Where We’re Headed Next …

Many of you have been following this blog and/or our You Tube channel at herbnkathyrv and for that we say “Thank You“.  It’s gratifying for us to know that you care enough to “c’mon along” for the ride and even better when you leave a comment either here at the bottom of any of our blog posts or in the comments area on You Tube (just below the video).

So many of you are curious as to where we’re going next and what we’ll be up to, so here’s the scoop;

Here is the link to Google Maps showing our route with overnight stops along the way from Baldwin, Michigan to Balloon Fiesta grounds at Albuquerque, NM. (We’ll be there from Sept 17th through Oct 14th when the Fiesta ends.)
We’ll be leaving here (Michigan) on Wed Sept 12th, staying in the driveways of friends we haven’t met yet on 3 nights (thanks to BoondockersWelcome.com), one night in a Cracker Barrel parking lot, and the final night at a “regular” campground at Amarillo, TX.  By staying in a “regular” campground the final night, we’ll be able to dump our waste tanks and take on 70 gallons of fresh water before we move on the next day to the Fiesta grounds.
If you care to, you can track our progress on the road real-time by following this link at any time.  This web page is linked to our GPS and tracks our location every 5 minutes or so.  You can plug in a recent start date and end date if you like so you don’t see everything that’s been recorded over the past few months.
Here’s our ITINERARY
Sept 17th to Oct 14th – Working at ABQ Balloon Fiesta
Oct 18th to Oct 22nd – EPIC Nomads Movie Premiere Rally – Wellington, TX
Oct 25th to Oct 28th – Airstream “Texas Air” Rally – Brownwood, TX
Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb – We’ll have Rover’s Roost RV Park at Casa Grande, AZ as our home base, but we’ll be traveling;
Nov 18th to Nov 24th – Escapees Club Boomers Group Thanksgiving Rally at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA.
Jan 13th to Jan 18th – Boomerville Rally at Quartzite, AZ
Jan 19th to Jan 27th – Working at the Quartzite RV Show
Mar 17th to Mar 22nd – Working at Tucson Escapade Show
We’ll also take other excursion trips from Rover’s Roost as time and weather permits to see points of interest, museums, parks, hilltops and valleys.
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Hope you can “c’mon along” for the ride!

We’re Ready For Something Different – What’ll It Be?

We’ve been on the road now for about 18 months and traveled from Vermont to California and the Upper Penninsula of Michigan down to central Florida and so many points in between.  Here’s a map showing where we’ve been.

Where We’ve Been

We’ve been working along the way.  We’ve been working in RV parks as hosts and workampers.  Generally, this means that we put in 15-20 hours per week in exchange for our RV site and utilities.  This saves us about $500 each month while at the same time giving us enough time off to immerse ourselves in the area and see the sights.

We’ve come to realize that although our experiences so far have been wonderful and rewarding, we want to move a little more often than once every 3-6 months.  We seem to get “hitch-itch” at about a month in to our engagement.  That’s why we’ve made arrangements to work at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in October and the Big Tent RV show at Quartzsite Arizona in January.  And we’ll pick up other jobs in between.

In an effort to become a little more mobile and move on down the road a little more often while still being able to work in exchange for our site, we’ve discovered another opportunity.  There’s a whole big movement out there that not only would accomplish OUR goal, but serves others and our Lord at the same time.

Enter Christian mobile work groups.

Along the way, we’ve met several folks that are part of one of these Christian based mobile work teams.  We’ve found about a half dozen active groups (and there are probably more).  Generally these volunteers work as teams in local churches, bible camps, orphanages, schools, and even some disaster stricken areas.

The host church (or agency) typically provides the RV site and utilities along with at least one hearty meal during the day.  The 3 or 4 work days per week are usually about 6 hours long and the week is interspersed with sufficient group worship, prayer, and fellowship time around the campfire or on “day trips” away from camp.

The video below shows our trip this past week over to Piney Woods Baptist Encampment in Woodlake, Texas about 90 minutes northeast of Houston.

We found out that Piney Woods is one of 39 Baptist camps in Texas.

This is an awesome camp that is capable of hosting about 1000 campers at a time and boasts multiple buildings that include lodging, dining, worship, and recreation centers.

The camp has about 25 full-time staff to support the programming and the facilities and besides the “mobile” volunteers that I’m talking about in this blog post, they also hire 60-70 summer college aged camp counselors to work with the camp attendees.

I could go on and on, but I encourage you to visit http://www.pineywoodscamp.com/ to find out all about this wonderful camp for kids and adults alike.

In the meantime, take a look at the video below to come along with us on our tour!  After the video, I’ve listed some links to the Christian based mobile volunteer work groups that we’ve discovered in case you’re interested in learning more about them.

Kathy and I have already joined Volunteer Christian Builders and have sent applications to join NOMADS and RVICS.  We plan on being able to serve one or more of these groups 2 or 3 times each year in between our other gigs.  Maybe we’ll even meet you at one of these worthwhile projects!

Until then, safe travels to you and yours