I'm an on and off again family history "freak". "Freak" as in when I'm into it I go for hours and days on end digging as deep as I can without doing much else. Hence the Off Again aspect.
Over the past 6 years I've found family lines back to the 1400's but I've also hit granite walls during the Revolution.
My father's family was/is from Virginia and West Virginia. During the Revolution when Washington was burned lots of our records were lost. Not only were public buldings lost but many homes with their records were destroyed as well. This has made it pretty difficult to trace back accurately on a few lines in my family.
My mother's side was from Arkansas and Oklahoma. Problems there entail everything from illiteracy to poor/missing census records. Many in that area were simply missed due to the remoteness of some of their homes.
So the bottom line here is: when I'm hot I'm hot, when I'm not, I'm not...