Sewing

Nothing new and exciting to report about traveling. I am still participating in the Turtle Patrol, I have not found any nesting turtles, but they are still being found on both North and South Padre Islands.


I am enjoying Island Time. I started my job at KOA and all is going well. I work weekends on Children's Activities and work a few days a week in the office.  It is fun planning events and craft projects for the kids.  We have standard activities, such as S'mores on Friday evening. On Saturday after dinner we serve ice cream and then in the evening we show an outdoor movie, complete with popcorn. I fill in the time on Saturday afternoon with an outdoor activity and a craft project.

getting ready for Friday night S'Mores

Some of the planned activities are kite flying, holiday parades, Pirate Treasure Hunt, scavenger hunt, nature journals with sun printing, carnival-like fun and games, Sea Turtle Days, paper airplanes, decorating and flying a Frisbee, sand art and Candy Bar Bingo.

made a pillow to use in the RV

My sewing machine is humming along, making all kinds of fun things for the baby girl that will be joining our family in August. Now that I am living only a few miles from my daughter, we spend time together sewing on our days off or sometimes in the evening. I don't have any pics of what we have sewn for the baby. We have made bibs, and some soft baby blocks and are working on a quilt and some clothes.

I made a shower curtain and window curtain for the RV. 

Camping Memberships

I'm looking for thoughts and opinions on "camping membership" resort programs.


Camping World offers a 3 day/2 night RV Getaway, you have to listen to a presentation about a membership. The ad says they are affiliated with Coast to Coast Resorts. 

What is the good, bad and ugly about these memberships?

I already have a card with Good Sam, have been a member for several years, even before I had an RV, because we would go to campgrounds that had cabins or trailers for rent. I received a free one year KOA membership through FMCA. I received a free Family Motor Coach Association membership from the RV dealer. 


I also joined Escapees when I was planning on this RV lifestyle.
I am also a lifetime member of Workamping News. I plan on workamping, but still need a place to stay in between jobs. Most jobs run anywhere from 3 to 6 months. I hope to be working North in the summer and South in the winter.


I would appreciate any information about your experiences with the travel clubs. I'm thinking I may need some type of "home base".


Escapees also has some parks, that you can lease or purchase the lot and they rent the space out when you are not there.

Northwest Arkansas

After leaving Crater of Diamonds State Park, I headed north along the western edge of Arkansas. I made a stop at Fort Smith National Historic Site and walked around the trails and checked out the main building which is now a museum. The museum had displays about the Civil War and the "Trail of Tears".

painting by Cherokee artist, Dorothy Sullivan

Tuesday night I stayed at the KOA in Alma, Arkansas.  The entrance was right on Hwy 71. The sites were quiet, near the rear of the property. This campground had a few walking paths and a large pond with some unusual ducks. There were horses across the road.

I walked around the pond and sat at a picnic table on the shady side for a few hours, watching the ducks and chicks and just enjoying the quiet atmosphere of the park. This campground is owned by a retired couple from Illinois.

This is the type of park that I had considered buying when I sold my tax practice. I had done a lot of research about RV Parks and Campgrounds and read several books about Campground Management. I had a notebook full of information about different campgrounds for sale and had obtained the financial information for several parks. 


I thought that we could buy a seasonal park, work only 6 months of the year and then travel south for the winter. The campground would fulfill my wish for a place in the country and we would have a source of income at home. 


Currently I have no desire to own any property of any type. I don't want to be tied down to one location until I figure out what I'm going to do with myself.  I will try Workamping either this winter or next spring.


Workamping will allow me to stay in one area for three to six months and explore an area in depth. There are usually many things I would like to see in an area that I stop at, but staying for only one or two nights, I miss a lot. I like the idea of having a semi-permanent campsite for a few months at a time.


I'll be staying in Northwest Arkansas until Saturday morning and then moving into Missouri.