is nice to be able to plan multiple trips.

The big debate was whether to take two weeks and go from Chicago to San Antonio (following some of Rt. 66) or to take three weeks and do the national parks in Colorado, Utah and Arizona. The thought is to do the former and save one week's worth of vacation for oddball days here and there.

While I would love to have a motor home similar to what you went to CA with, we just can't afford one nor do we have storage room. I was disappointed in how much it costs to rent them...and they didn't really look all that nice (Cruise America? Issshh!). Maybe I can talk my Dad into renting his Class C, but that might be kind of tough as he is on the road a lot these days.

Yeah, we've been to Dollywood at least half a dozen times. She has always liked the shows more, I just wore her out with too many coaster and amusement park trips the past few years. That's ok. We'll take it easy (er) this year.

Congrats on the 20 years and an extra week of vacation. Unfortunately we don't have tiered vacation time so I only get 3 weeks a year regardless. Technically with a mobile hotspot I can work on the road so we'll be looking into some of those options down the road.

We only have a BGW/Colonial Wiliamsburg trip in the Spring and an Orlando trip in the Fall tentatively planned although I'm not sure the scope of either trip.

Yeah, a motor home isn't cheap to buy or rent. We had a Class C for five years but were starting to have major issues with it. Our previous dealer gave us an awesome deal we couldn't resist on this Class A. We should cut down traveling for the next year or two since we've put 15,000+ files on it in the last year and a half. We have had to make numerous sacrifices over the years in order to afford one and I'm still frugal with lots of things. (my wife calls me cheap although she is too )

Anyway, looks like some great trips you are planning!

So far, we have two trips planned for this year...one to Orlando in March and one to Prague, Vienna and Budapest in April.

I certainly look forward to your European trip as I'm betting Wiener Prater on on your list. Would love to see what ride are still there since my visit as the vendors do have a habit of switching out rides.

^^Rick, it certainly sounds like you have an active schedule, and it's even more awesome that you have nice motor home to do it in!

In growing up, my parents started out with a Griswold station wagon in the 70's that included seven of us driving to Vegas with the luggage on top. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that maybe National Lampoon was spying and based their movie on us...although we would have never strapped Grandma to the car or she would have killed us!

From there we went to a converted '78 Ford Econoline van that was brown with an orange stripe down each side...a total pimp mobile that my Dad converted. There were no back windows in it except for those little tinted domes, but he cut out sheet metal and installed two slide windows on each side and made a fold down couch bed out of plywood, 2x4's, foam cushion and some long haired brown shag fur...it was AWESOME! We traveled to Vegas every year in it for more than ten years (with a big tent for camping). He even had two engines for it, so when one went, he would have another rebuilt engine ready that he would just swap it out so it didn't interfere with our travels.

From there, we finally graduated to our first Class C - a 1982 Midas. We did some trips in that before he bought an '84 Class A Pace Arrow, which to date, was my favorite motor home my parents ever owned...and probably the most reliable.

We also had a stint where he bought a powder blue 70's motor home (can't even remember the name brand, but my folks called it Rin Tin Tin) in which he remodeled the entire inside. Only problem is that the engine and tranny were both junk and we ended up combining the motor home in our house sale when we moved the year I graduated high school.

After that it was a couple of Class A motor homes that were endless money pits and engine issues. After my Mom passed, my Dad had finally had enough and went back to a smaller Class C, although he still has had a lot of issues with that despite the fact that it's a very nice looking camper.

That is one of the reasons I am so skeptical about buying a motor home. My Dad has had so many problems with the one's he has owned over the years, the depreciation value is ridiculous, the cost to buy is ridiculous...and they just don't build them to last.

I have been seriously looking at buying an older van or conversion van like my Dad did as a hobby and start pimping it out the way he did. Between that and the Pace Arrow, those were the two best rides we ever had in terms of long distance traveling!

^Larry - in regards to Weiner Prater, I told my partner that no matter where this tour is going to take us, that it is mandatory that we have time to get to the Prater. We are going as part of a AAA tour (with a group of senior citizens) and it's only for one week, but I told him that if I have to skip out of an opera or a museum tour to go to Prater for a few hours, I'm going to do it!

The good thing is that it looks like Prater has some extended operating hours so it should be possible to take some time to visit. I see that our hotel is approximately 2km from the park so it should be a quick jaunt by rail.

^That's awesome! I loved hearing that story!

They are certainly overpriced and I haven't been happy with some of the construction techniques on any of my units. So far they have been the best on my current one, a Winnebago. I still think I can do better myself so I plan to start 'building' my own unit in five years or so on a 45' diesel bus chassis. That way I can have it completely converted in the following 3-5 years. There is no better way to get the exact layout you want than to do it yourself.

That's cool that you would construct from the chassis up...that would take a lot of work, but if you want it done right!

^Larry - in regards to Weiner Prater, I told my partner that no matter where this tour is going to take us, that it is mandatory that we have time to get to the Prater. We are going as part of a AAA tour (with a group of senior citizens) and it's only for one week, but I told him that if I have to skip out of an opera or a museum tour to go to Prater for a few hours, I'm going to do it!

 

The good thing is that it looks like Prater has some extended operating hours so it should be possible to take some time to visit. I see that our hotel is approximately 2km from the park so it should be a quick jaunt by rail.

Remember to have some Euros, most of Wiener Prater (at least 4 years ago) was small independent operators that don't take credit. The food and beer in the parks, also run by independent operators, is cheap and tasty. I went back to the same stand twice for schneitzel.

^Thanks for the head's up, Larry.

We went to AAA to inquire about currency exchanges for the three countries last week and we'll probably go down next week to get at least $100 of each currency to bring with us.

That's also good to know about the food and beer stands in the park. Love me some schnitzel...as well as the currywurst!

Still don't think that I will be able to get on that huge Star Flyer though. The 100 foot variety about scared me to death...no way that I'm getting on one over 300 feet tall!

I do like the looks of the Black Mamba & Tornado rides as well as the Boomerang with lap bars & funky looking dark rides. Guess I'll ride those first before we indulge in the food and beer!