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FAMILIES ON THE ROAD
FULLTIME FAMILIES ON THE ROAD
About Me
- mholmes969
- I grew up as an only child... but today I have a large family with 4 grown children, 7 grandchildren and #8 on the way! I spent 30 years in the IT industry. I am now on disability after suffering a stroke in February of '09 and hoping to make the best of my situation by traveling full time in an rv with my wife and my 6 year old granddaughter that we are raising.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Every week I get to see and meet more and more people that struggle to get a grip on hunger and the eonomy. The last two weeks were in counties with 400 plus people waiting in line for hours waiting to get food. On some of my days I am not handing out for USDA, I go to help at a food pantry here in Jonesboro, that hands out to the needing without judging. That is something I do not like. Judgement. That is a big reason I like to work at this one. The lady that heads this one, talks to individuals one on one, and will double up on food when she detects the need. I really believe she can decerne the difference in needs. Once when I was there, a Man came in with his daughter and granddaughter. He said my daughter ande her child were hungry and he was unable to help them today. THAT IS WHY WE ARE HERE AND DO THIS PEOPLE! Then, the other day a lady came in in tears, she said her husband had been laid off, there are very little jobs to be offered here, and her kids were starting to feel the hunger now. Sometimes, you have to know when to ask for help, and it can be the hardest part.
Enough of my soapbox. We did nearly 1000 people in two counties in the last 10 days. The further south in the Northeast part of Arkansas the more food for kids we gave out. I would think one of two things are happening here economically. Either the younger people are getting without jobs, or more and more grandparents are raising kids. In both cases the economy is worse there. And white, black, or hispanics have no bearing. They are pretty even accross the state.
Enough of my soapbox. We did nearly 1000 people in two counties in the last 10 days. The further south in the Northeast part of Arkansas the more food for kids we gave out. I would think one of two things are happening here economically. Either the younger people are getting without jobs, or more and more grandparents are raising kids. In both cases the economy is worse there. And white, black, or hispanics have no bearing. They are pretty even accross the state.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
After our setback from Mark's 3rd stroke, we are still planning on hitting the road full-time. I went back to work at the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas as the Program Coordinator. I am over the Commodity Distribution, the Sr. Pack Distribution, and the Backpack Distribution. Mark is coming with me volunteering to give out food. This has helped his recovery very much. Although he has improved and has actually gained weight, his risk of another stroke is still pretty high. He still has 2 completely blocked arteries that can not have anything done about them. Hopefully his medicine will keep the other two main arteries to his brain clear.
The job itself is a stressful one. There is lots to do and deadlines to meet. We have seen an increase in the hungry folks out there. Not a good sign for our economy. This has increased our desire to travel cross country helping wherever we can - volunteering at Food Banks, Soup Kitchens, and any where we can be of assistance and encourage people. The plan now is to hit the road right after Christmas. Of course our first stop will be in Florida, hopefully far away from the cold winter weather.
We plan to go to Mountain View, AR in a couple of weeks to meet up with another couple on the road full-time. I have been keeping up with several Families On The Road via the FOTR website, their blog sites, and on Facebook. It keeps me motivated!
Our next RV trip will be to Tulsa to visit our son and other lifetime friends over Thanksgiving. Then off to Branson for that weekend. I have reservations at the Mingo RV Park in Tulsa and the Branson's Ozark Country Campground. While in Branson we will be joining Passport America to save 50% on many of our camping ventures. I can't wait to see Silver Dollar City in Christmas lights! I have wanted to do this for YEARS!! We will be sure to update our blog after visiting these two campgrounds.
If we get to Tulsa in time the day before Thanksgiving, we may start on establishing our Oklahoma Domocile by getting OK tags and licenses. Then we will get our insurance transfered to OK. The main reason for this is the homeschool laws in OK. The other reason is because our son lives there and can be our mail service. :) But also Oklahoma is where we plan to settle once we decide we are done with RVing fulltime.
I guess this is enough blogging for today. We will definitely update again soon. :)
The job itself is a stressful one. There is lots to do and deadlines to meet. We have seen an increase in the hungry folks out there. Not a good sign for our economy. This has increased our desire to travel cross country helping wherever we can - volunteering at Food Banks, Soup Kitchens, and any where we can be of assistance and encourage people. The plan now is to hit the road right after Christmas. Of course our first stop will be in Florida, hopefully far away from the cold winter weather.
We plan to go to Mountain View, AR in a couple of weeks to meet up with another couple on the road full-time. I have been keeping up with several Families On The Road via the FOTR website, their blog sites, and on Facebook. It keeps me motivated!
Our next RV trip will be to Tulsa to visit our son and other lifetime friends over Thanksgiving. Then off to Branson for that weekend. I have reservations at the Mingo RV Park in Tulsa and the Branson's Ozark Country Campground. While in Branson we will be joining Passport America to save 50% on many of our camping ventures. I can't wait to see Silver Dollar City in Christmas lights! I have wanted to do this for YEARS!! We will be sure to update our blog after visiting these two campgrounds.
If we get to Tulsa in time the day before Thanksgiving, we may start on establishing our Oklahoma Domocile by getting OK tags and licenses. Then we will get our insurance transfered to OK. The main reason for this is the homeschool laws in OK. The other reason is because our son lives there and can be our mail service. :) But also Oklahoma is where we plan to settle once we decide we are done with RVing fulltime.
I guess this is enough blogging for today. We will definitely update again soon. :)
Monday, August 9, 2010
The Lake was great! It was very big. The Promised Land Resort had lots of ammenities. The setup spot was not as great but very adequate. It was gravel and not very level, but every thing else you could want. There was a swimming pool, a rec room with a pool table and ping pong, and lots of deer! Even Tatianna saw one. It was her first white tailed deer she ever saw. At least that is what she told me. We rented a pontoon from the resort at a very reasonable rate. We used two 6 gallon tanks of fuel and went several miles up the lake. Tatianna had lots of fun jumping canonballs off the pontoon into the lake. By the way this is in north central Arkansas and was very clear. It had about 35 feet visability in the water. That is VERY clear. I think Lake Norfork which is next to it, on the other side of Mountain Home, AR ( the town near us) is even more clear. We weren't good on catching fish, but that is us not the lake. Maybe Phyllis will put some more here and post some pictures. -- Mark--
Monday, July 12, 2010
Well we've been to 2 states camping now. Just north of the Arkansas border is Doniphan, Missouri and the Current river. KC's was the place. They had an RV and tent park where everyone either fished or floated the river. Most RV'ers also pulled a boat. There were a lot of boats, but it was really great. We would do it again! We did the float trip in a raft. Blayke did not come on this trip. It was me, Phyllis and Tatianna. With of course Tobi, the Dog. Everyone loved Tobi. Phyllis will put pictures up soon. We made some good friends, John and Jeanette from the Saint Louis area who go to Florida in the winter, as well as people from Manila and Paragould, Arkansas, and Carbondale, Illinois. While this camp did not have paved or concrete pads, it was level and was better at making friends than Village Creek.
We grilled, and we built a fire and made smores, all the while we did not break any bone,s nor shed any blood. (I know that seemed boring) We didn't even run into any snakes! Tatianna did catch lightning bugs and a fuzzy wuzzy worm.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
We took our first trip this past weeknd to Village Creek State Park. It is just southeast of Wynne, AR. It is a beautiful park with two lakes - Lake Dunn and Lake Austelle. The park consists of three different rv parking areas with one being geared towards those with horses. The visitors center has a nice gift shop and a theater room that shows films on "The Trail of Tears", and the history of the park as well as other state parks.
This was a "learning" trip for us. We couldn't get our stove, the hot water heater, or the antenna to work. We believe this is mainly operator error - lol. Also the microwave was a little flaky. We realized that our sewer hose wasn't long enough so we just used the bathhouse across the road and let our grey water tank hold until we got ready to leave. Then we just backed up and then let our tank drain with the short hose. We have decided to take our rv to a dealer and let them go through it and show us how to use the gas appliances since we really didn't want to mess with it too much and blow ourselves up.
In light of all the little "issues" we had, and the fact that it thunderstormed with tornado warnings all weekend, we felt it was an ok first trip. Here are some pictures we took on Sunday morning after the rains stopped.
This was a "learning" trip for us. We couldn't get our stove, the hot water heater, or the antenna to work. We believe this is mainly operator error - lol. Also the microwave was a little flaky. We realized that our sewer hose wasn't long enough so we just used the bathhouse across the road and let our grey water tank hold until we got ready to leave. Then we just backed up and then let our tank drain with the short hose. We have decided to take our rv to a dealer and let them go through it and show us how to use the gas appliances since we really didn't want to mess with it too much and blow ourselves up.
In light of all the little "issues" we had, and the fact that it thunderstormed with tornado warnings all weekend, we felt it was an ok first trip. Here are some pictures we took on Sunday morning after the rains stopped.
Grandbaby Blayke watching Grandpa fish on her first camping trip.
Tatianna tring to catch a fish.
Grandpa baiting the hook.
Me Mark and Tatianna at the fishing hole.
Tatianna testing the water.
Tatianna trying to decide to go for it.
Sweet baby Blayke enjoying the sunshine. (And her Binky :)
The Visitor's Center at Village Creek State Park. Wynne, AR. It also has a Discovery Room Museum.
The swimming hole just down from our RV. A beautiful site. :)
Our Rv in the distance from the swimming hole. The playground and bath house are just to the left. It was a great spot to park.
Our RV amongst the beautiful trees in a nice pull through site.
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