Captain_Oblivious
DIS Dad #257, Galactic Salad Dodger
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
Chapter 16: The One Where We Run Out of Gas. (not literally)
I’m going to start with my usual final statistic: we traveled over 4,100 miles on the road during this trip. By this last day, as we left Disney World and started the trek back home, we were feeling every single one of them. We had no stops planned other than a dinner, so it was a long 8-hour slog through Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. We had planned for two more days on the trip. We’d spend this night near Charlotte, NC, and then spend the next day seeing a railroad museum in North Carolina and the Petersburg battlefield in Virginia.
But somewhere along the way, we ran out of gas. Emotionally, that is. I’m not writing this from the side of I-95 in South Carolina or anything.
I think it was the fact that Typhoon Lagoon was the last “big” attraction we had on the itinerary. Once that was finished, it was just an acceptance that another vacation was basically over. We’d pushed ourselves more than ever before and I think we were all tired and just ready to go home to our own beds.
So I ended up canceling the hotel in Virginia for our last night, and we made the decision to head straight home from Charlotte the next day. I think it was a good call—everyone seemed relieved to be getting home a day earlier than planned.
We did have one more order of business that we wanted to keep on the agenda, though—a DIS Meet.
We drove all day and eventually stopped in the town of Rock Hill, South Carolina for dinner at the Legal Remedy Brewing Company. We’d exchanged various messages over the previous few months and thanks to everyone being flexible with their schedules, we had a pretty darn good group of DIS’ers together.
When we got to the restaurant, we met up with Rob (@GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes ), his wife Tamara, Pat (@Poolrat ), and Marv (@GoofyFan1515 ). Now there’s a fun group of people! And I was there, too.
Rob lives nearby and had recommended the restaurant, so he was nervously hoping everyone would like the place. And then he doubled down on the risk: when I asked what I should order, he told me one of the best dishes was…the meatloaf.
I think I can safely say that in all of my travels, I’ve never once had anyone recommend meatloaf anywhere. It was always one of those dishes your mom forced you to eat growing up—an easy way to use up the ground beef in the freezer. But Rob wouldn’t steer me wrong…would he?
Of course not. He’s a fellow DIS Dad. The meatloaf, as it turned out, was a combination of ground beef, brisket, smoked turkey and bacon. In other words, this was not your momma’s meatloaf. Dare I say it was…good? I really enjoyed it. I also ate all of the mashed potatoes and successfully shoved the green beans to the side of the plate. I was also stuffed. That was a lot of meatloaf.
Julie ordered another item I’d had my eye on—the pork schnitzel “sandwich”. I put “sandwich” in quotes because…well, look at this piece of ridiculousness:
That’s a “sandwich” in the same way that Godzilla is a “lizard”.
Sure did taste good, though.
I’d been speaking to these various people on the DISboards over the course of several years by this time, so it was an honor and a pleasure to finally meet in person and shake their hands. Marv and Pat are great fun together, hilarious and energetic. They had just recently come back from Disney World and were happy to share their experiences at the (then) brand-new land of Pandora for us (spoiler: they enjoyed it).
Rob is one of the DIS Dads I’ve gotten to know best on the boards—I’m grateful for the countless hours he’s spent following along these pointless, long-winded TR’s serving as both a smart-alecky foil and an encouraging cheerleader as we circle the country. He also has an endless well of Calvin & Hobbes comic strips ready to deploy, and you really can never go wrong with that. Rob, thank you for the great friendship over the years as well as being a wonderful host for this fine dinner.
Drew was obviously impressed as well.
I can proudly say that we ended another meal at a restaurant deserving of the Drooling Homer Award for Excellence in Unpretentious Dining. My only regret is that I didn’t pick up one of my customary pint glasses for my collection.
And that’s a wrap, folks. We returned home the next day after an uneventful drive.
And look at that! We’ve filled in most of the holes on the map now. It’s just the west coast that needs some work.
The big kids and Julie have now been to 47 states. Drew has been to 41 (don’t ask how many he remembers, though). The race is on to get to the remaining states before Sarah heads off to college.
So, of course, we’re not picking up any new states this year. We planned two major trips, and the first is already done. As I mentioned earlier, Julie and I recently celebrated our 20th anniversary with a little getaway out west—we were referring it to it as the “Unfinished Business” trip. We picked up a few locations/activities that we’d missed out on the first time around. And soon we’ll be leaving with the whole family (and some extended family) for Drew’s first official trip to Disney World. You might say the kids are a little excited about that. I’m just hoping that we can survive Florida in July.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be back with a trip report on the main TR page about Drew’s adventures in Disney World. Feel free to let me know if you want to hear about our little jaunt out west as well.
Thank you to all of you who stuck with me, and who have spent so much time reading about my family’s adventures all over the country. It’s a lot of fun re-counting the story, but it’s not nearly as much fun if no one is reacting to it, so I’m grateful to each of you who takes the time to read and especially give me feedback. Especially if that feedback doesn’t involve pointing out my many mistakes or making fun of me.
Ok, fine, that’s fun too. Anyway, thanks for making this such a fun ride. Until the next adventure!
I’m going to start with my usual final statistic: we traveled over 4,100 miles on the road during this trip. By this last day, as we left Disney World and started the trek back home, we were feeling every single one of them. We had no stops planned other than a dinner, so it was a long 8-hour slog through Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. We had planned for two more days on the trip. We’d spend this night near Charlotte, NC, and then spend the next day seeing a railroad museum in North Carolina and the Petersburg battlefield in Virginia.
But somewhere along the way, we ran out of gas. Emotionally, that is. I’m not writing this from the side of I-95 in South Carolina or anything.
I think it was the fact that Typhoon Lagoon was the last “big” attraction we had on the itinerary. Once that was finished, it was just an acceptance that another vacation was basically over. We’d pushed ourselves more than ever before and I think we were all tired and just ready to go home to our own beds.
So I ended up canceling the hotel in Virginia for our last night, and we made the decision to head straight home from Charlotte the next day. I think it was a good call—everyone seemed relieved to be getting home a day earlier than planned.
We did have one more order of business that we wanted to keep on the agenda, though—a DIS Meet.
We drove all day and eventually stopped in the town of Rock Hill, South Carolina for dinner at the Legal Remedy Brewing Company. We’d exchanged various messages over the previous few months and thanks to everyone being flexible with their schedules, we had a pretty darn good group of DIS’ers together.
When we got to the restaurant, we met up with Rob (@GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes ), his wife Tamara, Pat (@Poolrat ), and Marv (@GoofyFan1515 ). Now there’s a fun group of people! And I was there, too.
Rob lives nearby and had recommended the restaurant, so he was nervously hoping everyone would like the place. And then he doubled down on the risk: when I asked what I should order, he told me one of the best dishes was…the meatloaf.
I think I can safely say that in all of my travels, I’ve never once had anyone recommend meatloaf anywhere. It was always one of those dishes your mom forced you to eat growing up—an easy way to use up the ground beef in the freezer. But Rob wouldn’t steer me wrong…would he?
Of course not. He’s a fellow DIS Dad. The meatloaf, as it turned out, was a combination of ground beef, brisket, smoked turkey and bacon. In other words, this was not your momma’s meatloaf. Dare I say it was…good? I really enjoyed it. I also ate all of the mashed potatoes and successfully shoved the green beans to the side of the plate. I was also stuffed. That was a lot of meatloaf.
Julie ordered another item I’d had my eye on—the pork schnitzel “sandwich”. I put “sandwich” in quotes because…well, look at this piece of ridiculousness:
That’s a “sandwich” in the same way that Godzilla is a “lizard”.
Sure did taste good, though.
I’d been speaking to these various people on the DISboards over the course of several years by this time, so it was an honor and a pleasure to finally meet in person and shake their hands. Marv and Pat are great fun together, hilarious and energetic. They had just recently come back from Disney World and were happy to share their experiences at the (then) brand-new land of Pandora for us (spoiler: they enjoyed it).
Rob is one of the DIS Dads I’ve gotten to know best on the boards—I’m grateful for the countless hours he’s spent following along these pointless, long-winded TR’s serving as both a smart-alecky foil and an encouraging cheerleader as we circle the country. He also has an endless well of Calvin & Hobbes comic strips ready to deploy, and you really can never go wrong with that. Rob, thank you for the great friendship over the years as well as being a wonderful host for this fine dinner.
Drew was obviously impressed as well.
I can proudly say that we ended another meal at a restaurant deserving of the Drooling Homer Award for Excellence in Unpretentious Dining. My only regret is that I didn’t pick up one of my customary pint glasses for my collection.
And that’s a wrap, folks. We returned home the next day after an uneventful drive.
And look at that! We’ve filled in most of the holes on the map now. It’s just the west coast that needs some work.
The big kids and Julie have now been to 47 states. Drew has been to 41 (don’t ask how many he remembers, though). The race is on to get to the remaining states before Sarah heads off to college.
So, of course, we’re not picking up any new states this year. We planned two major trips, and the first is already done. As I mentioned earlier, Julie and I recently celebrated our 20th anniversary with a little getaway out west—we were referring it to it as the “Unfinished Business” trip. We picked up a few locations/activities that we’d missed out on the first time around. And soon we’ll be leaving with the whole family (and some extended family) for Drew’s first official trip to Disney World. You might say the kids are a little excited about that. I’m just hoping that we can survive Florida in July.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be back with a trip report on the main TR page about Drew’s adventures in Disney World. Feel free to let me know if you want to hear about our little jaunt out west as well.
Thank you to all of you who stuck with me, and who have spent so much time reading about my family’s adventures all over the country. It’s a lot of fun re-counting the story, but it’s not nearly as much fun if no one is reacting to it, so I’m grateful to each of you who takes the time to read and especially give me feedback. Especially if that feedback doesn’t involve pointing out my many mistakes or making fun of me.
Ok, fine, that’s fun too. Anyway, thanks for making this such a fun ride. Until the next adventure!
and the daily downpours can be pretty intense! Oh and by the way, we took your tip and went to Luella's BBQ in Asheville recently. 
