Welcome

Hello,
I'm John, truck driver/warehouseman by trade, a Teamster (for what it's worth nowadays) and husband & father.  I have two daughters and a caring, loving wife.  I sacrifice daylight and normal routines in order to work nights to allow for a wife with a career, a family with dual incomes to make ends meet, and a self-reliance, free of daycare worries and after school programs.  I walk my kids to school and I am there in the afternoon to pick them up.  I know their teachers and friends and friends' parents.  My role is active with homework and parental presence.  I may give up some things in the evening and extra-curricular activities, but the family's work schedule allows my wife to take up the after-work schedule and make sure there is a family presence later in the day. 

             I say all this to lay a foundation of understanding.  The understanding that I am "plugged-in" to the schoolyard, the opinions of parents and teachers, and the thoughts that so eagerly jump from the tongues of children.  I do not share alot of these opinions.  I can not tell you where alot of these thoughts come from.  I quietly listen to the words spoken on the playgrounds.  I read the increasingly large pile of ramblings and rants of anyone with a computer (I'm included in that list).  Yet, there are very few forums in which straight-forward is spoken.  Where is the place that niches meet?  The "backward" and the "metropolitan", the "cookie-cutter" and the "eccentric".  I realize the stories and opinions I put forth will polarize many.  I'm sure many will be put off or bored by some of what I entertain as important.  I know the road will have its bumps.  Hence, The Gravel Road.

            But, also, just like simpler life on a gravel road, there is an honesty, an openness.  If you'd like to leave a note or an opinion or a thought please let it be an honest one.